Tag Archives: the word

MOLLY AND ME – HAND FED

Christian Life,

Molly loves me to feed her titbits and treats by hand. Apparently, hand feeding strengthens bonds between pet and owner. Naturally, I am the one who has taught her bad habits. You see, we like to share, and she thinks she is entitled to share whatever is on my plate at mealtimes.

Not all “people-food” is good for dogs, so, I have devised a way to skirt the problem. I cook chicken breasts for her, and cut up a few pieces to feed to her “off my plate”. She is perfectly satisfied with this deception as long as I feed the chicken to her by hand. She even chooses to start her meal with her titbits, and then digs into her pellets with gusto.

This is a good arrangement as long as I keep the supply of chicken breasts going, quite a costly ruse, but it works for us and keeps our fellowship sweet!

Did you know that we also thrive when God “hand-feeds” us with His Word? Through the prophet Hosea, God lamented that Israel had forgotten how He had handfed them in the wilderness, stooping down to their level as a parent would feed a toddler. They had forsaken a loving Father for dumb idols that could do nothing for them.

‭Hosea‬ ‭11:1‭-‬4‬ ‭NIV‬
[1] “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. [2] But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. They sacrificed to the Baals and they burned incense to images. [3] It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. [4] I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.”

How tenderly God cared for His people, attending to every need as a mother would do for a tiny infant. He describes the same care for “newborn” Israel in Ezekiel 16

‭Ezekiel‬ ‭16:4‭-‬14‬ ‭NIV‬
[4] On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. [5] No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised. [6] “ ‘Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!” [7] I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew and developed and entered puberty. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, yet you were stark naked. [8] “ ‘Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine. [9] “ ‘I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. [10] I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. [11] I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, [12] and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. [13] So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. [14] And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

What more could God have done for a nation that rejected and betrayed Him, giving their allegiance instead to gods who were capricious and evil?

Yet God continues to love and hand feed all who trust Him through Jesus, and who willingly receive and thrive on His Word.

‭Matthew‬ ‭4:4‬ ‭NIV‬
[4]”Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

‭Psalms‬ ‭19:9‭-‬11‬ ‭NIV‬
[9]”The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous. [10] They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb. [11] By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.”

‭Jeremiah‬ ‭15:16‬ ‭NIV‬
[16]”When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.”

‭1 Peter‬ ‭2:2‭-‬3‬ ‭NLT‬
[2] “Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, [3] now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.”

‭John‬ ‭6:35‬ ‭NLT‬
[35] Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

The Holy Spirit’s ministry to us is like a mother’s care for her little child, providing everything that the little one needs for healthy growth. So, the Holy Spirit provides the rich milk and fresh bread of the Word for us daily if we choose to follow His leading.

Dear friends, let God hand-feed you with a daily portion of Jesus, the bread of life. The Holy Spirit will teach you all you need to know about Him as you ingest His “flesh and His blood”, a powerful and graphic way of allowing His death to give you life.

Truly, God “handfeeds” us with the most nourishing “food’ in His” pantry” when we choose to feast on the living Word.

UNITY, LIFE, LIGHT

Bible Study, ,

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN – CHAPTER ONE

UNITY, LIFE, LIGHT

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5 (NIV).

Have you ever read Genesis 1 and wondered where the light came from in days one to three since God only created the sun, moon and stars on the fourth day? Or perhaps you hadn’t noticed!

John’s gospel begins somewhat differently from Matthew, Mark and Luke. Like the book of Genesis, he begins with “In the beginning…” The beginning of what? Certainly not the beginning of God because He was already there in the beginning. And so was the Word.

Who was the Word, and why was He called “the Word”? According to Hebrew thought, God’s Word is a manifestation of Himself in another form. So the Word can be written, as we have it in the Bible, or it can be a person; and that person was the second person of the Trinity who came in human form to speak to us about the Father and to show us what He is like.

The writer to the Hebrews put it like this: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He also made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:1-3)

John tells us that the Word was with God in the beginning and that He was God. Does that sound like He, the Word, and God were two separate persons and yet one? He did what God did — He created everything. In Genesis 1, God created the universe through His word. He spoke and creation happened. But Jesus is the Word. Through Him it all came into being. It’s a mystery, isn’t it? What was John trying to tell us?

If Jesus and God were in it together, creating the universe by speaking it into being, then they must be two separate persons and yet, since they were both doing the God-thing — creating — then they must both be God. Two, yet one? Not one person but one in nature, one in essence, one in power, one in purpose — what the Bible calls echad — unity, not two Gods.

Here’s a simple illustration: God created Adam — one person. Then He took a piece of Adam and from it He fashioned Eve – two people. Then He brought them together in marriage and told them that they were to become one flesh — echad — the same word as the Hebrew creed, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one…” — echad,  Deuteronomy 6:4 (NIV). They were to be a visual aid of unity because they were to be a reflection of the image of God — one.

John’s next theme is life. Life is much more than just being physically alive. It is the kind of life that willingly does what it can to make the lives of others better. It reflects the nature of God, is generous and kind and in touch with God and responsive to His will.

Now John introduces another theme — light, which is closely connected to life. Our first reaction is to think of visible light but again, Hebrew thought was different. They would ask the question, “What does light do?” Light reveals, exposes, illuminates and enables us to see pictures. Darkness is the absence of light. Again, according to Hebrew thought, light is everything that causes creation to function in unity while darkness is everything that disrupts unity and causes life to unravel.

When Satan was thrown down to the earth because of his rebellion against God, he brought to the planet both physical and moral darkness. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep…” Genesis 1:2 (NIV).

Before God created the first human, the potential for him to be influenced by the evil one was already on the earth. It makes sense that God would not leave human beings to live in the environment of Satan’s influence without being able to choose to live in the light. So, according to John, God assigned the Second Person of the Trinity, who was the Word, to be present on earth by His Spirit to teach Adam and his descendants to live God’s way, which is to live in the light.

The Word was not only present and active in creation, He was also continuously active on the earth to influence His human creatures to love and obey Him and to live in fellowship with Him so that all of God’s creation could live in echad as a perfect reflection of their Creator.

That was God’s intention from the beginning but things went horribly wrong…

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

19 – ENGAGING THE POWERS OF THE KINGDOM – THE POWER OF LIGHT

Christian Life, ,

19 – ENGAGING THE POWERS OF THE KINGDOM – THE POWER OF LIGHT

Light, and its counterpart, darkness, is one of the major themes of Scripture.

John declared:

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.” 1 John 1:5 NLT

God is the source of all light. This includes physical light as well as revelation, enlightenment, understanding and righteousness.

In the beginning, before God sorted out the darkness and chaos that existed on the earth…

“The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.” Genesis 1:2 NLT

… He spoke “light” into the situation. This light was not physical. We know that because He spoke the sun, moon, and stars into existence on the fourth day.

“Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days, and years. Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.” Genesis 1:14-19 NLT

What was this “light” that separated “day” from “night”? Sometimes we have to decide whether the Bible is speaking literally or figuratively. If it makes no sense to interpret a statement literally, we must look for its meaning in another way.

If there was no sun or moon to reflect God’s light, since He is the source of all light, this light must have come directly from God. Does the Bible confirm this idea?

John begins his gospel record by taking us back to the beginning of time. He wrote a commentary on Genesis 1 that clarifies what Moses wrote.

‘In the beginning, the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” John 1:1-5 NLT

So, it seems that John is telling us that the Father and the Son were involved in creation together. Of course, everything came about by the power of the Holy Spirit. All three persons of the Godhead were active in creation.

However, it is the Son’s presence in creation that brings enlightenment to us since the Son’s role is to explain the Father to humans. Jesus came to earth as a human being to explain the Father and His purposes for us so that we would receive the truth by faith and be restored to our position as God’s children in His family.

“And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.” Hebrews 1:2-3 NLT

“So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.” John 1:14 NLT

John called Jesus “the Word”. God spoke the word and the Word brought what God said into being through the Spirit.

I think that what John was getting at here is that Jesus, the light of the world, brings enlightenment, understanding, and meaning to what God did in creation and in all His dealings with us as part of His creation.

“The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” John 1:9 NLT

Before John started telling us his version of the story of Jesus, he made it clear that everything we need to know about our relationship with the Godhead only gets its meaning through the life and teaching of Jesus. He is the only one who can make sense of life for us. Every other philosophy or religion is nonsense, brings confusion and leads us away from what God purposed for the human race… true life as children in the family of God.

When we believe that this is true…

“To all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.” John 1:12-13 NLT

… therefore, Jesus could say…

“I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” John 8:12 NLT

LIGHT AND DARKNESS IN THE SPIRITUAL CONTEXT

We have looked at “light” in the context of revelation and enlightenment. Now we add to our understanding by seeing light and darkness in the context of righteousness and sin.

When Adam chose to disobey God, he stepped out of light into darkness. He lost his status as innocent and became guilty. His mind became confused and he could no longer receive or live according to God’s light.

“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools.” Romans 1:20-22 NLT

Adam, and the human race that was born through him, became God-haters. Their thoughts and lives functioned in the realm of sin, “darkness,” Jesus called it and, because of this, judgment will come on all who hate the light.

“And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.  All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.” John 3:19-20 NLT

Therefore, according to Jesus, everyone who has not received “the Light” is under judgement.

Jesus is “the Light of the world” but how can we be sure that we are walking in this light and following Him?

There is a close and intimate connection between the written Word of God and Jesus, the Word who became human. Everything that Jesus embodies for us was written down so that we would have a permanent and infallible point of reference.

Psalm 119 uses a simple illustration.

“Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” Psalms 119:105 NLT

“The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” Psalms 119:130 NIV

Paul told Timothy

“But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you. You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:14-17 NLT

So, once again, we come back to the importance of filling our minds and hearts with the written word of God.

Jesus assured His disciples that His departure would be of great benefit to them because He would send His Spirit to live in them.

“But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you…. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future.  He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.  All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’” John 16:7, 13-15 NLT

It is the Holy Spirit’s role to imprint God’s Word on our hearts from which source He will bring to mind whatever we need to guide us on our journey to the Father with Jesus. He can only do this if the Word is in us and available to us when we need it.

We have been exploring two major interlinking themes in this series on engaging the powers of the kingdom. We are learning how to be true sons and daughters of God by overcoming the environment and influence of the world, the evil desires of our flesh and the lies of the devil that try to lure us away from our trust in God.

As children of light

“For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.” Ephesians 5:8-9 NLT

… we are called to walk in the light. According to John, the test is simple….fellowship with our fellow believers shows that we are in fellowship with the Godhead.

“This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:5-7 NLT

As we live our daily lives guided by the truth of God’s Word which the Holy Spirit helps us to remember, we will also be in harmony with our Christian family. The blood of Jesus will keep on keeping us clean from the effects of sin in our lives.

This leads us to our next topic… the power of unity.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All Scripture quotations in this series

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

 

THE GOSPEL OF MARK – IT’S YOUR CHOICE!

Bible Study, , ,

IT’S YOUR CHOICE!

1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”

9 Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

10 When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. 11 He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables 12 so that,

“‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,
and ever hearing but never understanding;
otherwise they might turn and be forgiven!’”

13 Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? 14 The farmer sows the word. 15 Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. 16 Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. 17 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 18 Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; 19 but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. 20 Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.” Mark 4:1-20

It was never God’s intention to prevent people from receiving and believing the Word. Any resistance to the truth comes from the individual’s own choice to continue believing what prevents the Word from taking root in their minds and changing their lives. Jesus stated clearly that there are some people who hear and see with natural senses but never perceive the truth in the words they have heard. They have closed minds and hearts and truth simply bounces off and is lost to them.

Parables are a means to an end. Stories with a message achieve their objective in a roundabout way. The direct approach will only arouse more resistance whereas a story will arouse interest and provoke thought and even possibly a response.

Jesus’ stories were simple and direct, matter-of-fact and intriguing. He hardly ever applied the story to the listener, relying on their own imagination and spiritual perception to make the connection. When the disciples couldn’t figure out the meaning, they asked Him. Sometimes the meaning was glaringly clear as in e.g., the stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son.

Jesus’ stories were woven from the everyday experiences of His hearers; stories from the land, farming, animals, family life, scenes familiar to everyone, experiences the ordinary people could understand and identify with. He used whatever was appropriate to unlock truth and enlighten understanding. This was God in action, coming down to the people’s level, entering their common experience with truth that helped them understand the unseen dimensions of God.

The unseen realm of God’s rule began to take shape and bring meaning to the minds of people who practised religious rituals which did not seem to have a heart. Jesus was a genius, sweeping away unnecessary trappings to get to the core of life with God.