Exodus 12
The First Passover
1 While the Israelites were still in the land of Egypt, the Lord gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron: 2 “From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you. 3 Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household. 4 If a family is too small to eat a whole animal, let them share with another family in the neighborhood. Divide the animal according to the size of each family and how much they can eat. 5 The animal you select must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no defects.
6 “Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight. 7 They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the animal. 8 That same night they must roast the meat over a fire and eat it along with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water. The whole animal—including the head, legs, and internal organs—must be roasted over a fire. 10 Do not leave any of it until the next morning. Burn whatever is not eaten before morning.
11 “These are your instructions for eating this meal: Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the Lord’s Passover. 12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord! 13 But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 “This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord. This is a law for all time. 15 For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast. On the first day of the festival, remove every trace of yeast from your homes. Anyone who eats bread made with yeast during the seven days of the festival will be cut off from the community of Israel. 16 On the first day of the festival and again on the seventh day, all the people must observe an official day for holy assembly. No work of any kind may be done on these days except in the preparation of food.
17 “Celebrate this Festival of Unleavened Bread, for it will remind you that I brought your forces out of the land of Egypt on this very day. This festival will be a permanent law for you; celebrate this day from generation to generation. 18 The bread you eat must be made without yeast from the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day of that month. 19 During those seven days, there must be no trace of yeast in your homes. Anyone who eats anything made with yeast during this week will be cut off from the community of Israel. These regulations apply both to the foreigners living among you and to the native-born Israelites. 20 During those days you must not eat anything made with yeast. Wherever you live, eat only bread made without yeast.”
21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel together and said to them, “Go, pick out a lamb or young goat for each of your families, and slaughter the Passover animal. 22 Drain the blood into a basin. Then take a bundle of hyssop branches and dip it into the blood. Brush the hyssop across the top and sides of the doorframes of your houses. And no one may go out through the door until morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, the Lord will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down.
24 “Remember, these instructions are a permanent law that you and your descendants must observe forever. 25 When you enter the land the Lord has promised to give you, you will continue to observe this ceremony. 26 Then your children will ask, ‘What does this ceremony mean?’ 27 And you will reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. And though he struck the Egyptians, he spared our families.’” When Moses had finished speaking, all the people bowed down to the ground and worshiped.
28 So the people of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded through Moses and Aaron. 29 And that night at midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn son of the prisoner in the dungeon. Even the firstborn of their livestock were killed. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died.
Israel’s Exodus from Egypt
31 Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron during the night. “Get out!” he ordered. “Leave my people—and take the rest of the Israelites with you! Go and worship the Lord as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds, as you said, and be gone. Go, but bless me as you leave.” 33 All the Egyptians urged the people of Israel to get out of the land as quickly as possible, for they thought, “We will all die!”
34 The Israelites took their bread dough before yeast was added. They wrapped their kneading boards in their cloaks and carried them on their shoulders. 35 And the people of Israel did as Moses had instructed; they asked the Egyptians for clothing and articles of silver and gold. 36 The Lord caused the Egyptians to look favorably on the Israelites, and they gave the Israelites whatever they asked for. So they stripped the Egyptians of their wealth!
37 That night the people of Israel left Rameses and started for Succoth. There were about 600,000 men, plus all the women and children. 38 A rabble of non-Israelites went with them, along with great flocks and herds of livestock. 39 For bread they baked flat cakes from the dough without yeast they had brought from Egypt. It was made without yeast because the people were driven out of Egypt in such a hurry that they had no time to prepare the bread or other food.
40 The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for 430 years. 41 In fact, it was on the last day of the 430th year that all the Lord’s forces left the land. 42 On this night the Lord kept his promise to bring his people out of the land of Egypt. So this night belongs to him, and it must be commemorated every year by all the Israelites, from generation to generation.
Instructions for the Passover
43 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the instructions for the festival of Passover. No outsiders are allowed to eat the Passover meal. 44 But any slave who has been purchased may eat it if he has been circumcised. 45 Temporary residents and hired servants may not eat it. 46 Each Passover lamb must be eaten in one house. Do not carry any of its meat outside, and do not break any of its bones. 47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate this Passover festival.
48 “If there are foreigners living among you who want to celebrate the Lord’s Passover, let all their males be circumcised. Only then may they celebrate the Passover with you like any native-born Israelite. But no uncircumcised male may ever eat the Passover meal. 49 This instruction applies to everyone, whether a native-born Israelite or a foreigner living among you.”
50 So all the people of Israel followed all the Lord’s commands to Moses and Aaron. 51 On that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt like an army.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Study Time Lena's Journalin to Luke 16 _ Stewards of what/who? BIG important question!
Strategy, is what one must be engaged in.
The enemy is all about strategy. It amazes me how disengaged Christians are with strategy and order. How not many act as though they are reaching towards any natural or eternal goal or vision, and how they seem to be only under the commands of their own minds and hearts.
God set up the earth, the Universe and all of its order. We are so amazingly a part of that order, but we must know that to engage.
There is purpose and a reason in relation to working with people in business and in society. Having a business is not ultimately about making money. Making money is not about making money or getting rich so we can spend more on ourselves and our families’ extra comforts, entertainment, rest, relaxation, toys, or prestige and name builders. It is about giving an account of stewardship in many areas. Who we give an account to is God. Yes we pay suppliers, employers, employees, taxes, and file for taxes and may even have an accountant, but all we do we do now unto the Lord. It is the Lord who sees and knows what we’ve done inside of the exercises of that business to gain wealth or relationships and practice the godly principles of stewardship over people handling and money handling.
I HOPE you can see what I am saying. Know the enemy would absolutely hate for you to see this. If you see this it can change your whole life and the whole account you’ll give to God on judgment day.
Every task in life, from taking garbage out at home or doing dishes to working a job inside of your or others homes or businesses, to transactions with money made, every task is for the glory of God to be demonstrated.
The stewardship is not of the thing, but of the character you display and of the way you represent your Father God and how you treat people inside of whatever it is you do. It is your opportunity given you by God to test you and show you who you are, and are being developed into becoming.
Please re-read that last paragraph again.
Do you see that if you are a militant commander at home, only caring that the job gets done, with no regard to using the task as a means of training the children to become faithful stewards who can see how to operate in the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit who is supposed to be alive in your home.
What kind of steward are you?
A steward of people’s lives.
If your tyrannical personality does not cause your family to want to give an accurate account to God in all of the other areas of their life, you’ve done a great disservice to your children or other family members.
What kind of steward are you?
A steward of people’s lives.
If they can never please you in any area, they will learn how to lie and hide themselves in shame, even before God, and He will have a lifelong commitment to heal them up so they can trust Him enough to follow after Him.
What kind of steward are you?
A steward of people’s lives.
If people God has given you to relate to and practice representing Him to in your life are not ones you nurture and if they are always told by you how they can never live up to your expectations, or they can’t ever do anything correctly, you have misrepresented God as Father.
What kind of steward are you?
A steward of people’s lives.
This is serious God business. Serious business.
Giving account in these conditions is almost impossible. The minds and hearts become numbed, calloused to the gentle leading of God as Father. Wow.
What about workers? How do you treat them?
What about money? What do you do with it? How do you handle it? It is a tool of training, given by God, to see if one is a faithful steward, again of people. To see if greed is in us, to see if we’ll horde or trust Him, or if we’ll be independent in our thoughts and actions. Do we give or take, offer or store up? Are we naturally minded or spiritually minded, or even eternally minded?
If we are storing up treasures in heaven, we are very concerned about handling, especially people!
What kind of steward are you?
A steward of people’s lives.
Did I make my parents, my spouse, my boss, my teachers, my children, pastors, etc. look good, by the area I was a part of their lives in? Was my name good on their tongues, when they think of how I loved and served them in the name of Christ? Or did they want to spit it out of their mouths?
Little things? For some deceptive reason, we have thought things are big and people are little. People are huge though they may seem small. Meaning on the list of priorities they are 2nd on the list, just below God!
Be Faithful with people. I beg of you, change your hearts and minds, for your eyes will be opened to see one day and if you do not make a change, you’ll lose, you’ll so lose! You’ll weep, and gnash your teeth over it!
Honestly, What kind of steward are you?
A steward of people’s lives?
Our time was meant to be spent on being an example to people, to teach and train them to become stewards over people, not as bosses, but as servants. The training of servants is demonstrated by serving one another because of love, not because we deserve it or don’t deserve it.
What do you spend your life and passing of time on? Do you do a lot of things, entertain yourself a lot, stay home alone relaxing, go shopping and spend your money on you? Stay to your own self with your own stuff, hoarding it up? Have a whole houseful of stuff with no visitors, and no family around you? Are you tired of “dealing” with people? Why?
Has not the great and awesome and undeserving love in Christ Jesus yet compelled you to come outside of your self centered thinking and actions of building the kingdom you want, all around you? Have you not answered the call of His Spirit to step outside of your own self made, self protected world and trust Him as you obey His commands to love Him with everything and demonstrate that same god-love to others the same?
Why is divorce spoken of right in the middle of stewardship? Think about it and you tell me. Helpful hint- we’re speaking of stewardship of people, not OF things.
The parable of Lazarus speaks so clearly of the account that will be given inside of the stewardship of souls.
Money means NOTHING to God.
Things mean nothing to God, except to be used to bless, honor and teach people.
People mean everything to God.
God so loved an unsaved god-mocking undeserving world and He asked His beloved Son if He loved Him enough to go and lay his life down for them in tormentous situations. Are they worth that much to You Jesus? They are to Me. Do You really love Me enough to lay other importance’s down and live for them? They are the most important thing to Me. I wonder if anyone else will begin to, choose to, love them that much too, that they’d spend their lives developing others to love like We do? We’ll send the Holy Spirit to help them if thet want to, but that’s later…
I wonder….
Father?
Yes?
I do. Love YOU!
Did you hear Me?
Yes. You know words are nothing without actions following, right?
Right. I’ll go.
Now?
Right away.
“I love You too…”
The enemy is all about strategy. It amazes me how disengaged Christians are with strategy and order. How not many act as though they are reaching towards any natural or eternal goal or vision, and how they seem to be only under the commands of their own minds and hearts.
God set up the earth, the Universe and all of its order. We are so amazingly a part of that order, but we must know that to engage.
There is purpose and a reason in relation to working with people in business and in society. Having a business is not ultimately about making money. Making money is not about making money or getting rich so we can spend more on ourselves and our families’ extra comforts, entertainment, rest, relaxation, toys, or prestige and name builders. It is about giving an account of stewardship in many areas. Who we give an account to is God. Yes we pay suppliers, employers, employees, taxes, and file for taxes and may even have an accountant, but all we do we do now unto the Lord. It is the Lord who sees and knows what we’ve done inside of the exercises of that business to gain wealth or relationships and practice the godly principles of stewardship over people handling and money handling.
I HOPE you can see what I am saying. Know the enemy would absolutely hate for you to see this. If you see this it can change your whole life and the whole account you’ll give to God on judgment day.
Every task in life, from taking garbage out at home or doing dishes to working a job inside of your or others homes or businesses, to transactions with money made, every task is for the glory of God to be demonstrated.
The stewardship is not of the thing, but of the character you display and of the way you represent your Father God and how you treat people inside of whatever it is you do. It is your opportunity given you by God to test you and show you who you are, and are being developed into becoming.
Please re-read that last paragraph again.
Do you see that if you are a militant commander at home, only caring that the job gets done, with no regard to using the task as a means of training the children to become faithful stewards who can see how to operate in the fruits of God’s Holy Spirit who is supposed to be alive in your home.
What kind of steward are you?
A steward of people’s lives.
If your tyrannical personality does not cause your family to want to give an accurate account to God in all of the other areas of their life, you’ve done a great disservice to your children or other family members.
What kind of steward are you?
A steward of people’s lives.
If they can never please you in any area, they will learn how to lie and hide themselves in shame, even before God, and He will have a lifelong commitment to heal them up so they can trust Him enough to follow after Him.
What kind of steward are you?
A steward of people’s lives.
If people God has given you to relate to and practice representing Him to in your life are not ones you nurture and if they are always told by you how they can never live up to your expectations, or they can’t ever do anything correctly, you have misrepresented God as Father.
What kind of steward are you?
A steward of people’s lives.
This is serious God business. Serious business.
Giving account in these conditions is almost impossible. The minds and hearts become numbed, calloused to the gentle leading of God as Father. Wow.
What about workers? How do you treat them?
What about money? What do you do with it? How do you handle it? It is a tool of training, given by God, to see if one is a faithful steward, again of people. To see if greed is in us, to see if we’ll horde or trust Him, or if we’ll be independent in our thoughts and actions. Do we give or take, offer or store up? Are we naturally minded or spiritually minded, or even eternally minded?
If we are storing up treasures in heaven, we are very concerned about handling, especially people!
What kind of steward are you?
A steward of people’s lives.
Did I make my parents, my spouse, my boss, my teachers, my children, pastors, etc. look good, by the area I was a part of their lives in? Was my name good on their tongues, when they think of how I loved and served them in the name of Christ? Or did they want to spit it out of their mouths?
Little things? For some deceptive reason, we have thought things are big and people are little. People are huge though they may seem small. Meaning on the list of priorities they are 2nd on the list, just below God!
Be Faithful with people. I beg of you, change your hearts and minds, for your eyes will be opened to see one day and if you do not make a change, you’ll lose, you’ll so lose! You’ll weep, and gnash your teeth over it!
Honestly, What kind of steward are you?
A steward of people’s lives?
Our time was meant to be spent on being an example to people, to teach and train them to become stewards over people, not as bosses, but as servants. The training of servants is demonstrated by serving one another because of love, not because we deserve it or don’t deserve it.
What do you spend your life and passing of time on? Do you do a lot of things, entertain yourself a lot, stay home alone relaxing, go shopping and spend your money on you? Stay to your own self with your own stuff, hoarding it up? Have a whole houseful of stuff with no visitors, and no family around you? Are you tired of “dealing” with people? Why?
Has not the great and awesome and undeserving love in Christ Jesus yet compelled you to come outside of your self centered thinking and actions of building the kingdom you want, all around you? Have you not answered the call of His Spirit to step outside of your own self made, self protected world and trust Him as you obey His commands to love Him with everything and demonstrate that same god-love to others the same?
Why is divorce spoken of right in the middle of stewardship? Think about it and you tell me. Helpful hint- we’re speaking of stewardship of people, not OF things.
The parable of Lazarus speaks so clearly of the account that will be given inside of the stewardship of souls.
Money means NOTHING to God.
Things mean nothing to God, except to be used to bless, honor and teach people.
People mean everything to God.
God so loved an unsaved god-mocking undeserving world and He asked His beloved Son if He loved Him enough to go and lay his life down for them in tormentous situations. Are they worth that much to You Jesus? They are to Me. Do You really love Me enough to lay other importance’s down and live for them? They are the most important thing to Me. I wonder if anyone else will begin to, choose to, love them that much too, that they’d spend their lives developing others to love like We do? We’ll send the Holy Spirit to help them if thet want to, but that’s later…
I wonder….
Father?
Yes?
I do. Love YOU!
Did you hear Me?
Yes. You know words are nothing without actions following, right?
Right. I’ll go.
Now?
Right away.
“I love You too…”
Luke 16 Today's Daily Bread
Parable of the Shrewd Manager
Jesus told this story to his disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. 2 So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.’
3 “The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. 4 Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’
5 “So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ 6 The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons.’
7 “‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man. ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.’
8 “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. 9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.
10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. 11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? 12 And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?
13 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
14 The Pharisees, who dearly loved their money, heard all this and scoffed at him. 15 Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.
16 “Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in. 17 But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of God’s law to be overturned.
18 “For example, a man who divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery. And anyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.”
Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
19 Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. 20 At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. 21 As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.
22 “Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and his soul went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.
24 “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’
25 “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
27 “Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. 28 For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’
30 “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’
31 “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Jesus told this story to his disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a manager handling his affairs. One day a report came that the manager was wasting his employer’s money. 2 So the employer called him in and said, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Get your report in order, because you are going to be fired.’
3 “The manager thought to himself, ‘Now what? My boss has fired me. I don’t have the strength to dig ditches, and I’m too proud to beg. 4 Ah, I know how to ensure that I’ll have plenty of friends who will give me a home when I am fired.’
5 “So he invited each person who owed money to his employer to come and discuss the situation. He asked the first one, ‘How much do you owe him?’ 6 The man replied, ‘I owe him 800 gallons of olive oil.’ So the manager told him, ‘Take the bill and quickly change it to 400 gallons.’
7 “‘And how much do you owe my employer?’ he asked the next man. ‘I owe him 1,000 bushels of wheat,’ was the reply. ‘Here,’ the manager said, ‘take the bill and change it to 800 bushels.’
8 “The rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. And it is true that the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with the world around them than are the children of the light. 9 Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.
10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. 11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? 12 And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?
13 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
14 The Pharisees, who dearly loved their money, heard all this and scoffed at him. 15 Then he said to them, “You like to appear righteous in public, but God knows your hearts. What this world honors is detestable in the sight of God.
16 “Until John the Baptist, the law of Moses and the messages of the prophets were your guides. But now the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is eager to get in. 17 But that doesn’t mean that the law has lost its force. It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the smallest point of God’s law to be overturned.
18 “For example, a man who divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery. And anyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.”
Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus
19 Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. 20 At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. 21 As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.
22 “Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and his soul went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side.
24 “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’
25 “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
27 “Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. 28 For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’
30 “The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’
31 “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.’”
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Studying 1 Peter 4 Today w/ Lena's Journalin' Judgments begin with God's house, which is me
He will never fail us, ever. He will never leave us, ever.
That being so, why do we ever feel distance between us and God? It is our choice. We make it, choose it, allow it. Once we receive Him, He is there. Through obedience we follow Him. If we choose to not go where He goes, distance happens. Those who love, follow, because they obey, Him.
Trust. Do I really trust God, Our Father, Creator of the heavens and the earth?
How much I trust Him shows up in how much faith I am willing to exercise towards Him in any given situation. I cannot merely say, “I trust You, Lord”; I must demonstrate the trust. Distrust of God also brings distance between us and Him.
These are the “judgments” being made against my life now as a believer in Christ. They are the tests and revelations that will bring me closer to the Lord, because I grow up in Him and obey His will, or I stay put, immoveable and do not grow, because I choose to stay as I am.
Do you realize that most suffering is just this? It is my flesh at war against my spirit man following Christ from here on or not. It is a war of the obedient one in my fighting the disobedient one in me. It is between decisions to trust or not trust God in action. It is decisions offered me everyday to be led by His Spirit or continue to follow after my own flesh and culture, trusting what I know and see.
Judgment begins in the house of God. If the foundation of a house is not secure, it would be foolish to erect a building upon it for when elemental pressure rises up against the building, not only will he foundation possibly crack, the structure will fall. God is looking to build Himself a home. He desires to use each of us as a strong foundation to each building project, and lay upon that home’s foundations a load of people who need a place to stand upon that is sure and secure.
Judgment (inspection with presented correctional requests and follow through order) must begin with the foundation. That is a good thing. Better to inspect the foundation first and, if necessary, begin over with that portion of the structure, than to build without an inspection and allow many others to fall to ruin.
So are you a rock? A foundation for others to put their weight on? What about your faith? How solid and secure is it? Is it more reliant on self or upon Christ? Can others sit on it, depend on it, even use it, until theirs is strong? If they put weight on you, what happens to you? Do you buckle or crack or fall apart? This is where we must be tried, must even desire to be tried, for it would be so sad to have never been tried and then have been responsible for so much ruin later on.
Have you ever felt the desire to be looked at, searched, even criticized? Most people’s gut reaction to this is negative. Yet even the most critical scrutinizing person who comes against you in this life, if their words are taken in for examinations-sake, could actually be regarded as the grace of God upon your life to save your eternal soul from a horrid eternally scrutinizing judgment call.
Better to be able to see now, what you don’t or won’t than to wait until there is no time to change as we are standing in an irreversible place and we have an offense revealed before God!
I always feel so sad for people who say they hate to be judged by others, and that so easily mark others as being judgmental against them. So what if their motivation is wrong, so what if they may be off in one area. What about the area they may have hit a target on, in the inside, in my inner man, that I could not or would not see without their inspection of me?
I always say this – a man would not obey God, so God used an animal to speak to a man. If the most stubborn animal could be used by God and speak the very words of God to a man, cannot a critical “judgmental” man also carry words from God that would otherwise leave me perishing?
We say things in our minds such as, “Lord, you know if they would speak kindly, I would listen.”
At judgment, that will in no way have been a valid excuse for choosing not to listen or obey! Seriously!
Begin to listen to the critical words spoken over you. Weed out, filter out the form the voice comes to you in and for the sake of your eternal soul, hear the words. Forget the motivation you think the heart has launched the criticism off of, seriously, and take the words into your prayer room where you and God meet and get real. Ask a hard question of the Lord, and be willing to hear His answer.
“Ok, Lord, Am I that way? Do I do that? Is that true of me? Help me change.” Only a man who has humbled himself under God’s mighty hand now will be able to be changed, or even able to hear of the need for change. The seeing who you’ve been, is 98% of the produce. 98%! We’ve got to be willing to see, by listening to judgments brought against us now, without feeling a need to prove ourselves right all of the time. There is none righteous, but God.
If you consider your house the house of God then your doors should be willingly open for inspections of the Spirit of the Lord in whatever form He deems to come.
I believe the harder the voice that comes, the harder the heart must be in need of hearing. It has gotten to a point relationally that the person has not heard and acted upon God’s subtle, gentle words, quickly and often. If one heeds the still small voice promptly, he’ll hear it more often.
Do not be deceived by saying this is the only way God speaks to me. You just are not hearing the other sounds and fluctuations; you’ve put your own hearing in a box.
Time to open up the tops of the box and see the world God meant for you to see.
That being so, why do we ever feel distance between us and God? It is our choice. We make it, choose it, allow it. Once we receive Him, He is there. Through obedience we follow Him. If we choose to not go where He goes, distance happens. Those who love, follow, because they obey, Him.
Trust. Do I really trust God, Our Father, Creator of the heavens and the earth?
How much I trust Him shows up in how much faith I am willing to exercise towards Him in any given situation. I cannot merely say, “I trust You, Lord”; I must demonstrate the trust. Distrust of God also brings distance between us and Him.
These are the “judgments” being made against my life now as a believer in Christ. They are the tests and revelations that will bring me closer to the Lord, because I grow up in Him and obey His will, or I stay put, immoveable and do not grow, because I choose to stay as I am.
Do you realize that most suffering is just this? It is my flesh at war against my spirit man following Christ from here on or not. It is a war of the obedient one in my fighting the disobedient one in me. It is between decisions to trust or not trust God in action. It is decisions offered me everyday to be led by His Spirit or continue to follow after my own flesh and culture, trusting what I know and see.
Judgment begins in the house of God. If the foundation of a house is not secure, it would be foolish to erect a building upon it for when elemental pressure rises up against the building, not only will he foundation possibly crack, the structure will fall. God is looking to build Himself a home. He desires to use each of us as a strong foundation to each building project, and lay upon that home’s foundations a load of people who need a place to stand upon that is sure and secure.
Judgment (inspection with presented correctional requests and follow through order) must begin with the foundation. That is a good thing. Better to inspect the foundation first and, if necessary, begin over with that portion of the structure, than to build without an inspection and allow many others to fall to ruin.
So are you a rock? A foundation for others to put their weight on? What about your faith? How solid and secure is it? Is it more reliant on self or upon Christ? Can others sit on it, depend on it, even use it, until theirs is strong? If they put weight on you, what happens to you? Do you buckle or crack or fall apart? This is where we must be tried, must even desire to be tried, for it would be so sad to have never been tried and then have been responsible for so much ruin later on.
Have you ever felt the desire to be looked at, searched, even criticized? Most people’s gut reaction to this is negative. Yet even the most critical scrutinizing person who comes against you in this life, if their words are taken in for examinations-sake, could actually be regarded as the grace of God upon your life to save your eternal soul from a horrid eternally scrutinizing judgment call.
Better to be able to see now, what you don’t or won’t than to wait until there is no time to change as we are standing in an irreversible place and we have an offense revealed before God!
I always feel so sad for people who say they hate to be judged by others, and that so easily mark others as being judgmental against them. So what if their motivation is wrong, so what if they may be off in one area. What about the area they may have hit a target on, in the inside, in my inner man, that I could not or would not see without their inspection of me?
I always say this – a man would not obey God, so God used an animal to speak to a man. If the most stubborn animal could be used by God and speak the very words of God to a man, cannot a critical “judgmental” man also carry words from God that would otherwise leave me perishing?
We say things in our minds such as, “Lord, you know if they would speak kindly, I would listen.”
At judgment, that will in no way have been a valid excuse for choosing not to listen or obey! Seriously!
Begin to listen to the critical words spoken over you. Weed out, filter out the form the voice comes to you in and for the sake of your eternal soul, hear the words. Forget the motivation you think the heart has launched the criticism off of, seriously, and take the words into your prayer room where you and God meet and get real. Ask a hard question of the Lord, and be willing to hear His answer.
“Ok, Lord, Am I that way? Do I do that? Is that true of me? Help me change.” Only a man who has humbled himself under God’s mighty hand now will be able to be changed, or even able to hear of the need for change. The seeing who you’ve been, is 98% of the produce. 98%! We’ve got to be willing to see, by listening to judgments brought against us now, without feeling a need to prove ourselves right all of the time. There is none righteous, but God.
If you consider your house the house of God then your doors should be willingly open for inspections of the Spirit of the Lord in whatever form He deems to come.
I believe the harder the voice that comes, the harder the heart must be in need of hearing. It has gotten to a point relationally that the person has not heard and acted upon God’s subtle, gentle words, quickly and often. If one heeds the still small voice promptly, he’ll hear it more often.
Do not be deceived by saying this is the only way God speaks to me. You just are not hearing the other sounds and fluctuations; you’ve put your own hearing in a box.
Time to open up the tops of the box and see the world God meant for you to see.
1 Peter 4 Today's Daily Bread Reading
Living for God
1 So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. 2 You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. 3 You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.
4 Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. 5 But remember that they will have to face God, who will judge everyone, both the living and the dead. 6 That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead—so although they were destined to die like all people, they now live forever with God in the Spirit.
7 The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. 8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.
10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
Suffering for Being a Christian
12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
14 So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. 15 If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. 16 But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name! 17 For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? 18 And also,
“If the righteous are barely saved,
what will happen to godless sinners?”
19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.
1 So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin. 2 You won’t spend the rest of your lives chasing your own desires, but you will be anxious to do the will of God. 3 You have had enough in the past of the evil things that godless people enjoy—their immorality and lust, their feasting and drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of idols.
4 Of course, your former friends are surprised when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and destructive things they do. So they slander you. 5 But remember that they will have to face God, who will judge everyone, both the living and the dead. 6 That is why the Good News was preached to those who are now dead—so although they were destined to die like all people, they now live forever with God in the Spirit.
7 The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. 8 Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Cheerfully share your home with those who need a meal or a place to stay.
10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
Suffering for Being a Christian
12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. 13 Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world.
14 So be happy when you are insulted for being a Christian, for then the glorious Spirit of God rests upon you. 15 If you suffer, however, it must not be for murder, stealing, making trouble, or prying into other people’s affairs. 16 But it is no shame to suffer for being a Christian. Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name! 17 For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News? 18 And also,
“If the righteous are barely saved,
what will happen to godless sinners?”
19 So if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right, and trust your lives to the God who created you, for he will never fail you.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Study Time w/ Lena's Journalin' to 1 Cor 4 Today. Who is your father? (little"f")
Each man of earth is born by God and is accountable to God for the work of His hands, thoughts of his heart, words of his mouth, and actions of his lifetime.
Each man will give an account to God himself, alone.
Each man can begin at any time, giving an account to God, and if he is wise, he will begin as soon as possible. The more a man accounts to God now and lives a life of acknowledgement of His ways in this life, the greater likelihood of his being saved from paying the accounts due Him in life eternal.
Each time a humble man (person) repents, stands corrected, wisely listens to and follows the council of another, that man gets a cleaned slate! I cannot imagine a man standing before God with an unclean slate! I would think if each of us knew we could be cleaned and made new everyday, we’d make special appointments with the spirit of humility on a regular basis.
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. I saw satan fall like lightening from the presence of God…. He was in the very presence of God and pride took him outside of it straightaway.
If pride is such an enemy of our father and can separate a man from God as swiftly as lightening falls from the heavens, why would any man ever give into it now, when it is clearly his enemy #1? He must not know it is his enemy or he will be blinded to its offers in his own daily life.
When we receive Christ, we enter a covenant relationship with God, we make a covenant exchange. His enemies become ours as well as ours becoming conquered in Him. If He despises pride and its evil work against my life and against our fatherly relationship, then I must disdain it also.
This is a reason that being under authority and submitting one’s self willingly to any man given a title, any title, is imperative.
Pride exalts self. Self opinion, self confidence, self government, self help, etc. If pride is the enemy of God, and a way to see it, is that the very nature of pride is to watch out for an uprising above authorities, even in one’s mind, (ya know, like, “Ah, I know better than that, they must be mistaken, or I can’t believe that is what they just said or would be asking me to do, there’s surely a better way, they must not know what they are talking about, who are they anyway, who do they think they are, who gave them their credentials”, etc., etc.…) It would be beneficial to identify its offers to us and decline them straightaway.
Rising up against authority, from a spouse, to a parent, to a policemen, to a boss, to a teacher, or a child’s teacher, to anyone in charge, in any place, to a preacher of the gospel, to a Bible study leader, or nursery coordinator, etc., is a direct violation against the heart and character of God whether we see them as qualified or not. The biggest tactic of the enemy is to disqualify them in our minds and hearts, so we “don’t have to” give them any due honor. The principle of God’s kingdom of authority and rule is that any man (person) in authority is set up there by God, and to think they may not be qualified, is only my opportunity to dishonor God!
Why would a child of God behave this way? They have listened to a liar, and a thief, and a destroyer all 3 are out for the destruction of their relationship with God. Children of God, must not listen to these things, nor should they incline their ears, giving that strange voice even the time of day!
There are many teachers, many a voice telling one which way to go and directing us here and there, but one Father. One who is under the lead of the Father God. One in our lives sent to us by God to raise us up as a parent would.
Who led you to the Lord? Where are they in vicinity to you now? Do they follow Christ? Do you ever think to follow them? Maybe you are not living near them, but you go to church. Is there anyone at your church that you submit yourself to willingly? Is there anyone who personally instructs and corrects you? Is there anyone you listen to and regard their words as you would a parent if you had a 2nd chance to honor a parent, a father? Is there there a disciple at your fellowship who is stronger than you in Christ, and is themselves a submitted dependant person that you can become a disciple of? If you do not submit yourself willingly to no one (bad English and bad grammar, bad attitude also ), you are NOT under authority, you are not Covenentally covered by the Divine nature and character of God. You may call Him Father in words, but he only accepts that if it is lived out in demonstration. Only a man who bows to authority is in authority and is called a son of God. All others are children, not grown enough to yet understand enough to make the change.
Jesus Himself was not called a Son of God until he submitted to a human imperfect man in the waters of baptism. God authored and blessed it.
Another tactic of the enemy is independence. An independent spirit is NOT from God. It is from the enemy. Independent spirits do not need parental guides. They don’t not want to be fathered, for in fathering that means they are quite possibly told what to do. Independent spirits do not like being told what to do. Exactly. One cannot even be fathered by God if they refuse to be told what to do and a man (child in maturity) willingly left to himself, brings his mother (the church, the Bride of Christ) to shame. God Himself said, “It is not good for a man to be alone, I’ll send him a Helper” - who will (use people and the inward witness of one’s submissive instructable spirit) to help him through his faith walk.
A wise son, listens and does. Lays down an arrogant heart purposefully. He is as a son who disallows pride to lead him at all; He Is completely dependant upon the words of God; Is humble, and submits himself; He honors authority unconditionally, in undeserving and disqualified forms, as though they are appointed by God, without reasoning out the qualification of their appointments.
They honor God willingly by giving honor to undeserving and seemingly unworthy men and women on earth.
They store up eternal rewards in refusing to make a name for themselves.
They live to exalt His name, by obeying His rules, which boggle the human reason.
Why would anyone willingly behave this way?
There’s really only one reason.
It’s Because of love.
Each man will give an account to God himself, alone.
Each man can begin at any time, giving an account to God, and if he is wise, he will begin as soon as possible. The more a man accounts to God now and lives a life of acknowledgement of His ways in this life, the greater likelihood of his being saved from paying the accounts due Him in life eternal.
Each time a humble man (person) repents, stands corrected, wisely listens to and follows the council of another, that man gets a cleaned slate! I cannot imagine a man standing before God with an unclean slate! I would think if each of us knew we could be cleaned and made new everyday, we’d make special appointments with the spirit of humility on a regular basis.
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. I saw satan fall like lightening from the presence of God…. He was in the very presence of God and pride took him outside of it straightaway.
If pride is such an enemy of our father and can separate a man from God as swiftly as lightening falls from the heavens, why would any man ever give into it now, when it is clearly his enemy #1? He must not know it is his enemy or he will be blinded to its offers in his own daily life.
When we receive Christ, we enter a covenant relationship with God, we make a covenant exchange. His enemies become ours as well as ours becoming conquered in Him. If He despises pride and its evil work against my life and against our fatherly relationship, then I must disdain it also.
This is a reason that being under authority and submitting one’s self willingly to any man given a title, any title, is imperative.
Pride exalts self. Self opinion, self confidence, self government, self help, etc. If pride is the enemy of God, and a way to see it, is that the very nature of pride is to watch out for an uprising above authorities, even in one’s mind, (ya know, like, “Ah, I know better than that, they must be mistaken, or I can’t believe that is what they just said or would be asking me to do, there’s surely a better way, they must not know what they are talking about, who are they anyway, who do they think they are, who gave them their credentials”, etc., etc.…) It would be beneficial to identify its offers to us and decline them straightaway.
Rising up against authority, from a spouse, to a parent, to a policemen, to a boss, to a teacher, or a child’s teacher, to anyone in charge, in any place, to a preacher of the gospel, to a Bible study leader, or nursery coordinator, etc., is a direct violation against the heart and character of God whether we see them as qualified or not. The biggest tactic of the enemy is to disqualify them in our minds and hearts, so we “don’t have to” give them any due honor. The principle of God’s kingdom of authority and rule is that any man (person) in authority is set up there by God, and to think they may not be qualified, is only my opportunity to dishonor God!
Why would a child of God behave this way? They have listened to a liar, and a thief, and a destroyer all 3 are out for the destruction of their relationship with God. Children of God, must not listen to these things, nor should they incline their ears, giving that strange voice even the time of day!
There are many teachers, many a voice telling one which way to go and directing us here and there, but one Father. One who is under the lead of the Father God. One in our lives sent to us by God to raise us up as a parent would.
Who led you to the Lord? Where are they in vicinity to you now? Do they follow Christ? Do you ever think to follow them? Maybe you are not living near them, but you go to church. Is there anyone at your church that you submit yourself to willingly? Is there anyone who personally instructs and corrects you? Is there anyone you listen to and regard their words as you would a parent if you had a 2nd chance to honor a parent, a father? Is there there a disciple at your fellowship who is stronger than you in Christ, and is themselves a submitted dependant person that you can become a disciple of? If you do not submit yourself willingly to no one (bad English and bad grammar, bad attitude also ), you are NOT under authority, you are not Covenentally covered by the Divine nature and character of God. You may call Him Father in words, but he only accepts that if it is lived out in demonstration. Only a man who bows to authority is in authority and is called a son of God. All others are children, not grown enough to yet understand enough to make the change.
Jesus Himself was not called a Son of God until he submitted to a human imperfect man in the waters of baptism. God authored and blessed it.
Another tactic of the enemy is independence. An independent spirit is NOT from God. It is from the enemy. Independent spirits do not need parental guides. They don’t not want to be fathered, for in fathering that means they are quite possibly told what to do. Independent spirits do not like being told what to do. Exactly. One cannot even be fathered by God if they refuse to be told what to do and a man (child in maturity) willingly left to himself, brings his mother (the church, the Bride of Christ) to shame. God Himself said, “It is not good for a man to be alone, I’ll send him a Helper” - who will (use people and the inward witness of one’s submissive instructable spirit) to help him through his faith walk.
A wise son, listens and does. Lays down an arrogant heart purposefully. He is as a son who disallows pride to lead him at all; He Is completely dependant upon the words of God; Is humble, and submits himself; He honors authority unconditionally, in undeserving and disqualified forms, as though they are appointed by God, without reasoning out the qualification of their appointments.
They honor God willingly by giving honor to undeserving and seemingly unworthy men and women on earth.
They store up eternal rewards in refusing to make a name for themselves.
They live to exalt His name, by obeying His rules, which boggle the human reason.
Why would anyone willingly behave this way?
There’s really only one reason.
It’s Because of love.
1 Corinthians 4 Today's Daily Bread Reading
Paul’s Relationship with the Corinthians
1 So look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries. 2 Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful. 3 As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. 4 My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.
5 So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.
6 Dear brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself to illustrate what I’ve been saying. If you pay attention to what I have quoted from the Scriptures, you won’t be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another. 7 For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?
8 You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you. 9 Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike.
10 Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed. 11 Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. 12 We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. 13 We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.
14 I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. 15 For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. 16 So I urge you to imitate me.
17 That’s why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go.
18 Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not visit you again. 19 But I will come—and soon—if the Lord lets me, and then I’ll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power. 20 For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. 21 Which do you choose? Should I come with a rod to punish you, or should I come with love and a gentle spirit?
1 So look at Apollos and me as mere servants of Christ who have been put in charge of explaining God’s mysteries. 2 Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful. 3 As for me, it matters very little how I might be evaluated by you or by any human authority. I don’t even trust my own judgment on this point. 4 My conscience is clear, but that doesn’t prove I’m right. It is the Lord himself who will examine me and decide.
5 So don’t make judgments about anyone ahead of time—before the Lord returns. For he will bring our darkest secrets to light and will reveal our private motives. Then God will give to each one whatever praise is due.
6 Dear brothers and sisters, I have used Apollos and myself to illustrate what I’ve been saying. If you pay attention to what I have quoted from the Scriptures, you won’t be proud of one of your leaders at the expense of another. 7 For what gives you the right to make such a judgment? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?
8 You think you already have everything you need. You think you are already rich. You have begun to reign in God’s kingdom without us! I wish you really were reigning already, for then we would be reigning with you. 9 Instead, I sometimes think God has put us apostles on display, like prisoners of war at the end of a victor’s parade, condemned to die. We have become a spectacle to the entire world—to people and angels alike.
10 Our dedication to Christ makes us look like fools, but you claim to be so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are so powerful! You are honored, but we are ridiculed. 11 Even now we go hungry and thirsty, and we don’t have enough clothes to keep warm. We are often beaten and have no home. 12 We work wearily with our own hands to earn our living. We bless those who curse us. We are patient with those who abuse us. 13 We appeal gently when evil things are said about us. Yet we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.
14 I am not writing these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children. 15 For even if you had ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, you have only one spiritual father. For I became your father in Christ Jesus when I preached the Good News to you. 16 So I urge you to imitate me.
17 That’s why I have sent Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of how I follow Christ Jesus, just as I teach in all the churches wherever I go.
18 Some of you have become arrogant, thinking I will not visit you again. 19 But I will come—and soon—if the Lord lets me, and then I’ll find out whether these arrogant people just give pretentious speeches or whether they really have God’s power. 20 For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power. 21 Which do you choose? Should I come with a rod to punish you, or should I come with love and a gentle spirit?
Monday, March 19, 2007
Study Time w/ Lena's Journalin' to Luke Chapter 12 Today. Is youyr faith in God genuine faith that is tried and in demonstration today?
WOW!
Is your faith true? Has it been tried and proven by circumstances? Does it stay even when challenged? Is it evident to others, a faith that is demonstrated outwardly for others to see the fruits of? Or when they look at your life, especially those closest to you, would they say you are at all in any way like He is? (Christian means Christ-like)
Every belief system will be challenged by pain, suffering, circumstance, mockery & debate. Only the faith that remains, was ever a faith at all.
Listen, this is HUGE, the suffering, whatever type, whether physical or emotional, is only temporary. It is a test to see if one knows their faith is not based on a natural kingdom. Threats against someone’s life and soul are sent for the purpose of seeing where our faith is at. If the body here on earth is threatened by disease, or torture, if the mind is made to be challenged or upset, does the person still believe in Jesus for eternity? Is that faith everlasting, enduring through all to the end? Or is it only based upon present successes and blessings? When the happiness or blessings are not presently felt, does one give up their faith?
There is one who can kill the physical body, but there is One who can destroy the eternal soul. Everyone has a time on earth, no one but God knows how long that time is and how one will be taken away from that time.
Is God the Maker of me, the Creator of the whole universe, the One who is All powerful, need to be on trial with me? Is He in a time of proving, that I may count Him worthy of my praise? Am I checking to see if He’s gonna do what I want, and do it my way, and if He doesn’t do it my way, is there a consideration at all that I may not stay with Him, love Him or serve with Him now and forever?
That may seem a silly question, BUT is it? This is how we behave. It is what Christians seem to be doing, proving if God is even real to them.
Be very careful that, “putting God on trail” thinking, is very dangerous business!
In Isaiah 14, Lucifer, a very high ranking angelic being, who was continuously in the presence of the Lord, tried to stand in God’s place, even exalt himself above God’s place. He wanted he and God, to change places. He said that in his heart, then as soon as that thought crossed that chasm of mind/heart and came out the mouth, he was cast down to earth in a tragic catastrophic moment. That makes me wonder who we think we are when we entertain such thoughts taught to us by the god of this lower world, the old self exalting Lucifer? He was made a god alright, given rule by man who gave him place and rule. If we do not acknowledge, trust/rely on, and serve, God Most High, the only other we do worship, is this made lower, god.
If God is God, serve Him, if not, then it is already determined by our lack of decisiveness, we are already serving him (little “h”).
Those who decide for God, will follow Him in all His ways. They will allow Him to tell them where to walk and how, for they want to be guides on the road to eternal life. There is no question that He is God, of them and all others, no question what their place is here, as His dedicated servants and sons.
This is strongly written. People need to be alerted to the deceptions of satan who is after their very souls. Take a hard word, if it is hard, apply it and live!
Life is not measured by how much you work or how much you are worth by what you own from working better than others may be able to earn and show for their life’s labors. People build bigger barns and have parties to host people and show what has been built by their efforts, they get pleasure in how much they are blessed in their labors, but the true labor that is blessed by God, is the one who gives of his life for the kingdom of God and does not need to feel secure with more of the things in this life.
Money takes time to make, time =’s life spent on whatever. When we go to the store and buy something, we are cashing in our time for the things we buy. We are saying my life has been valued at this price. This thing I’m spending my money on is worth this much time to me. Some have to spend more time than others for the same amount of cash. The less time spent for a higher amount of money somehow sets value for that specific person.
So what we spend time on, is representative of the value we put on things. What we spend our lives on now are measurements in an eternal bank account with God, saved or unsaved, what are we spending our life on? We spend it how we want to, and it will be shown us, and all of the universe, on judgment day what was truly important to us.
Is/was God important to us? Was our family, was church, our places of worship and equipping important to us, personally? How much importance was placed on building God’s kingdom while we lived on earth? How did we show it with the spending of our time or money? If our money speaks to God and others of what is important to us, what would be said?
What do we live with and for, things or people? Things don’t talk back, disagree, or challenge, people do? Did God design us to live to never be challenged or changed? Nope, a thing will never serve God well in doing that.
One may like to think they have and do serve God while they sit alone in a house of things old and new, but who is sitting in that house with them, being taught by example the words of eternal life? Who wants to visit that household, because they see Him there and experience His great love?
Do we trust God enough to risk our own tranquility, do we trust Him enough to be agitated and upset in our wrong thinking and make willing changes? Are we willing to pay the price it takes to give up our determined way of living to love people? If we do not, we cannot say we love Him. The love of God, the love He will measure us by, is by His own measure and definition, not ours.
Everything we do, is our chance to express our levels of trust in God and our opportunities to follow His ways above our own, in demonstration of who is King and Lord to us personally. Trust is a big issue, and all of life centers around it. Are we making ourselves feel secure? Or finding our security in Him, rather than the measure of the success of living to get more and more things?
Ever notice people making more money, yet not having more? Ever notice the money seeming to leak out? It is a result, of the sowing and reaping principle. If we give into the eternal, we’ll have what we really need, which is a right relationship with God and His will. If we give only to ourselves, we will always lack in every area.
We have to know how the enemy appears to us to steal away our true faith. If we do not recognize him or his tactics and strategies against us, we will allow him to come into our lives, homes, businesses, churches, relationships and wreck havoc on us. You have to recognize him, even in disguise, that you may disallow him from having any place in stealing away your future security with God.
Earth is the place God has set us up to believe in Him and live for Him. We are tested and tried to see if our faith in Him is eternally genuine. We’re here to study for, and apply ourselves to the test. Only he who studies, applies the principle of the studies to the test of his life, and stays till the end, will be saved. Really.
The gospel message, must be demonstrated at all costs.
We must not be contentious, but we must live for truth, we must not compromise our faith for what will not last.
Even relationships. The only relationships that will last are those set in Him. This is what one must live and breathe here for a deeper relationship with Him and trust Him enough to be willing to demonstrate it to others, daily.
Is your faith true? Has it been tried and proven by circumstances? Does it stay even when challenged? Is it evident to others, a faith that is demonstrated outwardly for others to see the fruits of? Or when they look at your life, especially those closest to you, would they say you are at all in any way like He is? (Christian means Christ-like)
Every belief system will be challenged by pain, suffering, circumstance, mockery & debate. Only the faith that remains, was ever a faith at all.
Listen, this is HUGE, the suffering, whatever type, whether physical or emotional, is only temporary. It is a test to see if one knows their faith is not based on a natural kingdom. Threats against someone’s life and soul are sent for the purpose of seeing where our faith is at. If the body here on earth is threatened by disease, or torture, if the mind is made to be challenged or upset, does the person still believe in Jesus for eternity? Is that faith everlasting, enduring through all to the end? Or is it only based upon present successes and blessings? When the happiness or blessings are not presently felt, does one give up their faith?
There is one who can kill the physical body, but there is One who can destroy the eternal soul. Everyone has a time on earth, no one but God knows how long that time is and how one will be taken away from that time.
Is God the Maker of me, the Creator of the whole universe, the One who is All powerful, need to be on trial with me? Is He in a time of proving, that I may count Him worthy of my praise? Am I checking to see if He’s gonna do what I want, and do it my way, and if He doesn’t do it my way, is there a consideration at all that I may not stay with Him, love Him or serve with Him now and forever?
That may seem a silly question, BUT is it? This is how we behave. It is what Christians seem to be doing, proving if God is even real to them.
Be very careful that, “putting God on trail” thinking, is very dangerous business!
In Isaiah 14, Lucifer, a very high ranking angelic being, who was continuously in the presence of the Lord, tried to stand in God’s place, even exalt himself above God’s place. He wanted he and God, to change places. He said that in his heart, then as soon as that thought crossed that chasm of mind/heart and came out the mouth, he was cast down to earth in a tragic catastrophic moment. That makes me wonder who we think we are when we entertain such thoughts taught to us by the god of this lower world, the old self exalting Lucifer? He was made a god alright, given rule by man who gave him place and rule. If we do not acknowledge, trust/rely on, and serve, God Most High, the only other we do worship, is this made lower, god.
If God is God, serve Him, if not, then it is already determined by our lack of decisiveness, we are already serving him (little “h”).
Those who decide for God, will follow Him in all His ways. They will allow Him to tell them where to walk and how, for they want to be guides on the road to eternal life. There is no question that He is God, of them and all others, no question what their place is here, as His dedicated servants and sons.
This is strongly written. People need to be alerted to the deceptions of satan who is after their very souls. Take a hard word, if it is hard, apply it and live!
Life is not measured by how much you work or how much you are worth by what you own from working better than others may be able to earn and show for their life’s labors. People build bigger barns and have parties to host people and show what has been built by their efforts, they get pleasure in how much they are blessed in their labors, but the true labor that is blessed by God, is the one who gives of his life for the kingdom of God and does not need to feel secure with more of the things in this life.
Money takes time to make, time =’s life spent on whatever. When we go to the store and buy something, we are cashing in our time for the things we buy. We are saying my life has been valued at this price. This thing I’m spending my money on is worth this much time to me. Some have to spend more time than others for the same amount of cash. The less time spent for a higher amount of money somehow sets value for that specific person.
So what we spend time on, is representative of the value we put on things. What we spend our lives on now are measurements in an eternal bank account with God, saved or unsaved, what are we spending our life on? We spend it how we want to, and it will be shown us, and all of the universe, on judgment day what was truly important to us.
Is/was God important to us? Was our family, was church, our places of worship and equipping important to us, personally? How much importance was placed on building God’s kingdom while we lived on earth? How did we show it with the spending of our time or money? If our money speaks to God and others of what is important to us, what would be said?
What do we live with and for, things or people? Things don’t talk back, disagree, or challenge, people do? Did God design us to live to never be challenged or changed? Nope, a thing will never serve God well in doing that.
One may like to think they have and do serve God while they sit alone in a house of things old and new, but who is sitting in that house with them, being taught by example the words of eternal life? Who wants to visit that household, because they see Him there and experience His great love?
Do we trust God enough to risk our own tranquility, do we trust Him enough to be agitated and upset in our wrong thinking and make willing changes? Are we willing to pay the price it takes to give up our determined way of living to love people? If we do not, we cannot say we love Him. The love of God, the love He will measure us by, is by His own measure and definition, not ours.
Everything we do, is our chance to express our levels of trust in God and our opportunities to follow His ways above our own, in demonstration of who is King and Lord to us personally. Trust is a big issue, and all of life centers around it. Are we making ourselves feel secure? Or finding our security in Him, rather than the measure of the success of living to get more and more things?
Ever notice people making more money, yet not having more? Ever notice the money seeming to leak out? It is a result, of the sowing and reaping principle. If we give into the eternal, we’ll have what we really need, which is a right relationship with God and His will. If we give only to ourselves, we will always lack in every area.
We have to know how the enemy appears to us to steal away our true faith. If we do not recognize him or his tactics and strategies against us, we will allow him to come into our lives, homes, businesses, churches, relationships and wreck havoc on us. You have to recognize him, even in disguise, that you may disallow him from having any place in stealing away your future security with God.
Earth is the place God has set us up to believe in Him and live for Him. We are tested and tried to see if our faith in Him is eternally genuine. We’re here to study for, and apply ourselves to the test. Only he who studies, applies the principle of the studies to the test of his life, and stays till the end, will be saved. Really.
The gospel message, must be demonstrated at all costs.
We must not be contentious, but we must live for truth, we must not compromise our faith for what will not last.
Even relationships. The only relationships that will last are those set in Him. This is what one must live and breathe here for a deeper relationship with Him and trust Him enough to be willing to demonstrate it to others, daily.
Luke 12 Daily Bread Reading for Today
A Warning against Hypocrisy
1 Meanwhile, the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and stepping on each other. Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy. 2 The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. 3 Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!
4 “Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that. 5 But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he’s the one to fear.
6 “What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. 7 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
8 “I tell you the truth, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of Man will also acknowledge in the presence of God’s angels. 9 But anyone who denies me here on earth will be denied before God’s angels. 10 Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
11 “And when you are brought to trial in the synagogues and before rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what to say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said.”
Parable of the Rich Fool
13 Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” 15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”
16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’
21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
Teaching about Money and Possessions
22 Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear. 23 For life is more than food, and your body more than clothing. 24 Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! 25 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 26 And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?
27 “Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 28 And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
29 “And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things. 30 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs. 31 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.
32 “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.
33 “Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. 34 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
Be Ready for the Lord’s Coming
35 “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. 37 The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! 38 He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.
39 “Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”
41 Peter asked, “Lord, is that illustration just for us or for everyone?”
42 And the Lord replied, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. 43 If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. 44 I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. 45 But what if the servant thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’ and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk? 46 The master will return unannounced and unexpected, and he will cut the servant in pieces and banish him with the unfaithful.
47 “And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. 48 But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.
Jesus Causes Division
49 “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! 50 I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. 51 Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! 52 From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.
53 ‘Father will be divided against son
and son against father;
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother;
and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’”
54 Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said, “When you see clouds beginning to form in the west, you say, ‘Here comes a shower.’ And you are right. 55 When the south wind blows, you say, ‘Today will be a scorcher.’ And it is. 56 You fools! You know how to interpret the weather signs of the earth and sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the present times.
57 “Why can’t you decide for yourselves what is right? 58 When you are on the way to court with your accuser, try to settle the matter before you get there. Otherwise, your accuser may drag you before the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, who will throw you into prison. 59 And if that happens, you won’t be free again until you have paid the very last penny.”
1 Meanwhile, the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and stepping on each other. Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, “Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees—their hypocrisy. 2 The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed, and all that is secret will be made known to all. 3 Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear!
4 “Dear friends, don’t be afraid of those who want to kill your body; they cannot do any more to you after that. 5 But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he’s the one to fear.
6 “What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. 7 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.
8 “I tell you the truth, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of Man will also acknowledge in the presence of God’s angels. 9 But anyone who denies me here on earth will be denied before God’s angels. 10 Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
11 “And when you are brought to trial in the synagogues and before rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what to say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said.”
Parable of the Rich Fool
13 Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.”
14 Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” 15 Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”
16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’
21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”
Teaching about Money and Possessions
22 Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear. 23 For life is more than food, and your body more than clothing. 24 Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! 25 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 26 And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?
27 “Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 28 And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
29 “And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things. 30 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs. 31 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.
32 “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.
33 “Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. 34 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
Be Ready for the Lord’s Coming
35 “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. 37 The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! 38 He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn. But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.
39 “Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”
41 Peter asked, “Lord, is that illustration just for us or for everyone?”
42 And the Lord replied, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. 43 If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. 44 I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. 45 But what if the servant thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’ and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk? 46 The master will return unannounced and unexpected, and he will cut the servant in pieces and banish him with the unfaithful.
47 “And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. 48 But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.
Jesus Causes Division
49 “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! 50 I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. 51 Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! 52 From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.
53 ‘Father will be divided against son
and son against father;
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother;
and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’”
54 Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said, “When you see clouds beginning to form in the west, you say, ‘Here comes a shower.’ And you are right. 55 When the south wind blows, you say, ‘Today will be a scorcher.’ And it is. 56 You fools! You know how to interpret the weather signs of the earth and sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the present times.
57 “Why can’t you decide for yourselves what is right? 58 When you are on the way to court with your accuser, try to settle the matter before you get there. Otherwise, your accuser may drag you before the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, who will throw you into prison. 59 And if that happens, you won’t be free again until you have paid the very last penny.”
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Study Time to Psalm 47 with Lena's Journalin'
Come whoever feels like it. Clap your hands with joyful shouting, only if you feel as good as you do when you are at a sports event and your team is scoring or wins.
Express your love for God in exuberant loud praise, only if He has done something really big for you - personally. If you’ve seen something miraculous with your natural eyes and have experienced some awesome feat, like seeing a dead man raised, at that time, jump up and down with glee and spin around showing the world and every good and evil angel, how very much you love God based on what He does for you.
Love Him when you feel like He’s done something such as that, something to “deserve” your outward pride stomping on praise.
If you visibly see God come out to defeat your enemies, the ones you don’t like to be bothered with. If He makes people you don’t particularly care for stop saying bad stuff about you, or if He changes them, or if He makes them move far away from you so you don’t have to interact with them everyday anymore, then call Him great with your own mouth in a song.
If God miraculously fixes all of your mistakes and does not have you live with the consequences of any of your wrong choices and if he helps you become responsible to choose what is right or wrong, according to His standard, if He lets you make your own standard and not ever have to own up to anything, only at that time, stand up in church and lift your hands and praise Him, acknowledging Him as God.
If He shows up visibly in your church service and has a processional, where you can see Him wearing His royal robe and extending His royal scepter, at that time, bow to Him in homage willingly, ok?
Let the people trained to sing at church, do the singing. Let the ones who feel especially happy that day, do all the singing and express themselves willingly before God Let the ones who have no struggles sing today. Let those who have seen miracles sing, and join in with those who have no needs at all. Let the ones who are closest to God, sing His praise. All of the others are excused somehow, right?
Oh, no, let people who hold positions as though they were chosen special by God, let those who have appointments and titles praise Him and honor Him by stepping outside of the comfort zones of their own personalities, those are the ones who should praise and be thankful to God for His great love and the power of the work of that love extended to man willingly.
All of the above is as hogwash!
I see men and women rationalize praise, excuse themselves, from their personal participation in it, observe it as though it is a spectator sport.
I hear words like this,
Oh clap your (own) hands together EVERYONE who is alive on earth.
Somehow I know that means me, and also is specific to every other person, who is standing in a church service being given the same word of God we have all willingly come to hear.
There’s no one alive on earth that this word is not speaking of and is giving an excuse to, to not clap unto God, except for me. I make my own excuses. I excusing myself from offering Him praise.
Praise, like any other Christian expression is offered from one who so chooses to offer it.
One thing I have learned recently is that every word I hear, either from reading God’s word, or from a preacher preaching to me, or a being taught by a teacher, is an offer to me by God My Father, the LORD Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Every word given in the presence of my hearing ears is an opportunity I can accept or decline. It is an option to me, even though it is the very truth that is powerfully set up by God to help change me and make me one with His spirit. I can opt out of it, but in taking these words as options and in regarding them as mere suggestions, I lose out of a loving and obedient relationship with My Father. Obedience is the way to have a close relationship with the Father God. Obedience is the highest form of love any human can give. For they are freewill beings and do not have to, but can if they want to, If they want to, they can, and if they do, they have chosen to love - Him.
Praise is choosing to honor God.
It is choosing to exalt Him, when other things in life would love to have His place, especially where my affections are concerned.
It is a choice demonstrated in being thankful no matter what seems evident or true.
It is saying God is the Lord of me, no matter what kinds of smoke-screens have been set up to distract me.
It is willingly putting Him visibly on top even if I don’t see or feel Him in the natural. It is an act of faith, which oh so pleases Our Father.
It is a demonstration of service by faith.
It is willful obedience epitomized.
It is changing who I was, to become who He is, willingly!
It is earth in harmony with heaven, now, for me.
If I praise, I get off of the throne of my own heart and give that place to God, if I stay there as my own lord, I’ve already given place to god’s enemy in my heart, the enemy of my soul.
I give the enemy absolutely no place in me, because I purposely choose not to. I have to choose. If I don’t I’ve already chosen.
Express your love for God in exuberant loud praise, only if He has done something really big for you - personally. If you’ve seen something miraculous with your natural eyes and have experienced some awesome feat, like seeing a dead man raised, at that time, jump up and down with glee and spin around showing the world and every good and evil angel, how very much you love God based on what He does for you.
Love Him when you feel like He’s done something such as that, something to “deserve” your outward pride stomping on praise.
If you visibly see God come out to defeat your enemies, the ones you don’t like to be bothered with. If He makes people you don’t particularly care for stop saying bad stuff about you, or if He changes them, or if He makes them move far away from you so you don’t have to interact with them everyday anymore, then call Him great with your own mouth in a song.
If God miraculously fixes all of your mistakes and does not have you live with the consequences of any of your wrong choices and if he helps you become responsible to choose what is right or wrong, according to His standard, if He lets you make your own standard and not ever have to own up to anything, only at that time, stand up in church and lift your hands and praise Him, acknowledging Him as God.
If He shows up visibly in your church service and has a processional, where you can see Him wearing His royal robe and extending His royal scepter, at that time, bow to Him in homage willingly, ok?
Let the people trained to sing at church, do the singing. Let the ones who feel especially happy that day, do all the singing and express themselves willingly before God Let the ones who have no struggles sing today. Let those who have seen miracles sing, and join in with those who have no needs at all. Let the ones who are closest to God, sing His praise. All of the others are excused somehow, right?
Oh, no, let people who hold positions as though they were chosen special by God, let those who have appointments and titles praise Him and honor Him by stepping outside of the comfort zones of their own personalities, those are the ones who should praise and be thankful to God for His great love and the power of the work of that love extended to man willingly.
All of the above is as hogwash!
I see men and women rationalize praise, excuse themselves, from their personal participation in it, observe it as though it is a spectator sport.
I hear words like this,
Oh clap your (own) hands together EVERYONE who is alive on earth.
Somehow I know that means me, and also is specific to every other person, who is standing in a church service being given the same word of God we have all willingly come to hear.
There’s no one alive on earth that this word is not speaking of and is giving an excuse to, to not clap unto God, except for me. I make my own excuses. I excusing myself from offering Him praise.
Praise, like any other Christian expression is offered from one who so chooses to offer it.
One thing I have learned recently is that every word I hear, either from reading God’s word, or from a preacher preaching to me, or a being taught by a teacher, is an offer to me by God My Father, the LORD Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Every word given in the presence of my hearing ears is an opportunity I can accept or decline. It is an option to me, even though it is the very truth that is powerfully set up by God to help change me and make me one with His spirit. I can opt out of it, but in taking these words as options and in regarding them as mere suggestions, I lose out of a loving and obedient relationship with My Father. Obedience is the way to have a close relationship with the Father God. Obedience is the highest form of love any human can give. For they are freewill beings and do not have to, but can if they want to, If they want to, they can, and if they do, they have chosen to love - Him.
Praise is choosing to honor God.
It is choosing to exalt Him, when other things in life would love to have His place, especially where my affections are concerned.
It is a choice demonstrated in being thankful no matter what seems evident or true.
It is saying God is the Lord of me, no matter what kinds of smoke-screens have been set up to distract me.
It is willingly putting Him visibly on top even if I don’t see or feel Him in the natural. It is an act of faith, which oh so pleases Our Father.
It is a demonstration of service by faith.
It is willful obedience epitomized.
It is changing who I was, to become who He is, willingly!
It is earth in harmony with heaven, now, for me.
If I praise, I get off of the throne of my own heart and give that place to God, if I stay there as my own lord, I’ve already given place to god’s enemy in my heart, the enemy of my soul.
I give the enemy absolutely no place in me, because I purposely choose not to. I have to choose. If I don’t I’ve already chosen.
Psalm 47 Today
Psalm 47
For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah.
1 Come, everyone! Clap your hands!
Shout to God with joyful praise!
2 For the Lord Most High is awesome.
He is the great King of all the earth.
3 He subdues the nations before us,
putting our enemies beneath our feet.
4 He chose the Promised Land as our inheritance,
the proud possession of Jacob’s descendants, whom he loves.
Interlude
5 God has ascended with a mighty shout.
The Lord has ascended with trumpets blaring.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises!
7 For God is the King over all the earth.
Praise him with a psalm!
8 God reigns above the nations,
sitting on his holy throne.
9 The rulers of the world have gathered together
with the people of the God of Abraham.
For all the kings of the earth belong to God.
He is highly honored everywhere.
For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah.
1 Come, everyone! Clap your hands!
Shout to God with joyful praise!
2 For the Lord Most High is awesome.
He is the great King of all the earth.
3 He subdues the nations before us,
putting our enemies beneath our feet.
4 He chose the Promised Land as our inheritance,
the proud possession of Jacob’s descendants, whom he loves.
Interlude
5 God has ascended with a mighty shout.
The Lord has ascended with trumpets blaring.
6 Sing praises to God, sing praises;
sing praises to our King, sing praises!
7 For God is the King over all the earth.
Praise him with a psalm!
8 God reigns above the nations,
sitting on his holy throne.
9 The rulers of the world have gathered together
with the people of the God of Abraham.
For all the kings of the earth belong to God.
He is highly honored everywhere.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Studying Luke 15 with Lena's Journalin' Today
What is more important and of a higher priority? Feeding those who can learn to feed themselves, or seeking out those who do not know how to eat the only thing that will save them for eternity? The Word of God, the Bread of Life?
Eating and drinking are essential to life, what one eats and drinks is imperative to being made alive. Life’s success or failure and true longevity comes from eating the right diet. I’m speaking both naturally and spiritually speaking. Life and death are so linked to appetite. What is it one desires to eat? That is what he will most likely eat.
There is a world who do not realize they are eating death, death is in the pot! If we do not go, as He went, and eat with them, tickling their palates with truth and life, how will they know that what they’ve eaten is poison?
What if we ourselves do not even know how to properly feed ourselves, how then can we feed others life? We must eat and drink life, so we can eat and drink life with those who have none. Then we’ve got to have so much of a life overflow that we can go and serve others, setting an eternal table for them that they cannot wait to come eat and drink from.
If there’s any call on anyone’s life, ever, that is the call that has gone out to all mankind, wherever you work, play, eat, drink, live, THIS IS your call from God! I find it such a pity when someone is looking for purpose and skips over the very purpose set out for each of us, engage in this lifestyle and you’ll be satisfied in life like never before and never to be found elsewhere. It is so sad to look so far off to some religious stardom, when the world is on our very street and around the block. Go into the world is only a few steps away, serious, within our own community there are an amazing amount of nations represented, students, potential ambassadors for God’s kingdom on earth, etc. They’ll go home after we educate them, they’ll take whatever we give them, if we will and we don’t have to learn all their ways, language, risk our familie’s lives or even buy a plane ticket. Usually when someone takes a missions trip it is brief anyway, to deposit seed in someone who lives there so they can spread it out from where they are. What about taking that student into your daily family life for the 4 years they are here, having a relationship with them, for longer than a missions trip and showing them Christ day to day (I didn’t say they have to move in, that’s between you and God, but eat with them, serve them as am ambassador, minister, love, show HIM). The world, even the enemy uses the tactic and takes godly children, plants them away form home life, teaches them new ideas, plants and tries to prove them in them in 2,4,6,8, 12 years of college and then launches them into the “mission” (career) field. If he knows that strategy, why do we not seize it for God’s kingdom power and glory!
What if one does not desire to eat what is right? How can that change? How can one change their desire? That can be a feat and once the offer is accepted for help and change from the Spirit of God who works His supernatural work in us there can truly be a transformation of appetites. Usually it starts with an intentful decision, based on faith in the truth. Another way that everyone knows of is fasting, fasting what one should not be eating on purpose. When one fasts they become hungry, then when it is time to eat, they are once again sensitized and can eat what is right. Bingo, they now have an appetite for what is right.
An example of this is TV watching, if one has no time for God, for prayer, for reading, or study or to worship at home, but they find they sit in front of the TV a lot and it takes that time that could be given to the things of the Lord, they are honest and have found they have no appetite for the things of God. If they want to change that they can fast TV, turn it off. They find they end up having room, an empty space that needs filling. If one disciplines the soul and only feeds it worship or study etc. during that time, and does not allow the former appetite to be fed, thus fasting it, voila - a new appetite forms. If a person only has one thing to eat, they soon desire it.
We have been doing what is really important to us, but when something or someone else should be the more important thing and we find that out, we can change what we’ve spent the time on.
Value is assessed by how much of one’s life is spent on any thing or persons. This is how God tells what is important to us. If we never seek to save the lost, won’t allow Him to change our character to be more inviting and to better represent Him, if we refuse to lose our independent thinking and become thoroughly dependant upon Him, He sees what is truly important to us.
What is important to God is what needs to become what is also of utmost importance to us. Reprioritization is always the order of each day. If we spend our whole lives working hard to pay for things, and take care of the things, we may be skipping over what we should be working harder to take care of, which is the lives, hearts, and minds of people.
A father who says I’m taking care of my kids, by never being home, and he is always working more to buy them more, is fooled and will feel so ashamed when he stands before His Heavenly Father. He did what he thought was important, but it was not in God’s eyes. Being there as an example to his child as they managed what it is they had, was what God wanted. They don’t need big toys to be together and learn of the Word put to life through loving service. They don’t need more things to grow one another up as a valuable people, who know they are here to love God more and more and demonstrate that love to as many people as one family can.
To what extent do we extend our self-life to save a soul? Seriously. How much do we pray prayers of faith that go along with God’s wishes over someone who is lost? We complain of non-Christian behaviors in people, but how much do we pray for the Holy Spirit to draw them to the heart of God, have mercy on them in what they are deceived in, ask for blindness to be taken from their spiritual eyes, and spiritual deafness from their hearing ears? How much time would we turn off the TV and get on our knees in prayers like this, to ask God to help them, draw them, surround them, with laborers, and listen, to see if He has anything at all for us to do for them that week practically?
This is not based on what they deserve or do not deserve, the Prodigal pretty much spit in his dad’s face and left him, but the father still stood looking. Prayer watchmen watch for what is important for them to see come to pass, they expect not what was seen, but what is not yet seen, to be miraculously revealed. They do that because that’s how their Father is, they want to be as He is and love who He loves.
Not a one of us deserved His great loving sacrifice, no one, not even the “best” person on earth, but He gave His life, anyway.
Do we love who He loves? How do we show that to Him everyday?
The Father knew, that whatever bad or wrong choices this human being made, not one consequence of his wrong choices would be anywhere near as horrid as eternal separation from His Father God, eternal doom, death and torment. The love of His own Father inside of Him, had to pray, fast, look out for and extend his soul for this human creation. He could not look at what happened and base it on this, he had to look at the eternal person inside of the man, and draw him with love.
How great is His love?
How great is ours?
How great is our love for who He loves?
He loves the unlovely and undeserving ones.
Eating and drinking are essential to life, what one eats and drinks is imperative to being made alive. Life’s success or failure and true longevity comes from eating the right diet. I’m speaking both naturally and spiritually speaking. Life and death are so linked to appetite. What is it one desires to eat? That is what he will most likely eat.
There is a world who do not realize they are eating death, death is in the pot! If we do not go, as He went, and eat with them, tickling their palates with truth and life, how will they know that what they’ve eaten is poison?
What if we ourselves do not even know how to properly feed ourselves, how then can we feed others life? We must eat and drink life, so we can eat and drink life with those who have none. Then we’ve got to have so much of a life overflow that we can go and serve others, setting an eternal table for them that they cannot wait to come eat and drink from.
If there’s any call on anyone’s life, ever, that is the call that has gone out to all mankind, wherever you work, play, eat, drink, live, THIS IS your call from God! I find it such a pity when someone is looking for purpose and skips over the very purpose set out for each of us, engage in this lifestyle and you’ll be satisfied in life like never before and never to be found elsewhere. It is so sad to look so far off to some religious stardom, when the world is on our very street and around the block. Go into the world is only a few steps away, serious, within our own community there are an amazing amount of nations represented, students, potential ambassadors for God’s kingdom on earth, etc. They’ll go home after we educate them, they’ll take whatever we give them, if we will and we don’t have to learn all their ways, language, risk our familie’s lives or even buy a plane ticket. Usually when someone takes a missions trip it is brief anyway, to deposit seed in someone who lives there so they can spread it out from where they are. What about taking that student into your daily family life for the 4 years they are here, having a relationship with them, for longer than a missions trip and showing them Christ day to day (I didn’t say they have to move in, that’s between you and God, but eat with them, serve them as am ambassador, minister, love, show HIM). The world, even the enemy uses the tactic and takes godly children, plants them away form home life, teaches them new ideas, plants and tries to prove them in them in 2,4,6,8, 12 years of college and then launches them into the “mission” (career) field. If he knows that strategy, why do we not seize it for God’s kingdom power and glory!
What if one does not desire to eat what is right? How can that change? How can one change their desire? That can be a feat and once the offer is accepted for help and change from the Spirit of God who works His supernatural work in us there can truly be a transformation of appetites. Usually it starts with an intentful decision, based on faith in the truth. Another way that everyone knows of is fasting, fasting what one should not be eating on purpose. When one fasts they become hungry, then when it is time to eat, they are once again sensitized and can eat what is right. Bingo, they now have an appetite for what is right.
An example of this is TV watching, if one has no time for God, for prayer, for reading, or study or to worship at home, but they find they sit in front of the TV a lot and it takes that time that could be given to the things of the Lord, they are honest and have found they have no appetite for the things of God. If they want to change that they can fast TV, turn it off. They find they end up having room, an empty space that needs filling. If one disciplines the soul and only feeds it worship or study etc. during that time, and does not allow the former appetite to be fed, thus fasting it, voila - a new appetite forms. If a person only has one thing to eat, they soon desire it.
We have been doing what is really important to us, but when something or someone else should be the more important thing and we find that out, we can change what we’ve spent the time on.
Value is assessed by how much of one’s life is spent on any thing or persons. This is how God tells what is important to us. If we never seek to save the lost, won’t allow Him to change our character to be more inviting and to better represent Him, if we refuse to lose our independent thinking and become thoroughly dependant upon Him, He sees what is truly important to us.
What is important to God is what needs to become what is also of utmost importance to us. Reprioritization is always the order of each day. If we spend our whole lives working hard to pay for things, and take care of the things, we may be skipping over what we should be working harder to take care of, which is the lives, hearts, and minds of people.
A father who says I’m taking care of my kids, by never being home, and he is always working more to buy them more, is fooled and will feel so ashamed when he stands before His Heavenly Father. He did what he thought was important, but it was not in God’s eyes. Being there as an example to his child as they managed what it is they had, was what God wanted. They don’t need big toys to be together and learn of the Word put to life through loving service. They don’t need more things to grow one another up as a valuable people, who know they are here to love God more and more and demonstrate that love to as many people as one family can.
To what extent do we extend our self-life to save a soul? Seriously. How much do we pray prayers of faith that go along with God’s wishes over someone who is lost? We complain of non-Christian behaviors in people, but how much do we pray for the Holy Spirit to draw them to the heart of God, have mercy on them in what they are deceived in, ask for blindness to be taken from their spiritual eyes, and spiritual deafness from their hearing ears? How much time would we turn off the TV and get on our knees in prayers like this, to ask God to help them, draw them, surround them, with laborers, and listen, to see if He has anything at all for us to do for them that week practically?
This is not based on what they deserve or do not deserve, the Prodigal pretty much spit in his dad’s face and left him, but the father still stood looking. Prayer watchmen watch for what is important for them to see come to pass, they expect not what was seen, but what is not yet seen, to be miraculously revealed. They do that because that’s how their Father is, they want to be as He is and love who He loves.
Not a one of us deserved His great loving sacrifice, no one, not even the “best” person on earth, but He gave His life, anyway.
Do we love who He loves? How do we show that to Him everyday?
The Father knew, that whatever bad or wrong choices this human being made, not one consequence of his wrong choices would be anywhere near as horrid as eternal separation from His Father God, eternal doom, death and torment. The love of His own Father inside of Him, had to pray, fast, look out for and extend his soul for this human creation. He could not look at what happened and base it on this, he had to look at the eternal person inside of the man, and draw him with love.
How great is His love?
How great is ours?
How great is our love for who He loves?
He loves the unlovely and undeserving ones.
Luke 15 Today's Daily Bread Reading
Parable of the Lost Sheep
1 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
Parable of the Lost Son
11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
1 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
3 So Jesus told them this story: 4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!
Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels when even one sinner repents.”
Parable of the Lost Son
11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Studying Isaiah 58 w/ Lena's Journalin' - Why Fasting?
Do Not be deceived by the tactics of satan and his ever telling of pitiful lies. Israel has sinned, has barely a relationship with her God, her Father, her Maker, her appointed Master, her promised to be Lord, her Husband, Friend & Lover.
Sin has a few meanings-
Separation, missing a mark/target, and willful sin or rebellion.
Israel is too proud to have her heart thoroughly searched by her Lord, who wants her to offer Him a whole heart and not just half of one. She reserves a space for Him and allows Him in when she does, and doesn’t when she doesn’t. She entertains Him in which ever room she has cleaned up herself, but has closed doors on the messy ones, thinking it would hurt Him too much to see all that, all the while she has no faith in Him, nor does she know who he is, or she’d know He is there to clean the rooms for her!
She deems herself as ok, even without Him, and does things in her own strength. When she does not feel strong enough to do something He has requested of her in her Christian walk, she doesn’t arise in the power of His might and do it anyway, making a brand new plan for her life if needbe, and adjusting as much of her life as is possible to engage that new plan.
She does not call sin what He calls sin, to her that’s way too hard to live by that standard, and she has been deceived into being satisfied as she is, with the enemy justifying her into feeling God loves her no matter what (which he does), but he finds no pleasure in pride and refusal to obey His words. She is actually cursed in what she won’t offer to God.
She justifies and excuses herself. She tries hard to look good, while inside she is writhing with undealt-with pain, yet has not placed herself willingly on the potter’s wheel to be shaped completely differently by whatever is in His heart for her. She doesn’t trust or fear Him enough, she fears men or change more, or maybe herself, for she isn’t familiar with herself a different way and she’s not willing to risk the comfort of her own flesh. She wants to wear what she wants to wear, she is so independent and is proud of being free to live as she pleases. She tells herself often, even in front of others, she is ok w/ God, he is ok w/ her, he even loves her and they have good fellowship together, all the while she does not realize she speaks to the wall of herself when she prays.
This is the religious church that refuses to be changed into His image and likeness, goes through motions of being a good person by their own standard of goodness, which is as filthy, bloodied rags that stink to God. No one is good on their own merit, or standard of goodness.
ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, ALL must seek His ways diligently, with all of our getting get understanding, come to know Him as a person, not a set of good rules to follow or motions to go through to rack up points in the religious point systems.
Once a person believes in Christ and receives Christ, they must expect to change all of their old ways, all of their old thoughts, and be transformed, by a mind renewed.
All else is stinking flesh, unburned on the altar. Salvation is the very beginning of a daily shed blood living sacrifice with the infusion of daily resurrection power.
The chosen fast is to change all of this, forever.
The religious build their own kingdoms and rule their own roosts, their way. They feel faithful in erecting something good for God. It’s like saying, Daddy, look what I built for you, all the while He was waiting for them to ask Him what He wanted built, to be interested in how He’d like it, where He wants it to stand, who does He wants it built with, and how high, all because of love.
His good at our expense!
“I don’t know how to build that, that way!”
“Ok, let Me show you how.”
“Well, I can’t do that that way. I’ve never done it that way ever, I would not even be able to!”
“Then I’ll show you how to change. I’ll even give you tools, and instructions and materials, and the money to make it happen.”
“How will that all happen, Lord?”
“Come closer and I’ll show you, ahead of time, come closer and I’ll tell you how, everyday. You just need to seek Me, and then do exactly as I say.”
“That’s all?”
“Do whatever I say, ok?”
“Just like you say, what if I see it differently or a better way? What if I don’t understand the instructions?”
“Do you trust Me and really want to go the way of eternal answers and avoid the future highways of mistakes made and pains of consequences had? Oh, let me tell you something else,”
“What Lord?”
“ I’m sending messengers.”
“Messengers?”
“ Yes, messengers. They are My way, the way I’ve set up to tell you what to do to build for Me, and they will explain how, if you are brave enough to ask them and then do as they say. Remember this is My kingdom that you will be building, but you can’t do it alone, so I’m sending help, a lot of help. The help is gonna build character in you. You may not like or agree with the help all of the time. Just be aware they are set up by Me to be a test of how much you really love and trust Me.”
“Seriously? What a way to do things, I thought this walk was supposed to be about blessing me and making my life easier.”
“It is, ultimately, eternally, if you follow My highway. Joy is an eternal blessing. Blessing is the result of a righteous unselfish walk with Me in My building project on earth.”
“Ya ready to go?”
“Wait! Lord”?
“Yes?”
“ Did you say messengers?”
“Yes.”
“ Like who? How ill I know they are being used by You?”
My messengers on earth are people and sometimes visibly angelic hosts,though their words must match Mine, in the spirit of the word more than the letter, even enemies use My word to twist and deceive. It has to be the Spirit of Truth that you hear through the messenger, even the most unlikely ones.”
“Like preachers?”
Yes, and like children, teachers, bosses and family members. All people you relate with, will be My messengers to you if you’ll see and hear it. The point here is, WILL YOU Hear (and act on) it, no matter the form I send it in? ya know one time a long time ago, I used a man named saul, as My messenger, as a teacher, a trainer? In all outward appearances he was a bad-sad man. Many would never do anything he said by letter of the law, he did not deserve honor, but there was one man, a man after My heart that saw through it, to the proving and developing of character, My David. Then there was another Saul, sent to persecute and prove the real faith of My church, My bride….”
“Really, all people? Even unsaved ones?”
“Yes, but only if you are wiling to listen to them, they can truly have a message too. Don’t pick and choose who you listen to, to hear My instruction, be wise, and not only in your own eyes, ok? So, are you ready to go yet? I’m waiting, have been waiting, will wait till all of your days are gone, but I hope we have time to get some things done on this building project….”
“So this is why we fast? “
In order to practice denying our own wills and forsaking our own ways of even seeing things?
To stop pointing at others, and to ask the Holy Spirit to see deep inside of us, because we are wiling to have Him see the dirt in us and clean it out, confessing that we are weak and unable to change without His help?
It’s to show we trust Him enough to let the walls of perdition down.
To devour pride’s work in us!
To disallow any prideful action to exalt itself against God’s purpose of forming a truly humbled and undone people.
To really expose our fears, dreads, bitterness’s, etc to God, laying them on an altar of sacrifice, to be burned out of us forever, leaving no traces of how they looked before.
Wow!
“So it all boils down to two things really?”
Loving God
And
Loving People too
Really loving them, more than I love myself.
“So, I don’t have to be right?”
“Hardly ever.”
This is the HUGE problem:
won’t let the wall down, cause you are right
won’t risk it all, you’re right
won’t listen to messengers, you are so right
won’t see, you already know enough
won’t be vulnerable to anyone, you have rights
won’t willingly extend your souls to love deeper, higher, wider, cause you’ve been there, done that, have the T Shirt to prove it, tried it before, it doesn’t work…
Wow.
Where is faith, hope, love?
Wow.
“So, fasting is about laying down your rights?”
“Yes! Amen. I believe you are getting the Spirit of the word”
Sin has a few meanings-
Separation, missing a mark/target, and willful sin or rebellion.
Israel is too proud to have her heart thoroughly searched by her Lord, who wants her to offer Him a whole heart and not just half of one. She reserves a space for Him and allows Him in when she does, and doesn’t when she doesn’t. She entertains Him in which ever room she has cleaned up herself, but has closed doors on the messy ones, thinking it would hurt Him too much to see all that, all the while she has no faith in Him, nor does she know who he is, or she’d know He is there to clean the rooms for her!
She deems herself as ok, even without Him, and does things in her own strength. When she does not feel strong enough to do something He has requested of her in her Christian walk, she doesn’t arise in the power of His might and do it anyway, making a brand new plan for her life if needbe, and adjusting as much of her life as is possible to engage that new plan.
She does not call sin what He calls sin, to her that’s way too hard to live by that standard, and she has been deceived into being satisfied as she is, with the enemy justifying her into feeling God loves her no matter what (which he does), but he finds no pleasure in pride and refusal to obey His words. She is actually cursed in what she won’t offer to God.
She justifies and excuses herself. She tries hard to look good, while inside she is writhing with undealt-with pain, yet has not placed herself willingly on the potter’s wheel to be shaped completely differently by whatever is in His heart for her. She doesn’t trust or fear Him enough, she fears men or change more, or maybe herself, for she isn’t familiar with herself a different way and she’s not willing to risk the comfort of her own flesh. She wants to wear what she wants to wear, she is so independent and is proud of being free to live as she pleases. She tells herself often, even in front of others, she is ok w/ God, he is ok w/ her, he even loves her and they have good fellowship together, all the while she does not realize she speaks to the wall of herself when she prays.
This is the religious church that refuses to be changed into His image and likeness, goes through motions of being a good person by their own standard of goodness, which is as filthy, bloodied rags that stink to God. No one is good on their own merit, or standard of goodness.
ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, ALL must seek His ways diligently, with all of our getting get understanding, come to know Him as a person, not a set of good rules to follow or motions to go through to rack up points in the religious point systems.
Once a person believes in Christ and receives Christ, they must expect to change all of their old ways, all of their old thoughts, and be transformed, by a mind renewed.
All else is stinking flesh, unburned on the altar. Salvation is the very beginning of a daily shed blood living sacrifice with the infusion of daily resurrection power.
The chosen fast is to change all of this, forever.
The religious build their own kingdoms and rule their own roosts, their way. They feel faithful in erecting something good for God. It’s like saying, Daddy, look what I built for you, all the while He was waiting for them to ask Him what He wanted built, to be interested in how He’d like it, where He wants it to stand, who does He wants it built with, and how high, all because of love.
His good at our expense!
“I don’t know how to build that, that way!”
“Ok, let Me show you how.”
“Well, I can’t do that that way. I’ve never done it that way ever, I would not even be able to!”
“Then I’ll show you how to change. I’ll even give you tools, and instructions and materials, and the money to make it happen.”
“How will that all happen, Lord?”
“Come closer and I’ll show you, ahead of time, come closer and I’ll tell you how, everyday. You just need to seek Me, and then do exactly as I say.”
“That’s all?”
“Do whatever I say, ok?”
“Just like you say, what if I see it differently or a better way? What if I don’t understand the instructions?”
“Do you trust Me and really want to go the way of eternal answers and avoid the future highways of mistakes made and pains of consequences had? Oh, let me tell you something else,”
“What Lord?”
“ I’m sending messengers.”
“Messengers?”
“ Yes, messengers. They are My way, the way I’ve set up to tell you what to do to build for Me, and they will explain how, if you are brave enough to ask them and then do as they say. Remember this is My kingdom that you will be building, but you can’t do it alone, so I’m sending help, a lot of help. The help is gonna build character in you. You may not like or agree with the help all of the time. Just be aware they are set up by Me to be a test of how much you really love and trust Me.”
“Seriously? What a way to do things, I thought this walk was supposed to be about blessing me and making my life easier.”
“It is, ultimately, eternally, if you follow My highway. Joy is an eternal blessing. Blessing is the result of a righteous unselfish walk with Me in My building project on earth.”
“Ya ready to go?”
“Wait! Lord”?
“Yes?”
“ Did you say messengers?”
“Yes.”
“ Like who? How ill I know they are being used by You?”
My messengers on earth are people and sometimes visibly angelic hosts,though their words must match Mine, in the spirit of the word more than the letter, even enemies use My word to twist and deceive. It has to be the Spirit of Truth that you hear through the messenger, even the most unlikely ones.”
“Like preachers?”
Yes, and like children, teachers, bosses and family members. All people you relate with, will be My messengers to you if you’ll see and hear it. The point here is, WILL YOU Hear (and act on) it, no matter the form I send it in? ya know one time a long time ago, I used a man named saul, as My messenger, as a teacher, a trainer? In all outward appearances he was a bad-sad man. Many would never do anything he said by letter of the law, he did not deserve honor, but there was one man, a man after My heart that saw through it, to the proving and developing of character, My David. Then there was another Saul, sent to persecute and prove the real faith of My church, My bride….”
“Really, all people? Even unsaved ones?”
“Yes, but only if you are wiling to listen to them, they can truly have a message too. Don’t pick and choose who you listen to, to hear My instruction, be wise, and not only in your own eyes, ok? So, are you ready to go yet? I’m waiting, have been waiting, will wait till all of your days are gone, but I hope we have time to get some things done on this building project….”
“So this is why we fast? “
In order to practice denying our own wills and forsaking our own ways of even seeing things?
To stop pointing at others, and to ask the Holy Spirit to see deep inside of us, because we are wiling to have Him see the dirt in us and clean it out, confessing that we are weak and unable to change without His help?
It’s to show we trust Him enough to let the walls of perdition down.
To devour pride’s work in us!
To disallow any prideful action to exalt itself against God’s purpose of forming a truly humbled and undone people.
To really expose our fears, dreads, bitterness’s, etc to God, laying them on an altar of sacrifice, to be burned out of us forever, leaving no traces of how they looked before.
Wow!
“So it all boils down to two things really?”
Loving God
And
Loving People too
Really loving them, more than I love myself.
“So, I don’t have to be right?”
“Hardly ever.”
This is the HUGE problem:
won’t let the wall down, cause you are right
won’t risk it all, you’re right
won’t listen to messengers, you are so right
won’t see, you already know enough
won’t be vulnerable to anyone, you have rights
won’t willingly extend your souls to love deeper, higher, wider, cause you’ve been there, done that, have the T Shirt to prove it, tried it before, it doesn’t work…
Wow.
Where is faith, hope, love?
Wow.
“So, fasting is about laying down your rights?”
“Yes! Amen. I believe you are getting the Spirit of the word”
Isaiah 58 Today's Daily Bread Reading
True and False Worship
1 “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.
Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.
Tell my people Israel of their sins!
2 Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day
and seem delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous nation
that would never abandon the laws of its God.
They ask me to take action on their behalf,
pretending they want to be near me.
3 ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don’t even notice it!’
“I will tell you why!” I respond.
“It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.
Even while you fast,
you keep oppressing your workers.
4 What good is fasting
when you keep on fighting and quarreling?
This kind of fasting
will never get you anywhere with me.
5 You humble yourselves
by going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
like reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
Do you really think this will please the LORD?
6 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.
7 Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
8 “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.
9 Then when you call, the LORD will answer.
‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.
“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.
Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
10 Feed the hungry,
and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
11 The LORD will guide you continually,
giving you water when you are dry
and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like an ever-flowing spring.
12 Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.
Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls
and a restorer of homes.
13 “Keep the Sabbath day holy.
Don’t pursue your own interests on that day,
but enjoy the Sabbath
and speak of it with delight as the LORD’s holy day.
Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day,
and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.
14 Then the LORD will be your delight.
I will give you great honor
and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob.
I, the LORD, have spoken!”
1 “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.
Shout aloud! Don’t be timid.
Tell my people Israel of their sins!
2 Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day
and seem delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous nation
that would never abandon the laws of its God.
They ask me to take action on their behalf,
pretending they want to be near me.
3 ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don’t even notice it!’
“I will tell you why!” I respond.
“It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.
Even while you fast,
you keep oppressing your workers.
4 What good is fasting
when you keep on fighting and quarreling?
This kind of fasting
will never get you anywhere with me.
5 You humble yourselves
by going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
like reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
Do you really think this will please the LORD?
6 “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:
Free those who are wrongly imprisoned;
lighten the burden of those who work for you.
Let the oppressed go free,
and remove the chains that bind people.
7 Share your food with the hungry,
and give shelter to the homeless.
Give clothes to those who need them,
and do not hide from relatives who need your help.
8 “Then your salvation will come like the dawn,
and your wounds will quickly heal.
Your godliness will lead you forward,
and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.
9 Then when you call, the LORD will answer.
‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.
“Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.
Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
10 Feed the hungry,
and help those in trouble.
Then your light will shine out from the darkness,
and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
11 The LORD will guide you continually,
giving you water when you are dry
and restoring your strength.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like an ever-flowing spring.
12 Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.
Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls
and a restorer of homes.
13 “Keep the Sabbath day holy.
Don’t pursue your own interests on that day,
but enjoy the Sabbath
and speak of it with delight as the LORD’s holy day.
Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day,
and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.
14 Then the LORD will be your delight.
I will give you great honor
and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob.
I, the LORD, have spoken!”
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Lena's Study Time Journailn' to Esther 8 Today
This right here is why I post Lena’s Journalin’, in order to better understand the word that an enemy cannot in any way, shape or form, come against and steal the precious word of God from us which is able to save our souls!
If we only read our chapter each day as a point racking up with God system of merit, we’ve gained nothing in our Christian growth, we must come to understand the words of Life in order to make a literal plan to do them! That is what changes one’s world.
The Kingdom of God on earth is threatened in this very way, we perish for what we do not intimately know. How well do we know (intimately understand the character of Our Father and the Living applicable Word of God?) Can the enemy easily take it from us, and annihilate us from bringing the kingdom of God on earth? Will we stand for that? Will we allow an enemy to do that? How can we stop it?
Study?
Fellowship, regularly?
Read, Read, Read?
Understand, understand, understand?
Pray, Pray, Pray!
Fast!
Why?
There are souls hanging in the balance, that the enemy would love to seek for and devour. Will we allow the potential of a whole new nation on earth, to perish, or are their souls being saved, worth laying down our own agendas and lifelong pursuits? Is it that important it to us?
At our local fellowship, we are having a getaway/Encounter retreat this weekend. There are 110 men and women attending. The enemy hates that. He does not even want them to go, let alone understand why they are there or have them plan to meet with God! If/when they do meet with God, he is right there to steal away their understanding of what they heard if someone is not fasting and praying otherwise for the salvation of their souls!
We have a whole nation of people all around us who need people like this to wet their appetites with the word of life, who need to sit and explain it to them after they’ve gotten them to taste a bit, then to shoo off any vultures that may hover waiting for the word given them to die off, if they can’t weasel in and try to get in there to kill it first.
It is never enough for a believer to just say a prayer and make a verbal confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. One must demonstrate their faith as solid and real, or it was never faith at all. There is a warfare, my enemies became His, but His also became mine, when I made my lifelong confession of my seriously intended commitment!
Please pray for our Encounterees, they are wheat sheaves in a harvest basket, which is an honor unto the Lord, He is well pleased, but it is not enough to bring in the basketsful, He is looking for the products that will come forth from the 110, at least, 30, 60 and 100 fold!
Let’s say 30 fold is you hear it, 60 fold is you go further to gain understanding, and 100 fold is you DO it, by changing your life and you now live that way! Please pray for the 100 fold to come out the other side!
Is there an Esther, who will lay down her own life’s desires, for food, entertainment, happiness, vanity etc., to win some?
This kind of persons will change a kingdom on earth. Will bring a heaven on earth, where rather than Christians being threatened by enemies, the enemies are threatened by US!
Amen!
If we only read our chapter each day as a point racking up with God system of merit, we’ve gained nothing in our Christian growth, we must come to understand the words of Life in order to make a literal plan to do them! That is what changes one’s world.
The Kingdom of God on earth is threatened in this very way, we perish for what we do not intimately know. How well do we know (intimately understand the character of Our Father and the Living applicable Word of God?) Can the enemy easily take it from us, and annihilate us from bringing the kingdom of God on earth? Will we stand for that? Will we allow an enemy to do that? How can we stop it?
Study?
Fellowship, regularly?
Read, Read, Read?
Understand, understand, understand?
Pray, Pray, Pray!
Fast!
Why?
There are souls hanging in the balance, that the enemy would love to seek for and devour. Will we allow the potential of a whole new nation on earth, to perish, or are their souls being saved, worth laying down our own agendas and lifelong pursuits? Is it that important it to us?
At our local fellowship, we are having a getaway/Encounter retreat this weekend. There are 110 men and women attending. The enemy hates that. He does not even want them to go, let alone understand why they are there or have them plan to meet with God! If/when they do meet with God, he is right there to steal away their understanding of what they heard if someone is not fasting and praying otherwise for the salvation of their souls!
We have a whole nation of people all around us who need people like this to wet their appetites with the word of life, who need to sit and explain it to them after they’ve gotten them to taste a bit, then to shoo off any vultures that may hover waiting for the word given them to die off, if they can’t weasel in and try to get in there to kill it first.
It is never enough for a believer to just say a prayer and make a verbal confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. One must demonstrate their faith as solid and real, or it was never faith at all. There is a warfare, my enemies became His, but His also became mine, when I made my lifelong confession of my seriously intended commitment!
Please pray for our Encounterees, they are wheat sheaves in a harvest basket, which is an honor unto the Lord, He is well pleased, but it is not enough to bring in the basketsful, He is looking for the products that will come forth from the 110, at least, 30, 60 and 100 fold!
Let’s say 30 fold is you hear it, 60 fold is you go further to gain understanding, and 100 fold is you DO it, by changing your life and you now live that way! Please pray for the 100 fold to come out the other side!
Is there an Esther, who will lay down her own life’s desires, for food, entertainment, happiness, vanity etc., to win some?
This kind of persons will change a kingdom on earth. Will bring a heaven on earth, where rather than Christians being threatened by enemies, the enemies are threatened by US!
Amen!
Esther 8 Today's Daily Bread
A Decree to Help the Jews
1 On that same day King Xerxes gave the property of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther. Then Mordecai was brought before the king, for Esther had told the king how they were related. 2 The king took off his signet ring—which he had taken back from Haman—and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai to be in charge of Haman’s property.
3 Then Esther went again before the king, falling down at his feet and begging him with tears to stop the evil plot devised by Haman the Agagite against the Jews. 4 Again the king held out the gold scepter to Esther. So she rose and stood before him.
5 Esther said, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor with him, and if he thinks it is right, and if I am pleasing to him, let there be a decree that reverses the orders of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, who ordered that Jews throughout all the king’s provinces should be destroyed. 6 For how can I endure to see my people and my family slaughtered and destroyed?”
7 Then King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “I have given Esther the property of Haman, and he has been impaled on a pole because he tried to destroy the Jews. 8 Now go ahead and send a message to the Jews in the king’s name, telling them whatever you want, and seal it with the king’s signet ring. But remember that whatever has already been written in the king’s name and sealed with his signet ring can never be revoked.”
9 So on June 25 the king’s secretaries were summoned, and a decree was written exactly as Mordecai dictated. It was sent to the Jews and to the highest officers, the governors, and the nobles of all the 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia. The decree was written in the scripts and languages of all the peoples of the empire, including that of the Jews. 10 The decree was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring. Mordecai sent the dispatches by swift messengers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king’s service.
11 The king’s decree gave the Jews in every city authority to unite to defend their lives. They were allowed to kill, slaughter, and annihilate anyone of any nationality or province who might attack them or their children and wives, and to take the property of their enemies. 12 The day chosen for this event throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was March 7 of the next year.
13 A copy of this decree was to be issued as law in every province and proclaimed to all peoples, so that the Jews would be ready to take revenge on their enemies on the appointed day. 14 So urged on by the king’s command, the messengers rode out swiftly on fast horses bred for the king’s service. The same decree was also proclaimed in the fortress of Susa.
15 Then Mordecai left the king’s presence, wearing the royal robe of blue and white, the great crown of gold, and an outer cloak of fine linen and purple. And the people of Susa celebrated the new decree. 16 The Jews were filled with joy and gladness and were honored everywhere. 17 In every province and city, wherever the king’s decree arrived, the Jews rejoiced and had a great celebration and declared a public festival and holiday. And many of the people of the land became Jews themselves, for they feared what the Jews might do to them.
1 On that same day King Xerxes gave the property of Haman, the enemy of the Jews, to Queen Esther. Then Mordecai was brought before the king, for Esther had told the king how they were related. 2 The king took off his signet ring—which he had taken back from Haman—and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther appointed Mordecai to be in charge of Haman’s property.
3 Then Esther went again before the king, falling down at his feet and begging him with tears to stop the evil plot devised by Haman the Agagite against the Jews. 4 Again the king held out the gold scepter to Esther. So she rose and stood before him.
5 Esther said, “If it please the king, and if I have found favor with him, and if he thinks it is right, and if I am pleasing to him, let there be a decree that reverses the orders of Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, who ordered that Jews throughout all the king’s provinces should be destroyed. 6 For how can I endure to see my people and my family slaughtered and destroyed?”
7 Then King Xerxes said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “I have given Esther the property of Haman, and he has been impaled on a pole because he tried to destroy the Jews. 8 Now go ahead and send a message to the Jews in the king’s name, telling them whatever you want, and seal it with the king’s signet ring. But remember that whatever has already been written in the king’s name and sealed with his signet ring can never be revoked.”
9 So on June 25 the king’s secretaries were summoned, and a decree was written exactly as Mordecai dictated. It was sent to the Jews and to the highest officers, the governors, and the nobles of all the 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia. The decree was written in the scripts and languages of all the peoples of the empire, including that of the Jews. 10 The decree was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the king’s signet ring. Mordecai sent the dispatches by swift messengers, who rode fast horses especially bred for the king’s service.
11 The king’s decree gave the Jews in every city authority to unite to defend their lives. They were allowed to kill, slaughter, and annihilate anyone of any nationality or province who might attack them or their children and wives, and to take the property of their enemies. 12 The day chosen for this event throughout all the provinces of King Xerxes was March 7 of the next year.
13 A copy of this decree was to be issued as law in every province and proclaimed to all peoples, so that the Jews would be ready to take revenge on their enemies on the appointed day. 14 So urged on by the king’s command, the messengers rode out swiftly on fast horses bred for the king’s service. The same decree was also proclaimed in the fortress of Susa.
15 Then Mordecai left the king’s presence, wearing the royal robe of blue and white, the great crown of gold, and an outer cloak of fine linen and purple. And the people of Susa celebrated the new decree. 16 The Jews were filled with joy and gladness and were honored everywhere. 17 In every province and city, wherever the king’s decree arrived, the Jews rejoiced and had a great celebration and declared a public festival and holiday. And many of the people of the land became Jews themselves, for they feared what the Jews might do to them.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Lena's Study Journalin' Today ~ Written to Ruth 4
Whenever you have seen what you would like to have as yours, what you believe is to be yours; is your posture ever to sit down and wait for the very persons who could have it instead of you to pass by your way? Do you usually just sit and peacefully wait for it to be settled that it does indeed belong to you?
Boaz is a picture to us of Jesus our Lord. He too has a bride He is waiting to see if she is truly His. Does He rise up and make it happen, does He fret? No, He waits to see who the takers are. In the meantime without human strength or power He trusts the spirit who draws us to Him self, He intercedes that the right choices will be made.
We, the church, are the potential bride of Christ Jesus. If He is our Lord here and remains our everything, until our last days on earth, we become His prize. We can stay with Him in the courtship time while we live here on earth, or we can choose to have other things become our husbandmen. We’re not at all forced to be His bride. We can be His bride, if we want to be, though we won’t be able to reverse that decision once it is lived out here, we can choose to not belong to Him, not bear His name, or wear his ring, or have his children, or serve him day in and day out, if we don’t care to. No one, not even God the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit is making us. They are definitely winning us over to a Divine destiny as His wife, but they are as gentlemen and will not force the relationship to happen.
Know there is an enemy who would love to snatch us out of our short (lifetime on earth) courtship time. He’d love to claim us as his own. In fact, that is his venture, everyday of our earth time here.
So Boaz waits for the “enemy” to come to the gates and make his claims on us. Do you know until we make our own solid, unchangeable decision to marry “Boaz” forever, we really are able to be claimed as the enemy’s property? Why would that be?
That would be because God gave man-Adam the greatest power man could ever exercise, that of the freewill. With that freewill Adam choose to listen to and follow another voice except God’s voice. Then in doing that he actually turned over his power, as ruler of the earth, to the enemy of God and of Adam’s soul. Jesus had to come and take the power away form the enemy and give it back to man, so if man changed His mind, he could come back to allowing God to rule in His life. Adam (man) would still have to choose after Jesus opened that eternal door of salvation and again made it available to man, but Adam-man would have to go through a lot of proving, proving that he REALLY wanted God to rule him again. In fact the enemy still has power on earth if each man gives it to him by allowing him to keep acting as ruler. This is why there is a whole host of demonic spirits that are on assignment, coercing men to follow them instead of following God’s will. They’ll lie, steal, kill, all to destroy man’s faith in God. If they can succeed in all their trickery and make man choose his ruler on his own, they have at least won over that specific man. The devil and all his servants are not stupid, they know what is at stake, and they do not lose very kindly, even though they are destined to eternal doom, their gonna have as much of a heyday here as the possibly can! They won’t just hand man over to God’s love and lead here, if they can find a way not to. The way lies in the choices men make everyday.
If you are not all for Me, on purpose, says the Lord, then you are automatically against Me! Ouch. Hey it gets way hotter than that, ultimately.
Yeah, she, the bride destined to be Christ’s can choose to be His here or not. She has a freewill. He has a hint for her, “choose life, for you and all of your generations after you!”
Your own ways of walkin, lead to eternal death. Time to change how you walk, think, and live, on purpose.
Ruth did.
The enemy can never, ever redeem man, ever. He only has pleasure taking man with him where he is going, straight into eternal doom and darkness and torment. He just wants God and man to be miserable. He wants to wear some kind of star of a supposed “victory” in this fight with God, for souls.
This IS the battle we are in, for the very eternal souls of men.
There’s always a price to pay for victory. There’s always a high price cost involved in winning a prize. There’s always a cost to count on, in doing what we believe it is we should be doing. Nothing is free.
I’ll write it again, the only free part of salvation is that you did not have to die the physical death and if you freely receive Him, you also don’t have to die the eternal death, for you have a free choice to choose life or death. You did not have to pay to redeem yourself to God, EXCEPT that (this is the part that costs much) You must, with that freewill, decide to give up your own life. That’s very costly. It costs a lifetime, it can actually cost everything you own, or ever worked towards. It may cost you all of the dreams you had for your own successes, even where being a minister are concerned, for you’ll have to be successfully trained in humility first, and if you never submit your life freely to that tutelage, you may never see a day as a true minister of God. You’ll feel the dream has delayed, it has, it is waiting for you to lay down your life, that there may be a resurrection!
I feel so sad whenever I see someone who has seen a God dream about their lives and isn’t living in it. It is usually a matter of roads taken to get there. We have to hesitate and find out which way is the way chosen by the Father to lead us there. Usually that way does not make any human sense at all, for it seems more to be the way to head down a pathway of death.
Jesus bought the land of me, and of you, of the world. He redeemed it. Are we making claims on it for Him, through the power of our wills submitted to His desire and plan?
Ruth did.
She got for someone else what belonged to them, not by their deserving it, but because of love she willingly gave it.
Do you willingly give of your life to make God’s eternal redemptive dream come true? How much do you extend yourself to make that happen by being in a humbled place of a servant, a gleaner in another man’s field?
He who is faithful in small things (like serving as a vital part of someone else’s vision and dream, being in an active position to do all you can regularly in order to make it come true), will be made by God, a ruler over much (like his own call to be a minister-missionary), but he who seeks to save his life (and make his own vision work), will loose it, even life eternal.
"He who wants to keep his life will have it taken away from him. He who loses his life will have it given back to him. Luke 17:33.
Do you know one must become intimate with the Son to have spiritual children? The Lord wants a bride who is intimate with Him and will mother His kids.
Boaz is a picture to us of Jesus our Lord. He too has a bride He is waiting to see if she is truly His. Does He rise up and make it happen, does He fret? No, He waits to see who the takers are. In the meantime without human strength or power He trusts the spirit who draws us to Him self, He intercedes that the right choices will be made.
We, the church, are the potential bride of Christ Jesus. If He is our Lord here and remains our everything, until our last days on earth, we become His prize. We can stay with Him in the courtship time while we live here on earth, or we can choose to have other things become our husbandmen. We’re not at all forced to be His bride. We can be His bride, if we want to be, though we won’t be able to reverse that decision once it is lived out here, we can choose to not belong to Him, not bear His name, or wear his ring, or have his children, or serve him day in and day out, if we don’t care to. No one, not even God the Father, Son, or Holy Spirit is making us. They are definitely winning us over to a Divine destiny as His wife, but they are as gentlemen and will not force the relationship to happen.
Know there is an enemy who would love to snatch us out of our short (lifetime on earth) courtship time. He’d love to claim us as his own. In fact, that is his venture, everyday of our earth time here.
So Boaz waits for the “enemy” to come to the gates and make his claims on us. Do you know until we make our own solid, unchangeable decision to marry “Boaz” forever, we really are able to be claimed as the enemy’s property? Why would that be?
That would be because God gave man-Adam the greatest power man could ever exercise, that of the freewill. With that freewill Adam choose to listen to and follow another voice except God’s voice. Then in doing that he actually turned over his power, as ruler of the earth, to the enemy of God and of Adam’s soul. Jesus had to come and take the power away form the enemy and give it back to man, so if man changed His mind, he could come back to allowing God to rule in His life. Adam (man) would still have to choose after Jesus opened that eternal door of salvation and again made it available to man, but Adam-man would have to go through a lot of proving, proving that he REALLY wanted God to rule him again. In fact the enemy still has power on earth if each man gives it to him by allowing him to keep acting as ruler. This is why there is a whole host of demonic spirits that are on assignment, coercing men to follow them instead of following God’s will. They’ll lie, steal, kill, all to destroy man’s faith in God. If they can succeed in all their trickery and make man choose his ruler on his own, they have at least won over that specific man. The devil and all his servants are not stupid, they know what is at stake, and they do not lose very kindly, even though they are destined to eternal doom, their gonna have as much of a heyday here as the possibly can! They won’t just hand man over to God’s love and lead here, if they can find a way not to. The way lies in the choices men make everyday.
If you are not all for Me, on purpose, says the Lord, then you are automatically against Me! Ouch. Hey it gets way hotter than that, ultimately.
Yeah, she, the bride destined to be Christ’s can choose to be His here or not. She has a freewill. He has a hint for her, “choose life, for you and all of your generations after you!”
Your own ways of walkin, lead to eternal death. Time to change how you walk, think, and live, on purpose.
Ruth did.
The enemy can never, ever redeem man, ever. He only has pleasure taking man with him where he is going, straight into eternal doom and darkness and torment. He just wants God and man to be miserable. He wants to wear some kind of star of a supposed “victory” in this fight with God, for souls.
This IS the battle we are in, for the very eternal souls of men.
There’s always a price to pay for victory. There’s always a high price cost involved in winning a prize. There’s always a cost to count on, in doing what we believe it is we should be doing. Nothing is free.
I’ll write it again, the only free part of salvation is that you did not have to die the physical death and if you freely receive Him, you also don’t have to die the eternal death, for you have a free choice to choose life or death. You did not have to pay to redeem yourself to God, EXCEPT that (this is the part that costs much) You must, with that freewill, decide to give up your own life. That’s very costly. It costs a lifetime, it can actually cost everything you own, or ever worked towards. It may cost you all of the dreams you had for your own successes, even where being a minister are concerned, for you’ll have to be successfully trained in humility first, and if you never submit your life freely to that tutelage, you may never see a day as a true minister of God. You’ll feel the dream has delayed, it has, it is waiting for you to lay down your life, that there may be a resurrection!
I feel so sad whenever I see someone who has seen a God dream about their lives and isn’t living in it. It is usually a matter of roads taken to get there. We have to hesitate and find out which way is the way chosen by the Father to lead us there. Usually that way does not make any human sense at all, for it seems more to be the way to head down a pathway of death.
Jesus bought the land of me, and of you, of the world. He redeemed it. Are we making claims on it for Him, through the power of our wills submitted to His desire and plan?
Ruth did.
She got for someone else what belonged to them, not by their deserving it, but because of love she willingly gave it.
Do you willingly give of your life to make God’s eternal redemptive dream come true? How much do you extend yourself to make that happen by being in a humbled place of a servant, a gleaner in another man’s field?
He who is faithful in small things (like serving as a vital part of someone else’s vision and dream, being in an active position to do all you can regularly in order to make it come true), will be made by God, a ruler over much (like his own call to be a minister-missionary), but he who seeks to save his life (and make his own vision work), will loose it, even life eternal.
"He who wants to keep his life will have it taken away from him. He who loses his life will have it given back to him. Luke 17:33.
Do you know one must become intimate with the Son to have spiritual children? The Lord wants a bride who is intimate with Him and will mother His kids.
Ruth 4 Today's Daily Bread Reading
Boaz Marries Ruth
1 Boaz went to the town gate and took a seat there. Just then the family redeemer he had mentioned came by, so Boaz called out to him, “Come over here and sit down, friend. I want to talk to you.” So they sat down together. 2 Then Boaz called ten leaders from the town and asked them to sit as witnesses. 3 And Boaz said to the family redeemer, “You know Naomi, who came back from Moab. She is selling the land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 I thought I should speak to you about it so that you can redeem it if you wish. If you want the land, then buy it here in the presence of these witnesses. But if you don’t want it, let me know right away, because I am next in line to redeem it after you.”
The man replied, “All right, I’ll redeem it.”
5 Then Boaz told him, “Of course, your purchase of the land from Naomi also requires that you marry Ruth, the Moabite widow. That way she can have children who will carry on her husband’s name and keep the land in the family.”
6 “Then I can’t redeem it,” the family redeemer replied, “because this might endanger my own estate. You redeem the land; I cannot do it.”
7 Now in those days it was the custom in Israel for anyone transferring a right of purchase to remove his sandal and hand it to the other party. This publicly validated the transaction. 8 So the other family redeemer drew off his sandal as he said to Boaz, “You buy the land.”
9 Then Boaz said to the elders and to the crowd standing around, “You are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon. 10 And with the land I have acquired Ruth, the Moabite widow of Mahlon, to be my wife. This way she can have a son to carry on the family name of her dead husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown. You are all witnesses today.”
11 Then the elders and all the people standing in the gate replied, “We are witnesses! May the Lord make this woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, from whom all the nation of Israel descended! May you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 And may the Lord give you descendants by this young woman who will be like those of our ancestor Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah.”
The Descendants of Boaz
13 So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. 14 Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. 15 May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!”
16 Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for him as if he were her own. 17 The neighbor women said, “Now at last Naomi has a son again!” And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.
18 This is the genealogical record of their ancestor Perez:
Perez was the father of Hezron.
19 Hezron was the father of Ram.
Ram was the father of Amminadab.
20 Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.
Nahshon was the father of Salmon.[a]
21 Salmon was the father of Boaz.
Boaz was the father of Obed.
22 Obed was the father of Jesse.
Jesse was the father of David.
Footnotes:
Ruth 4:20 As in some Greek manuscripts (see also 4:21); Hebrew reads Salma.
1 Boaz went to the town gate and took a seat there. Just then the family redeemer he had mentioned came by, so Boaz called out to him, “Come over here and sit down, friend. I want to talk to you.” So they sat down together. 2 Then Boaz called ten leaders from the town and asked them to sit as witnesses. 3 And Boaz said to the family redeemer, “You know Naomi, who came back from Moab. She is selling the land that belonged to our relative Elimelech. 4 I thought I should speak to you about it so that you can redeem it if you wish. If you want the land, then buy it here in the presence of these witnesses. But if you don’t want it, let me know right away, because I am next in line to redeem it after you.”
The man replied, “All right, I’ll redeem it.”
5 Then Boaz told him, “Of course, your purchase of the land from Naomi also requires that you marry Ruth, the Moabite widow. That way she can have children who will carry on her husband’s name and keep the land in the family.”
6 “Then I can’t redeem it,” the family redeemer replied, “because this might endanger my own estate. You redeem the land; I cannot do it.”
7 Now in those days it was the custom in Israel for anyone transferring a right of purchase to remove his sandal and hand it to the other party. This publicly validated the transaction. 8 So the other family redeemer drew off his sandal as he said to Boaz, “You buy the land.”
9 Then Boaz said to the elders and to the crowd standing around, “You are witnesses that today I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelech, Kilion, and Mahlon. 10 And with the land I have acquired Ruth, the Moabite widow of Mahlon, to be my wife. This way she can have a son to carry on the family name of her dead husband and to inherit the family property here in his hometown. You are all witnesses today.”
11 Then the elders and all the people standing in the gate replied, “We are witnesses! May the Lord make this woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, from whom all the nation of Israel descended! May you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 And may the Lord give you descendants by this young woman who will be like those of our ancestor Perez, the son of Tamar and Judah.”
The Descendants of Boaz
13 So Boaz took Ruth into his home, and she became his wife. When he slept with her, the Lord enabled her to become pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. 14 Then the women of the town said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord, who has now provided a redeemer for your family! May this child be famous in Israel. 15 May he restore your youth and care for you in your old age. For he is the son of your daughter-in-law who loves you and has been better to you than seven sons!”
16 Naomi took the baby and cuddled him to her breast. And she cared for him as if he were her own. 17 The neighbor women said, “Now at last Naomi has a son again!” And they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse and the grandfather of David.
18 This is the genealogical record of their ancestor Perez:
Perez was the father of Hezron.
19 Hezron was the father of Ram.
Ram was the father of Amminadab.
20 Amminadab was the father of Nahshon.
Nahshon was the father of Salmon.[a]
21 Salmon was the father of Boaz.
Boaz was the father of Obed.
22 Obed was the father of Jesse.
Jesse was the father of David.
Footnotes:
Ruth 4:20 As in some Greek manuscripts (see also 4:21); Hebrew reads Salma.
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