Foundations of Wisdom

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We are all familiar with the first verse of the Bible which states "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Over a six day span of time, God spoke light into existence followed by sky, land, vegetation, seasons, creatures both in water and on land and then we know he created us, man. Where did the intangible concept of wisdom come from? Do you think it was created on the first day with light? What about with the creatures of the sea? I was reading in Proverbs this morning and discovered that it's foundations of wisdom were before God spoke light into existence!

"22(AH) "The LORD(AI) possessed[b] me at the beginning of his work,[c]
the first of his acts(AJ) of old.
23Ages ago I was(AK) set up,
at the first,(AL) before the beginning of the earth.
24When there were no(AM) depths I was(AN) brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
25Before the mountains(AO) had been shaped,
(AP) before the hills, I was brought forth,
26before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
27When he(AQ) established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew(AR) a circle on the face of the deep,
28when he(AS) made firm the skies above,
when he established[d] the fountains of the deep,
29when he(AT) assigned to the sea its(AU) limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out(AV) the foundations of the earth,
30then(AW) I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his[e](AX) delight,
rejoicing before him always,
31(AY) rejoicing in his(AZ) inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man."

ESV http://www.biblegateway.com/

I love how the author of this passage personifies wisdom in verse 30 saying " I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man." This passage emphasizes the importance and significance of wisdom does it not? Wisdom is an attribute that God delighted in before man was in even in existence to delight in! The passage goes on to describe what we are to do with wisdom:

"32"And now,(BA) O sons, listen to me:
(BB) blessed are those who keep my ways.
33(BC) Hear instruction and be wise,
and do not neglect it.
34(BD) Blessed is the one who listens to me,
watching daily at my gates,
waiting beside my doors.
35For(BE) whoever finds me(BF) finds life
and(BG) obtains favor from the LORD,
36but he who fails to find me(BH) injures himself;
all who(BI) hate me(BJ) love death."

ESV http://www.biblegateway.com/

"For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD..." Whoever finds wisdom finds life and favor from the Lord. That's huge! Chapter 9 goes on to describe the way of wisdom and contrasts wisdom with simplicity. Interesting. The way of the world screams simplicity in everything: delight yourself in simple ways. Simple in this context is implied foolishness, the act of believing in everything and acting in folly (Proverbs 8:5;14:15,18). These cross reference verses contrast simple with the word prudent. This word is used frequently throughout all of Proverbs--it is tied with knowledge and disciplined in many of the verses. So how does one even become wise or prudent? If it gives life and if it was so significant that it existed before the world's foundations---how does one obtain it? Read on in chapter 9 and discover the catalyst for wisdom:

" 7Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse,
and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.
8(R) Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you;
(S) reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
9Give instruction[b] to a wise man, and he will be(T) still wiser;
teach a righteous man, and he will(U) increase in learning.
10(V) The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and(W) the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
11For by me(X) your days will be multiplied,
and years will be added to your life.
12(Y) If you are wise, you are wise for yourself;
if you scoff, you alone will bear it."

ESV http://www.biblegateway.com/

The "fear of the LORD" is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the LORD doesn't mean that you're literally scared of Him--it means that you recognize your place: under his authority. Other Proverbs regarding the fear of the Lord state that "The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor." (15:33). Job 28:28 states that fear of the Lord and wisdom are the same thing and "to turn away from evil is understanding." So not only to recognize his authority in humility but to turn from evil are intertwined in wisdom. Seek the Lord for wisdom and prudence: make wisdom your companion like it was God's before the foundations of the world!

Speaking the Sword

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This past week at Oasis, Jared spoke on the passage in Ephesians entitled “The Whole Armor of God” in chapter six. I love this imagery that Paul is using to encourage the Church of Ephesus. Throughout the course of this book, Paul writes a series of letters challenging the people in their faiths and interactions with one another. Then, almost like the final clincher that a football coach may throw in to really get the boys rallied, he presents this imagery of battle gear. This is what it says:

“The Whole Armor of God
10Finally,(M) be strong in the Lord and in(N) the strength of his might. 11(O) Put on(P) the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against(Q) the schemes of the devil. 12For(R) we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against(S) the rulers, against the authorities, against(T) the cosmic powers over(U) this present darkness, against(V) the spiritual forces of evil(W) in the heavenly places. 13Therefore(X) take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in(Y) the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.” (ESV www.biblegateway.com)

In order to fight in a battle, you have to know your enemy correct? In these first few verses Paul describes that our enemy is “not flesh and blood but rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness and the spiritual forces of evil.” Wow. I don’t think you could take any form of self-defense, karate, or num chuck classes to knock out “cosmic powers” do you? No, the passages precedes into the description of what we are to put on: the armor of God.

14Stand therefore,(Z) having fastened on the belt of truth, and(AA) having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15and,(AB) as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16In all circumstances take up(AC) the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all(AD) the flaming darts of(AE) the evil one; 17and take(AF) the helmet of salvation, and(AG) the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18praying(AH) at all times(AI) in the Spirit,(AJ) with all prayer and supplication. To that end(AK) keep alert with all perseverance, making(AL) supplication for all the saints, 19and(AM) also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth(AN) boldly to proclaim(AO) the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I(AP) am an ambassador(AQ) in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

(ESV www.biblegateway.com)

Ok. I don’t know about you, but this armor of God is pretty intense is it not? A belt of truth followed by a breastplate of righteousness? Because I’m a runner I like this next part, I would think that Paul is saying, “Make sure you have your spikes on” so you’re ready to share the gospel of peace. A shield that reflects …flaming darts? A helmet of salvation? A sword of the spirit which is technically God’s Word with never-ending prayer and supplication.

Whew. You know what really got me jazzed in this passage of scripture? The sword. (Maybe it’s because I took that Meat Science class my freshman year at SDSU and we got to work with knives :) The reason why I love the sword is because this analogy is used throughout all scripture and the other passages bring it to an even higher element of meaning particularly in Revelation 19:15

15(A) From his mouth comes a sharp sword(B) with which to strike down the nations, and(C) he will rule them with a rod of iron.(D) He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. (ESV www.biblegateway.com)

A guy has a sword coming out of his mouth---how cotton-pickin’ cool is that?! This is not just any normal guy, this is indeed our “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” This passage is the ultimate introduction for a warrior; forget the Bulls arena music, when Christ returns on His white horse with flames in his eyes, a crown on his head, a robe dipped in blood and a sword jetting from his mouth, it will be the most majestic sight one will ever witness. Oh, don’t forget the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” tattooed on his thigh—wow. Ok, so the sword. I want you to understand the significance of the sword. Obviously it’s a symbol of a fight, a battle and war. It’s sharp. In fact another passage tells us just how sharp this sword is:

12For(A) the word of God is living and(B) active,(C) sharper than any(D) two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and(E) discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (ESV www.biblegateway.com)

This is not your typical Medieval sword that let’s say Robinhood would use. This sword cuts deeper than flesh and blood. This sword reaches deep inside of your in most being and pierces into your thoughts and intentions of the heart: it’s that sharp. You may not realize it but you hold a deadly weapon in your hand when you hold the Word of God. Just like we discussed earlier, a weapon needs to match your enemy and there is not other weapon that is going to stop Satan except the Word of God. Notice the correlation between this verse and John 1:1 which states

“14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,[d] who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
(ESV www.biblegateway.com)

See how our analogy continues to grow and permeate throughout all of scripture? This is important. The Word became flesh. Christ is the Word made into flesh. This means that the Word is not just a book that we open on Sundays; it’s not just a nice bedtime story book for your kids; it’s not just a rule book for how to live your life---it’s real and a live. The power of God’s Word is like none other. You have to realize that the power that comes from the Word is the same power that spoke light into exsistence, like in Genesis; the power of the Word is the same power that spoke to Moses in the burning bush, like in Exodus. The power of the Word is the same power that spoke through all the prophets of the Old Testament in which, I remind you, all were fulfilled (except for the return of Christ). The power of the Word is the same power that spoke through Jesus in his earthly ministry. The power of the Word is the same power that spoke and Lazarus was raised from the dead. The power of the Word is the same power that spoke the words “Father forgive them for they know not what they do,” and “it is finished!” The power of the Word is the same power that spoke and Christ was raised from the dead and now sits at the right hand of God.

Now do you know why I get jazzed about what was talked about Oasis? Do you realize that God has made a power available to us like no other power here on earth? Do you realize that we have been equipped with the same weapon as our Lord Jesus Christ (well, technically, He is his own weapon—wrap your mind around that!). When He returns, He won’t even have to lift a finger—but merely speak and justice will be brought to Satan and his army? My challenge to you this week, is to take up that Sword, take up the Word of God and write what it says on your heart. It is promised to you by God that whatever trial, whatever discouraging event, whatever pain or suffering you encounter in this life, that His Word is with you. You won’t be able to defeat Satan with church. You won’t be able to defeat Satan with giving clothes to the poor and money to the needy. You won’t be able to defeat Satan by saying that your parents were good people and that you believed in God. The ONLY way to obtain this sword is through the acceptance of Jesus Christ into your life and making him Lord and Savior of your life.

Goodness Made in Flesh

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If there was ever a theme for "Good Friday" I think it would be this video with Divine Romance by Phil Wickham--check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jABIjfkRVxI


While I was on my mission's trip to New York City, I had a conversation with a gentleman who was Muslim on the differences between Christianity and the Muslim faith. I recall one comment he made that really ties in with the question: "Why 'good' Friday?" He said " Why is it that you Christians choose to have a cross as your religious symbol? It makes no sense! If you love someone so much, why would you show honor to something that actually was a part of your loved one's death?" I feel as if God just breathed this answer into me in that moment, " Well, if you notice---the cross no longer has Christ on it, does it? It's a symbol of both the sin that was conquered and the resurrection that took place three days later." It does seem rather odd that we have a cross for a symbol of our faith in Christ Jesus and that we have a day set aside on our calenders in which we remember his death. If Christ rose a few days later, why emphasize his death? Why not have a stone necklace instead of a cross for our symbol to represent the stone being rolled away?

It hit me today while I was doing my quiet time and just praying for God to reveal something unique and special to me about this day that we can call this day " good " because we have a Good God. Lately, I have been overwhelmed with scripture describing the attributes of God including his goodness, faithfulness and his steadfast love. Goodness is an attribute of God that is permeated throughout all of scripture:

Exodus 33:19
And he said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

Psalm 31:19
Oh, how abundant is your goodness,which you have stored up for those who fear youand worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!

Psalm 65:4
Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,to dwell in your courts!We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,the holiness of your temple!

Psalm 68:9-10
Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;
you restored your inheritance as it languished;
10your flock found a dwelling in it;
in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

Isaiah 63:7
(The LORD’s Mercy Remembered) I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD,the praises of the LORD,according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israelthat he has granted them according to his compassion,according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

And these are just a few of the verses that have the word "goodness" in them; not including the goodness God has lavished upon those he loves both within the Bible and His current body of believers. Not only is goodness included in the list of God's attributes, but this quality of God was personified in his son, Jesus Christ--check out this verse in Titus 3

"3For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

AH! You cannot tell me that this verse does not create so much sorrow and joy within your heart all at once when you read it. His goodness appeared, the word goodness was actually made into a human image that walked upon this earth only to be poured out on who....US! What does it say in verse 5? It says "He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his....mercy". Mercy is not getting something we deserve--mercy is being justified so that we might become the heirs of an eternal life. Now that is why we can call this day 'good.'

Open Canvas

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Well, I am about 166 hours from finding out about my dietetic internship application; don't worry, it's not like I'm counting or anything :) A week from right now I will either be in complete joy with nervous excitement or utter despair with the feeling of rejection. HA! But seriously, this past weekend I was praying just about how to have the right perspective on my life and how to approach each and everyday, let alone next year. I feel as though I am in no sweeter position than where I am right now because I feel like my heart is an open canvas in which God can masterfully paint whatever it is he desires upon my heart. So often I feel like I catch myself sketching out lines here and there only to discover God's hand carefully "erasing" my pitiful lines and replacing them with beautiful strokes of vibrant color. This past year I have felt the pain of areas of my heart under the eraser but I trust in The True Artist's hands--his creations are far greater than anyone can imagine. His word says "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than than your ways, and my thoughts higher than yours." Our God is a big God. Yet he chooses our hearts as his favorite canvas. Our Lord created the heavens and the earth, yet he delights in designing a redemption-masterpiece within each of his children.

My encouragement to you is to simply allow the Artist work within your heart. When lines are erased in your heart; dreams, goals and relationships--don't look it as God restricting you in living your life but rather God's way of creating something far greater than you could ever construct. God is big, he needs a lot of room to work: stand back and allow him to turn vibrant strokes into a masterpiece--your life.

New York City Mission's Trip Thanksgiving Report

Dear Family and Friends,

Words cannot express how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to serve in New York City over my Springbreak. It has been a little over a week from getting back and I am still standing in awe of how God works. I have so many things to share with you all but before I begin, may I just say a huge, huge thank you for your prayers and support for me? God supplied our team MORE than enough to go on this trip! We were so blessed by our friends and family; it truly portrayed the faithfulness of God in accomplishing His will. I pray that you will be encouraged in knowing we have a God with limitless resources and a caring Father who promises to “provide all of our needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Ok, are you ready for this? I am going to my best to be brief enough so that you can finish this letter before your hair turns gray (and if already has…sorry I have no other analogy to use) yet detailed enough that you can feel the Holy Spirit working through the team in our day-to-day outreach missions.

Sunday-March 7, 2010 We rolled into NYC early Sunday morning and got to the New York School of Urban Ministires (NYSUM) around 1:00 am. We got up nice and early to catch a ferry to the Statue of Liberty and then went to the Brooklyn Tabernacle 12:00 service. Let me just say, whether you felt the Holy Spirit or not, you could not deny the presence of the Spirit within that body of believers. The music was ridiculous: 300 person choir (each person had the lung capacity of perhaps 5 people) when they sang it was as if a wave of sound was going to push you backwards out of your chair. Pastor Cymbila had a wonderful message on “being sober-minded and self controlled” for Christ’s return and did a wonderful job explaining how to be ready for Christ’s return. Later on that evening we went to Time Square Church, near Time Square. It is a Interdenominational Church---I have never been in a room with so many different nationalities. It was what I would think a lot of what heaven may be like someday. Their format of service was kind of neat in how they had two people give a testimony and then a sermon following. I could not get over how both these bodies of believers based centered so much of their worship services on prayer. Both churches have numerous services ALL day on Sunday—I wonder how our Midwest churches would be transformed if we put more of an emphasis on prayer.

Monday-March 8,2010 Our first day consisted of two service projects: Cerebral Palsy Center and Goldwater Terminally Ill Hospital both in the Bronx area. At the center we went from room to room playing guitar and singing songs with the students/patients. It was neat to see how much they lit up with music and how free they became in expressing their joy through dancing or clapping. At Goldwater, we were blessed to see so many believers who are worshipping God on their hospital beds—some patients have been there for 4-5 years and they continue to rejoice and serve God. Would you rejoice and serve God on your death bed? That was Peter’s desire in 2 Peter 1:13 which states:


“I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent (body) to stir you up by way of reminder since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time recall these things.”

Tuesday-March 9,2010 Well Pastor Rick promised our team that we would be challenged at some point of the week but I wasn’t expecting it to be this soon! Tuesday our group did two more service projects with the first one being in the projects at a church/soup kitchen known as “Espanola.” Pastor Rick informed me late Monday night after our team meeting that I would be speaking at the service the next morning—AKA you will have about one hour to prepare a message and oh…by the way, you will have a translator because a majority of the people who come only speak Spanish. My thoughts: “Oh good. This is good.” AH!  I went to bed Monday evening thinking that I would just give my testimony on running because everyone can relate/understand running. I woke up the next morning with 2 Timothy 2:20-22, a verse that I had read while I was competing at my indoor track conference meet earlier in march. The verses say this:

“Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable use, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.”

Me in my nerdy-Bible-studyingness (You are correct—that is not a grammatically correct phrase!) was really excited with this passage because I referenced back into the Old Testament and discovered that the “vessels” used in the passage were the same that were in the Temple of God that the priests had to clean in order to be in the presence of God. But then it dawned on me: although I find the correlation awesome and exciting, these people need the story of Salvation—not an Old Testament seminary lecture and so God opened my eyes up to the analogy of using an actual vessel, a cup for my message. And so I gave a message using a simple cup: we are like a cup. We were created for God’s purposes just like a cup would be used in a house. When a cup becomes dirty, stained or broken, it is unusable, disgusting and if you can’t clean it, it should be thrown-out. A cup cannot clean itself, it must be washed by someone. And with that, sometimes the outside of the cup doesn’t look too bad but when you look inside of it, it’s disgusting (like the passage in Matthew “Seven Woes” of the Pharisees—cleaning the outside of the cup). Then I basically gave the story of Salvation through Christ and how His blood is the only thing that can make us clean: the washing of His blood will cleanse us and make us honorable—ready to be used by our Master again. The translator threw me off a little but it was so amazing to literally stand back and allow the Holy Spirit work through my words and relay His message. Three people came forward to accept Christ and I humbly accepted the privilege of praying with them. It was so, so neat.

Later that evening we did a homeless ministry where we went out at 9:00 pm taking blankets, food, water and pocket Bibles to the homeless near Time Square. It was there that I got to visit with a remarkable woman named “Gret,” from Jamaica. She had accepted Christ when she was 13, and come to the states to get her degree in teaching. Through a series of events, she became homeless and had been struggling in and out of it all her life. She is now 68 years old and unable to get a job. She has learned to completely depend upon God and to put her hope in Him everyday. She attends Time Square Church when she is able to get there but because she has to travel all over NYC for food or different shelters, she doesn’t always get there. I got to pray with her and tell her things that she never hears: that she’s a beautiful, gentle and wonderful child of God; that those who are blessed with a home, food and shelter could easily lose it in a matter of seconds and that all we are guaranteed in this life is Jesus Christ and that God is good. She prayed with me and then said “Blessings to you in your career and thank you so much for the food, I wouldn’t have had supper tonight if it wasn’t for you.” Sigh. I was and continue to be utterly speechless at how a woman with nothing still offered a blessing to a girl who has everything, a more.

Wednesday-March 10, 2010 Tourist Day! I will keep this brief because to be honest, it was my least favorite day of the trip—New York City is exciting, don’t get me wrong, but I am just not into all the hustle and bustle of the city. We got up really early and caught the subway to Central Park. We then walked to Time Square for people to purchase tickets to Broadway shows (I didn’t actually go because I was cheap). We went to the Upper Deck of Rockefeller Center and saw the City---I can’t recall the number of floors but you get there in a minute on the elevator! Your ears pop like crazy! After that we ate near the Ice skating rink that you always see on Good Morning America or in Home Alone and then we went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. That was ridiculous! The floor shook when the organist played; I was so tempted to start singing the Lord’s Prayer but I’m sure the people wouldn’t have appreciated it during the 12 mass service  After that I went to the New York City Library while most of the team went to the shows. We met up later and went to China Town and Little Italy for supper. We crawled into our beds about 12:00 that night—feet throbbing and all.

Thursday-March 11, 2010 We completed another two service projects with the first one at what is known as “The Relief Bus.” It is a bus that literally parks on a side street where the volunteers hand out free soup, hot chocolate, bread and offer to pray with people. It was so much fun! The workers were so happy and they led by example in being a joyful giver. I got to ladle the soup for most of our time there and then pray with several homeless men—most of them believers. It’s crazy, I met more homeless believers than business men and women-believers in NYC. That evening we did a subway ministry where we literally got on a subway car and road for about three hours singing, sharing testimonies and praying with people. I was probably the most uncomfortable in this ministry because I am not one who likes to do open-air-preaching but if it’s done with the message of grace and truth –it’s amazing to see how it softens and changes people’s hearts. How are you relaying the message to those around you?

Friday-March 12, 2010 On our last full day of ministry, we put on two services for men’s homeless ministries. The first one was called “The Bowery” which is one of the oldest shelters in America. Some of the roughest men of NYC come here for services and a meal everyday. We gave a service and witness the miracle of three more men coming forward to accept Christ. One of these men was walking by just before we started the service and “felt like something was pulling him inside the building.” That something was definitely the Spirit. Later on that evening we went to “Batel” which is a drug and alcohol rehab. Basically these guys come with prison as their only other option. These men are broken and desire to be different—most of them already saved. Our group did a service and then just got to enjoy fellowship with them. The people who were in charge of the ministry were amazing; a young couple with a little 3 year old boy running around. At first I was surprised that they would raise a child in an environment like that but then it dawned on me while I was watching him running around squealing: this small child is bringing such a vibrancy and softness to the people there. That child has no idea the impact he is making on the Kingdom when he may not even know Jesus himself yet. Is God not good? How can you deny that our God is good?

Well, now that your hair is completely gray and only partially falling out, :) I will wrap this up. Again, thank you so very much for your support. You truly impacted the City through the team. I pray that what I shared with you would be of an encouragement not only in the area of giving but serve as a challenge in your own relationship with Christ. One of the best quotes I received from the week was from a NYSUM worker who said this, “ Don’t hold back, allow God to mess with you tonight (homeless night).” Don’t just take these stories and say, “Well that’s great that Joni had a good time and enjoyed serving in New York City.” No, it is my hope that you take these stories of redemption and truth and allow them to mess you up a little. Allow God to move through it. Is God calling you to serve in a similar mission’s experience? What about at your job? What about that man you see on the corner everyday who is homeless? Have you ever gone to work with the goal of steering a conversation towards sharing the Gospel? Look for those opportunities, they are there. Allow God to mess with you, you won’t regret it!

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace in my imprisonment (or on my mission’s trip) and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.”

Philippians 1:3-8

God bless you all!

His,

Joni Strom

His Instrument

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Earlier this month I had the privilege of running at our Summit League Conference Indoor Track meet up in Fargo, ND. Although I have been running for about ten years now (AH!), I still find myself becoming so anxious for races--so to say the least, I was rather anxious this weekend. My race wasn’t until 12 and we had time in the morning to relax before heading over to the track. I found myself skimming the pages after my normal quiet time study of Revelation to get a little more encouragement (not that Revelation isn’t an encouraging book and all hehe!). Usually I go to Psalms because I can relate to the Psalmist's cries to God when he is “being pursued by his enemies” only for me it’s North Dakota Bison haha. But instead of going there, I for some reason had this desire to find a passage on the topic of us as God’s instruments. I vaguely recalled a passage about it but I wasn’t sure. I hopped onto Biblegateway, an online Bible search engine, and looked up the word “instrument.” I skimmed through all of the “hits” not finding the phrasing I was thinking of until my eyes landed on 2 Timothy 2:20-22—this is what it says in NIV:

“20In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for noble purposes and some for ignoble. 21If a man cleanses himself from the latter, he will be an instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
22Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

I found this passage incredibly encouraging as I began to prepare for my race because I felt like no matter our gifts or abilities, our true desire should be to be an “instrument for noble purposes.” Not only are we used for noble purposes but it says we can be made holy and useful for our Master. Is that not awesome?

An instrument that I have always loved and adored is the violin. In relation to this passage, I picture a dusty, antique violin sitting in the corner of a room. It has been masterfully designed but remains on the shelf because it, itself, cannot play---it requires a violinist to carefully restore, tune and play in order for beautiful music to be made. We are like that violin: we are unable to do anything good but through forgiveness from our Lord Jesus Christ, we can be transformed from an old dusty violin, that is nothing but mere wood with cat gut, into a beautiful instrument--an instrument that can be useful for our Master and prepared to do any good work. The ESV version uses “vessel” instead of instrument---which again has such a wonderful picture of our identity in Christ when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and flee from the evil desires of our youth. I encourage you to look at this passage of scripture and read it more in context because it is truly a treasure-chest-of-a passage in how to live a Christ-centered life—a life that can take polar opposites of running a mile in a track meet, a violin and an instrument described in the Bible and for it all to relate to one another. I also challenge you to permeate the scripture you read into your life and pursue a continual focus on our Lord Jesus Christ today!

All the days of her life...

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After listening to Rick speak last night about Purity, I was reminded of this passage in Proverbs 31:10-12 which states:

"An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life." ESV

Now, I am not attempting to make this into a beauty-pagent-like devotional where I am telling women: this is what you will never measure up to. That's not what I am saying at all. My heart's convictions behind this is to carry-over what Rick spoke about last night specifically in the area of porn/fantasizing and relationships and holding it to Thee Standard--God's Word.

Challenge #1 for myself (I don't get out of this either!) and all God-fearing women.

So this passage begins with the subject matter---an excellent wife and how she is difficult to find. She is rare and valuable like that of precious stones or jewels. We all like to feel significant from time-to-time correct? To feel like we stand-out, are different or set-apart from all the other women on the planet. This woman that is being described here is just that but it's not because of anything she has done to make herself look good or her efforts towards morals, it is because she fears the Lord (vs. 30). This woman has placed all of her trust, her desires, her abilities, her will and has fully submitted to God. I know that some of you maybe thinking “Well, ok this is all great Joni, but what if I don’t get married? What if I don’t have a husband to marry? Am I somewhat chasing after this level of excellence in vain? Not at all! Let’s remember that as a body, we are the “Bride of Christ.” Marriage in itself is an example of how Christ loves the church. Ultimately your submission to any authority or husband is out of fear and reverence for God---your underlying motive for striving for this excellence is to honor God--for what his Son, Jesus Christ, did on the cross and then rose again so that we could share in eternity with one another. It’s a hard thing to do: submission and fearing the Lord about everything else in this life and that is why this woman is rare.

Do you fear the Lord above everything? You don’t have to seek the approval of man—if you fear the Lord first, honoring anyone else including a husband, will come out of your love for God.

Challenge #2 for myself and all God-fearing women.

“The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.” Hmmm. Trust is such a difficult thing to obtain. I was listening to a Mark Driscoll sermon this morning in his Doctrinal series entitled “God Judges.” (http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/doctrine/fall-god-judges) In it he talks about the fall of humans and how things played-out in the Garden. In it he describes where “Sin Originated” and the role of both the woman and the man in the first sin that has condemned all humankind to separation from God. One thing he noted in scripture was that once Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit they became aware of their nakedness and covered themselves. This act of covering revealed a lack of trust between the two of them and shame in dishonoring God. When God asked Adam about what happened, he addressed himself as “I” instead of “We.” Adam lost trust in Eve because of the sin that was just created in eating the forbidden fruit. So fast-forward to this passage---how is it then that a man’s heart can trust in a woman? Again, it goes back to where this woman’s heart is located and who SHE places her trust in. The man can trust his wife because she is placing her trust in God—so the man is ultimately reaping from God. Because of the fall, we women are extremely deceitful and manipulative. We know exactly which buttons to push and what words to say to get what we want: a man should not put his hope or trust in a woman without God at the center. In this passage not only can the man trust his wife but he can prosper because of it. “He will have no lack of gain.” God desires us to trust Him and since we are made in His image, our desire to be trusted as women really stems from that quality of God. The fact that the man in his verse trusts his wife shows that original, authentic vulnerability of love that God created in the Garden between Adam and Eve when things were “very good.”

First, do you have your trust in God as a woman? Have you submitted all of your manipulative and controlling characteristics to Him? Do you desire to be trusted?

Challenge #3 for myself and all other God-fearing women

Ok, the verse that really inspired me to write this devotional in the first place.
“She does him good, not harm, all the days of her life.” All the days of her life. Rick spoke about the startling statistic that the number of women partaking in porn is growing faster than men. Youch. The very topic that most women would say destroys them and steals from their marriage or relationship is now what they are participating in. No woman wants to be compared to those women in magazines, the tv or online. Gosh, we have enough trouble looking at ourselves in the mirror everyday we don’t need an airbrushed, made-up, fantasy-super woman to compare ourselves to. For any guy who is reading this---I don’t care how much pleasure you get from it, if you have any love in your heart, you should stop immediately from filling your mind with that crap and learn to live in the real-world. I won’t go any farther with addressing guys because I will more than likely destroy my computer in the process because it angers me so much  …but seriously. Back to the statistic—ladies, ladies, ladies. What are we doing to ourselves? It may not be looking at images of “perfect guys” but in the same sense of a man comparing us to pornstars, we do the same when we over-fantisize in romance novels and movies. I am all about fairy-tales and happily ever-afters, I think that there’s a reason we love stories involving princes and dragons and being rescued; however, we can’t expect a man to fill our every need. So what does this have to do with the phrase “all the days of her life”? Well, for those of you who are married, how would your husband feel if you were to tell him that he was not good enough or that he is failing because he doesn’t look like some movie star or act like some character from a book? Even greater weight is on those of us who are not married yet and do not know who our husbands will be. How would your husband feel if you were fantasizing and filling your mind with images and ideas of who and what he should be like before you even meet the poor guy? It’s identical to him filling his mind with porn images and how you are to look and act before he knows you. We need to guard our hearts ladies, big time. Again, it all goes back to who are you fearing? Who are your placing your trust and hope in? Edward Collins? (Yuck. Lol sorry, not such a fan of Twilight….I know, I know Ashley  ) But seriously, I am pleading with myself as I plead to any XX chromosome person to put your hope in God. To be content in Him and this passage—this list of qualities of an excellent wife will be obtainable. Not because of anything you’ve done but because of the work of our Great and Glorious HOLY and PURE God and Savior, Jesus Christ in you.

Do You Tremble at God's Word?

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I took a "break" one day this past week from studying Revelation to listen to a sermon by Francis Chan, a pastor of a church in California and the author of the book "Crazy Love." I listened to a sermon entitled, " The Most Important Lesson I Could Teach." It was over 2 Peter 1--a chapter that I had never really read and introduced several topics that just challenged me so much in how I approach reading God's Word and how I live it out in my life. One of these areas that I felt challenged in was what I do with my life before I die. In this passage of scripture, Peter knew the type of death he was going to have because Jesus told him in an earlier passage. Peter says in verse 12-14:

"Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder,since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me." ESV

Those words in italics, I believe are important to highlight because it shows the kind of mindset Peter had: always reminding the believers of the qualities listed earlier in verses 5-7 (faith, virtue, self control...) "as long as I am in this body." Peter knew that he was going to die a cruel death. Don't you think that if he was in today's society, he would enjoy and live it up as much as possible before a death upside down on a cross? We invest, plan and save for retirement to "enjoy" the last few years we have on this earth before we go into the true Paradise. I don't know, I am not saying that you can't save money so that you're not a burden to your family when you're unable to take care of yourself, but don't you think we should have the mindset of "until I leave this body, I want to be reminding everyone, my family, friends, co-workers, people on the streets--everyone about how to live a life for Christ?" Maybe if you struggle with this concept, you should first pray that God would deliver you from a fear of death. It's ok, there are days where I am like "What if this happens....or I get sick and this happens.." and I panic but then I am reminded of the victory I have in Christ Jesus and that passage that speaks of "Oh sin where is thy victory? Death where is thy sting?" And that we have no fear in death!

Second Peter says something intriguing about how he saw Christ (in Matthew 17) with his face shining like the sun, his body turning to white and Moses and Elijah appearing by his side. God comes along in a huge, bright cloud (like the one in the OT that was with the Israelites...cool how he is permeated throughout right? I love it!) and God says "This is my Son, whom I am well pleased." So Peter has witnessed an INCREDIBLE thing and yet his words in verse 18-19

"....we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts,knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation."

Did Peter just say that the prophetic word, is something more sure than all of the glory and splendor described earlier in verse 18? YES! Is that not crazy--but so so true? It is also neat how he says "knowing first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation." Ha. How often we hear "Well, that's just how you interpret the Bible...I interpret it like this..." Ah! We must be careful! Francis Chan did an awesome job in emphasizing this in his sermon of how to study God's word. We must work so diligently at looking at text asking God to "put aside my desires, give me the truth."

Lastly, Chan highlighted Isaiah 66:1-2 which states this:

"Thus says the Lord: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word." ESV

But this is the one whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. Humble. Contrite. Trembles. When I approach reading God's word, am I humble? Do I have a contrite or broken Spirit? Do I tremble at the power in His Word? This is my heart's prayer for the rest of my study in Revelation and well, the rest of my life: To approach reading God's word with reverance,humility, brokeness and with trembling--knowing that I have a privilege everyday to encounter something greater than the physical splendor of Jesus and God in a cloud. Don't get me wrong, ha! I want to see that and I will, but really---God's Word is just as powerful and amazing as that.



Get the sermon at:
11/27/09 "The Most Important Message I Could Teach" Francis Chan

http://www.cornerstonesimi.com/special/media_player.html

Revelation Chapter 2

I realized the other day, there is no way that I will be done with studying Revelation over break! In fact, my pace right now, with free time, is a chapter a week-week and half. It's hard not to dive into the scripture, read commentary and go to cross references which usually lead to other cross references :). Oh well. Let's look at chapter two a little bit and see what it all entails!



This portion of scripture, according to ESV commentary, is the "Beginning of the body" and it includes three letters to four of the seven churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergmum and Thyatria.



Ephesus-Christ is aware of the work, toil nd patient endurance. He notes that one thing he has against the church is that they have "abandoned the love you had at first." The commentary says that it could either be that they forgot the love/lost love for one another or the same degree of love for Christ--or both.



Cross References

"abandoned the love you had at first"

• Jeremiah 2:2- "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me int the wilderness, in a land not sown.


• Ezekiel 16:8- " When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you."


• vs. 43-"Because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, I have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not committed lewdness in addition to all your abominations?"


• vs. 60- "Yet I will remember my covenant in the days of your youth and I will re-establish an everlasting covenant with you."

Smyrna-tribulation, poverty and slander of those who say they are Jews and are not. Two main topics: (1) Be faithful unto death and you will receive a crown of life. (2) that you may be tested.

Cross References-

(1)Be faithful unto death and you will receive a crown of life:

• Matthew 10:22-" You will be hated for my namesake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved."


• Hebrews 3:5-6: " Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were spoken later but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are in his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope."

(2)that you may be tested

• James 2:5- " Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom?"


• 1 Timothy 6:18- " They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share thus storing up treasures for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of what is truly life."


• Hebrews 10:34-"For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property. Since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession, an abiding one."

Church of Pergamum-The Holy spirit somewhat reveals a character quality with Jesus that corresponds with the church's weakness/is being challenged with. ie. "the words of him who has a sharp two-edged sword." And here the church is struggling with false witness and prophets.

"Satan's throne"-ESV Commentary: " pergamum hosted temples dedicated to "the divine Augustus and the goddess Roma" and to "Asklepios (the god of healing, symbolized by serpents) and a large altar dedicated to Zeus. The worship of the emperor as a god was also strongly emphasized, even required, in the province of Asia, and it was a major problem for Christians at the time. All of this qualifies Pergamum to be called the site of Satan's throne. Amid oppressive paganism, a believer named Antipas had sealed his testimony with his life, and Jesus shares with Antipas his own title, faithful witness."

Balaam-prophet seduced King moab to be both sexually and spiritually adulterous

Nicolatiains-spread the act of sexual and spiritual infidelity

Cross References

"War with the sword of my mouth"

• Isaiah 49:2-"He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me away."


• Ephesians 6:17-"....and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God."


• Hebrews 4:12-"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."


• Revelation 19:15-"From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations with and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty."

Thyatria

-"Christ's eyes like a flame of fire, whose feet are like burnished bronze"

*ESV Commentary-Interesting little note I just wanted to highlight in the commentary, that this passage in regards to the metals is somewhat familiar to Thyatiran metal workers.

Cross Reference

• Revelation 1:14-15
• Ezekiel 1:27

-Jezebel-prophetess: teaching and seducing servants to practice sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols. She could be hypothetically speaking or an actual woman who was a prophet.

Cross References

• 1 Kings 16:30-33; 19:1-2: These passages describe the queen of Tyre, King Ahab's wife named Jezebel who suggested the Israelites to worship false gods etc...In (19:1-2) she wanted to kill Elijah the prophet
• Babylonian prostitute
• This woman had time to repent, or symbolic of the church having time to repent, but she or they didn't.

-"I will give to each of you according to your works"

Cross References

• Matthew 16:27-"For the son of man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

-ESV Commentary-"reward only to those have taken up the cross"

-hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works till the end, to him I will give authority over the nations."

Cross References

• Psalm 2:88-"Ask me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession."
• Daniel 7:14-" And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him."

Revelation Chapter One-Greetings to the Seven Churches-Part I

Image from:
http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/features/2006/storm-chasing/03-large/storm-swirl.jpg

I cannot explain the excitement I have had in studying the scriptures the last couple days. Yesterday at the breakfast table, I found myself explaining to my mom the symbolism of a lamp stand in chapter one and its correlation to the description of a lamp stand in Exodus. After I got done explaining it. It was kind of funny because I recognized just how excited I was to find that (don't get me wrong, mom was excited too---but lol I was really excited). Whether or not you're even following along in reading in Revelation, that is my heart's prayer for all of God's people: to find joy in reading scripture; that we would find it exciting when symbols, prophetic messages and love letters from God are all discovered. I am not saying you have to get giddy or even emotionally aroused, rather when you read a passage, you at least say to yourself "Ha. That's neat." I also suggest telling someone about it too---explain when you've found; read the passage aloud to your family and friends just like John says in the beginning of the chapter one. Create a ripple effect in the minds of those around you and get them thinking about what is being said in God's word.

Chapter One-Greetings to the Seven Churches

The Key words/phrases that I found in the first portion of chapter one were the following:
"him who was and is and is to come", seven spirits, Jesus Christ and "coming with clouds."

• These just stood out to me as words and phrases that could have deeper meanings and/or were described consistently throughout the passage.

"Him who was and is and is to come" (verse 4) as well as "'I am the Alpha and Omega, says the Lord God, 'who was and is to come, the Almighty.'" (verse 8)

• God is eternal and in Christ, He will come to judge and save.

Cross references:

• Revelation 4:8 "And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and are within, and day and night they never cease saying: ' Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. Who was and is and is to come.'"


• Hebrews 13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever."


• Exodus 3:14 "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM'" or "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE."


• John 1:1-"In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and the Word was God."

"Seven Spirits"

Verse four also recognizes that there are seven spirits before the throne of ' who was and is to come.' My first reaction was "I thought there was only One Spirit" but as I read this verse, the cross reference passages and commentary provided---it is pretty evident that the Holy Spirit can be expressed as seven spirits.

Cross references:

• Holy Spirit as one person: vs. 3:6,13 and Ephesians 4:4

-Vs. 3:6, 3:13 (in letters to churches): "He who has ears let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches

-Ephesians 4:4-"There is one body and one Spirit-just as you are called to be one..."

• Appearing as Seven Spirits: vs. 3:1, 4:5--the fact that there are seven, according to the commentary, says that it represents perfection and the seven torches of fire (4:5) and seven eyes (vs 5:6) expresses his omnipresence and omniscience.


• Holy Spirit expressed as Seven Spirits:

-Vs. 3:1 "....The Words of him who has the seven spirits of God and seven stars."

*Commentary: "A figurative description of the one Holy Spirit who issues an edict (announcement of law) to the seven churches. He will also appear as the Lamb's seven eyes sent throughout the earth (vs. 5:6).

-Vs. 4:5- "...before the throne of God were burning seven torches, which are the seven spirits of God."

- Vs. 5:6- " And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a lamb standing, as though he had been slain with seven horns and seven eyes which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth."

"Jesus Christ"-vs. 4

Hehe, I know you know who Jesus Christ is---but here John addresses him as "faithful witness" (giving testimony).

He was faithful unto death--so should his followers (Vs. 2:13, 12:11, 20:3)--commentary and cross references.

"Coming on the clouds"-vs. 7

Cross references:

• 
  
  Daniel 7:13- "The son of man given dominion: I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like the son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented to before him."


• 
  
  Matthew 16:27- "For the son of man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father and then he will repay each person according for what he has done."

**Side note: "every eye will see him--even those who pierced him." I just wanted to point this scripture out because it could be used in deciding the order of which Christ will return. So even the people who pierced him will see Christ return---so those individuals specifically will be raised from the dead and technically, those alive today contributed to his death so we too shall see him.

-Zechariah 12:10- "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a Spirit of grace and pleas for mercy so that when they look upon me, on him who they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weeps for his firstborn."

-John 19:37-"And again, the Scripture says, 'They will look on him whom they have pierced.' "

Revelation Study-Prologue

Ha. That's right. I had high hopes of getting through chapter one, doing a word search and summarizing all of the cross references.....fat chance. Hehe, so I got through the first three verses--and even that I feel like I am skimming it! If you're reading this, I HIGHLY recommend that you do your own studies on these words, or on other important words in the text and seek out cross-references because, not only is there SO much to the text but I am so so very green at studying God's word like this!

Prologue:

Word searches-- revelation, servants (bondservant), blessed and near.
*ESV study Bible highlighted the words "show, made it known" as other words that could be searched.

• Revelation= 'genre' revelation or an 'apocalypse,' a disclosure of unseen realities: Jesus is both the One Revealed (noted thru-out text as: Son of Man, Lion of Judah, Lamb and Word of God )and the Revealer (to John and believers.)--ESV Commentary

• Servants--Ok. So this was extremely interesting to me, so you may or may not be aware of the term "bondservant" I was just introduced to it this past year in a sermon series done by our pastor. Basically a bondservant is associated with a disciple of Christ--At first, I thought I would look up the definition of 'bondservant' in the dictionary but then it dawned on me that perhaps the translation of the word may lose meaning in American text. I went to http://www.studylight.org/ and looked it up and this was information that I found:

• -servant: "ebed" (Hebrew) pronounced "eh'-bed"

definition- slave, servant, man-servant; subjects; servants, worshippers (of God)

servant (in special sense as prophets, levites etc); servant (Israel) or

servant (as form of address b/t equals)

• Cross references for servant
• Revelation 22:6 "These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the 'Spirits of the prophets' has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place."
• Revelation 22:16 "He made it known by sending his angel to his servant* (bondservant)

• Blessed

(1) reads aloud the words of prophecy (2) who hear and keep what is written

• Cross-references:
• Revelation 22:7- "Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book"
• Luke 11:28- "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it" (Prep for the verse is a woman says to Jesus in verse 27 "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!"---interesting huh?)
• John 8:51- "Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
• 1 John 2:2-3-"He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments."

• "..for the time is near"
• Cross-references:
• Revelation 22:10; "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near."
• 1 John 2:18- "Children, it is the hour, and as you have heard that the anti-christ is coming, so now many anti-christs have come."

-"last hour"- 2 Timothy 3:1 and James 5:3; 2 Peter 3:3--"last days"

-"final trial" "have already arrived" (Acts 2:17)--were inaugurated @ Pentecost

referring to the"coming of the Messiah"

Revelation Study--Introduction

Image from:
(http://www.travelpoint.gr/patmos/PatmosIslandGallery/images/PATMOS_ISLAND_GREECE%20(88).jpg)

The ESV Bible gives an extensive intro into the book of Revelation. I will highlight some of the background information provided in this before we actually get into the book. Again, this is mostly for my own thoughts to process but any comments or suggestions of study is appreciated!

Author: John, son of Zebedee the 'beloved disciple.' John authored the Fourth Gospel and three NT epistles. The divine author is obviously Jesus Christ and John is merely relaying the information that was presented to him while in Patmos, an island in which John was banned to for sharing the Gospel.



Date: It is estimated that the book was written between 95-96 A.D. based on the reign of Domitian's along with the churches described in the first three chapters of Revelation.



Place: John wrote the book while in exile on Patmos which is just west of Asia--at the time he was banned from Ephesus which is about 75 miles from the island.

Theme: I really like the ESV concordance because it gives the themes with references supporting it here are the themes with references:

• Jesus Christ has conquered Satan and has ransomed people from every nation to become a kingdom of priests who gladly serve in God's presence (1:5,18;5:5-10; 12; 1-11)



• Jesus Christ is present among his churches on earth through his Holy Spirit, and he knows their trials, triumphs and failures (1:12-3:22)



• World history, including its woes and disasters, is firmly in the control of Jesus, the victorious Lamb (5:1-8:1)



• God is restraining his own wrath and his enemies' efforts to destroy the church as he patiently gathers his redeemed people through the testimony that his suffering people proclaim about Jesus (6:5-11; 7:1-3; 8:6-12, 9:4-6,18;11:3-7; 12:6, 12-17)



• Present disasters, though limited in scope by God's restraint, are foreshadows and warnings of judgements to come (6:3-16; 8:6-13; 16:1-21; 20:11-15)



• Maintaining faith to the death, believers in Jesus will conquer both the dragon and the beast. The martyrs' victory, now hidden, will be manifest in their vindication at Christ's return (2:12-11, 26-29; 3:11-13; 6:9-11; 7:9-17; 11:7-12, 17-18; 12:10-11; 14:1-5;15:20:4-6)



• Satan's attacks the church's perseverance and purity through violent persecution, through deceptive teaching, and through affluence and sensual pleasure (2:1-3:22; 13:1-18;17:1-18:24)



• At the end of the age, the church's opponents will intensify persecution, but Jesus, the triumphant Word of God, will defeat and destroy his enemies; the old heaven and earth, stained with sin and suffering, will be replaced by the new heaven and earth; and the church will be presented as a bride in luminous purity to her husband, the Lamb ( 16:12-16; 19:11-21; 20:7-22:5)

Again, this is all from the concordance from "Introduction to Revelation" within the ESV study Bible, so I am not making any claims to these wordings, and perhaps I will find other little themes or subjects as I read, but It's just nice to have a 'heads up' on what Revelation is about so that we can better study it with context of other books of the Bible as well. My goal is go through chapter by chapter and write a response on each one; perform some word searches on critical words and do some cross referencing with books. It's a lot of work but I am excited !

I found an online source/copy of the ESV study Bible! Here's the Link:

http://www.esvstudybible.org/images/excerpt-revelation-intro.pdf

Oh ps: Another area that the introduction touches on is the "Schools of Interpretation" which compares four approaches to studying Revelation---I would like to present some of that too--just so we can have an idea of what words like "Pretribulational Premillennialism" mean and why people believe that way and perhaps you will find that you agree more with one approach than the other. I am not intending on debating my personal view, but I would actually like to just come closer to understanding what they mean! :) I feel so behind in escatology.

Revelation Study

Ok, so today I started the journey through Revelation and I have to admit, I am so so blessed to have the English Standard Version Study Bible which gives an extensive introduction to the book. I was somewhat contemplating on whether I should first just dive into the book itself before reading the introduction but then I thought it would be good to have a general background before I try to determine what is going on just based on my own knowledge. I wanted to highlight some of the information that was introduced more for my own "concreting" --if that's a word, so that I engrave some of this information into my mind. One thing that I am praying for is not so much that God would "reveal the true answer of when and how He is coming" because I know that I can't come remotely close to that, but that He would grant me the ability to make somewhat of distinctive view point on it. I really struggle in 'making decisions' or standing on one side or the other when it comes to controversial topics in Christianity; I think it's a good thing in the sense that I maintain a balanced approach however, it can often be used as an excuse NOT to study and form some degree of an educated-opinion--if that makes sense. So this is subliminally challenging for me in helping me discern the information and putting things together. Like I said, this is an on-going process and by the end of Christmas break, I have no intentions of 'having the answer' but I am excited to just dive into the book of Revelation with hope that God will reveal himself to me and His desire to share His plan with His children. The passage in John 15:14-16 says this:

"14You are(A) my friends(B) if you do what I command you. 15(C) No longer do I call you servants,[a] for the servant[b](D) does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for(E) all that I have heard from my Father(F) I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but(G) I chose you and appointed you that you should go and(H) bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that(I) whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you."

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2015:14-16&version=ESV

So we can expect, as friends or 'bondservants' of Christ, to know our Master's doing through Christ but in the same sense recognizing this:

"6(M) "Seek the LORD while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
7let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.
9(N) For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:6-9
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2055&version=ESV

I fully recognize that the limitations of my knowledge are far, far less than God's and that forces me to depend upon God's wisdom over my own. So we'll see :)

A Familiar Story of Expectation

(http://www.mfiles.co.uk/reviews/harry-gregson-williams-the-chronicles-of-narnia-the-lion-the-witch-and-the-wardrobe.jpg)

Ok, so one of my all time most favorite stories/movies happens to be none other than….(drum roll!) THE LION, WITCH and the WARDROBE by C.S. Lewis! :) I was first introduced to the story in Mrs. Carlson’s 5th grade class and I remember her saying, “Now there’s an underlying theme that some of you may pick up on so when you do, you should come tell me!” As the plot continued to unravel, I slowly began to recognize that this story sounded awfully familiar and then BAM! It hit me when Aslan, the lion, was preparing to die on the stone table. Leading up to that scene however, all of Narnia was being transformed. The animals were seeing drastic changes taking place and word was spreading like wildfire that Aslan was coming and winter would soon be over! Queen Jadis, the evil, extremely-pale-looking woman would soon be overthrown and there would be peace in all Narnia! Mr. and Mrs. Beaver were anticipating the return of Aslan and were the first to relay the message to the children. I love the part when they are being chased by the wolves and all of a sudden “Father Christmas” comes out of no-where and gives them their weapons for the battle that will take place before the peace in Narnia. Aslan was calling for an army to rally with him in the fight to overthrow Jadis and the “dark side.”

What does this all have to do with the message Pastor Rick shared on Sunday you may be asking? Well, besides me getting super excited about the movie, if you recall, Rick spoke on expectations and how often we wait in anticipation for something, like Christmas, and then it ends up not being at all what it surmounted to be. Although the superficial things of Christmas may not meet your expectations, the true meaning behind Christmas will: Jesus Christ.

Did you know that Jesus is coming again? This time however, he will not be just a babe in a manger, he will be in all of His glory and splendor.We too are to be like the animals of Narnia and await the expected arrival of Jesus (Aslan if you didn’t catch the subliminal message earlier, hehe). We should be preparing and expecting a full-out battle with real evil (if you're not encountering the battle already!). Revelation is often thought of as a scary and complicated book. To me however, this passage of scripture appears to be pretty uplifting and straight-forward:

Jesus Is Coming
7"Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book."
8I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9But he said to me, "Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!"
10Then he told me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. 11Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy."
12"Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
14"Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
16"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you[a] this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."
17The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.
(Revelation 22:7-17 NIV from www.biblegateway.com)

See, something just tells me that..oh I don't know, "Jesus is Coming?" How many times does He say it? Ha, sometimes I giggle as to think how often He has to repeat Himself in relaying messages like this in his word because of thick-headed people like myself! With all that aside, perhaps over the long Christmas break, you should join me in studying Revelation. After hearing Rick’s message and reading a passage like this, my expecations of Christ’s second coming has heightened and I want to know all that I can about His return. Do you think it's too late to ask Father Christmas for some weapons of my own? I'm sure we could quick add it to our lists--he still has 20 days!

Blessed are the Peacemakers

If you were able to look at my profile page on Facebook right now you would become informed rather quickly on some very exciting news in my life: I am an Auntie! My sister and her husband had their first child, Caleb and I must say, HE IS ADORABLE. He is only a few days old but I can already see similarities in facial features with his parents. At this point, I can easily see that he has his father's nose (my brother begs to differ but what does he know right? :) As Caleb continues to grow, I know he will continue to develop facial features and other characteristics like his parents. In the same way, as we develop in our relationships with Christ, we too take on the "features" of God. One of these features is described in the Matthew 5:9 which states:

"Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God" ESV

A quality of God's is that He has peace. Check-out these verses to describe this quality of peace and His desire to give peace:

"For this is what the LORD says: "I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees." Isaiah 66:12 NIV

"I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever." Ezekiel 37:26 NIV

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27 NIV

"Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
John 20:21 NIV

"since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ," Romans 5:1 NIV

"The God of peace be with you all. Amen." Romans 15:33 NIV

"For God is not a God of disorder but of peace." 1 Corinthians 14:33 NIV

"[ Final Greetings ] Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you." 2 Corinthians 13:11 NIV

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

Whew. Ok, I am going to stop there for now. I cannot tell you how many verses talk about "peace" with many of them coming from personal quotes of Jesus to people saying "Peace be with you" in the New Testament. In the same sense, I think it is also important to say that there are just as many verses that talk about Jesus not merely coming to bring peace, but a "sword." Jesus came to bring justice as well but for the sake of theme of this devotional, we will continue to focus on the peace aspect of Jesus--keeping in mind that He has many qualities.

Additionally in Matthew 5:9, it not only says peace but it ties-in the word "maker." A "peace-maker." Pastor Rick described this as someone who "actively seeks to make peace." Peace does not just exist out of thin-air (unless God miraculously bestows it upon someone). Most of the time, peace has to be created or made between two parties. Here are a few more verses pertaining to the "making of peace."

"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:3 NIV

"Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification." Romans 14:19

Probably the most notable example of showing peace was in the death of Jesus Christ:

"19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. " Colossi ans 1:19-20 NIV

This passage in Colossi ans is incredibly powerful so I encourage you to read it in its entirety but as you can see that God desired to "reconcile himself all things and this was done through the blood, shed on the cross." Pretty amazing huh?

In conclusion, the verse says that those who make peace shall be called "sons of God." This verse is cross referenced with another passage that talks about being "children of God" (Romans 8:14). So just like a resemblance of a father to a son in facial features exist, making peace can be a quality in which we resemble God in.

Fruits of the Spirit Series:Kindness

http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dgrapes%26b%3D461%26ni%3D20%26ei%3Dutf-8%26pstart%3D1%26fr%3Dyfp-t-501-s&w=481&h=500&imgurl=static.flickr.com%2F3247%2F2299578248_dfb3e53207.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2Fdkenal%2F2299578248%2F&size=217k&name=grapes&p=grapes&oid=df653e7145fc0370&fr2=&fusr=dkenal&no=461&tt=953712&b=461&ni=20&sigr=11f80t4e0&sigi=11g04orqm&sigb=132g5c2i9



Kindness—Fruits of the Spirit Galatians 5 and Various Scriptures

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges and… did you get the next one right? It was one of those books in the Bible that always got me in memorizing them as a child in Sunday school. After the book of Judges, a small, almost forgotten book is located called “Ruth.” Do you remember the story of Ruth? I wanted to revisit the first two chapters as a way to illustrate one of the fruits of the Spirit, kindness. Like gentleness, the fruit of kindness is somewhat overlooked in the “fruit bowl” but it has an authentic significance in describing the character of our Amazing God. Be sure to read the text for yourself, but I thought I would somewhat summarize it for the sake of bringing in other passages to define this word, kindness.

There was a famine in the land of Judah and so a man by the name of Elimelech, his wife, Naomi as well as his two sons, Mahlon and Kilon all traveled to Moab to live. Shortly after, Elimelech passed away and Naomi was left with her two sons. Mahlon and Kilon married two Moabite women named Oprah and Ruth. Ten years later, both of Naomi’s sons passed away—so she was left alone with her two widowed, daughter-in-laws. Naomi heard that the Lord had provided for his people in the land of Judah and so she was preparing to go back. She told her daughter-in-laws to return back to their mother’s homes because it was better for them. They must have been very close because they wept several times over the idea departing from one another. They both resisted at first and then Oprah left while Ruth remained or “clung” to Naomi. Ruth expressed her devotion to Naomi and said:

“"Don't urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me." 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.”

So they traveled back to Bethelham with one another and lived together. There Ruth began working in the fields to provide for Naomi and herself. A man named Boaz owned the field in which Ruth worked in. He was actually a relative of Naomi and was an upright man. He took notice to Ruth and said:

11 Boaz replied, "I've been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the LORD repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."

Ruth didn’t have to stay with Naomi just like Boaz didn’t have to protect Ruth while she was in the fields and allow her to work, and later on—marry her; but they did. A close relative to the word kindness is grace in the sense that it goes against what is the natural, selfish reaction to a less than ideal situation. The Old Testament is littered with examples of God’s kindness to his people and in the New Testament, this kindness was ultimately manifested into grace and mercy of our salvation in Jesus Christ.

So why is it important to show kindness? In Romans 1, our identity as followers of Christ is explained in an analogy of grafted branches. We were given the choice to follow Christ and therefore were grafted in the family of God based off of the kindness that God bestowed on us through his Son Jesus Christ. It says in verse 22 however, that if we do not continue in his kindness, we will be cut off.

“Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.” Romans 11:22

Seems like a pretty good reason to be kind doesn’t it? Another purpose behind this fruit and why it is a part of list of fruits of the Spirit, is found in 2 Peter:

3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
10Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

I love this passage of scripture because it explains that God has given us everything we need for life and godliness and that we GET to participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption of the world. The next few verses have this picture of building blocks of qualities that lead to a peak of love. One of these crucial building blocks that is actually right before the peak of love is “brotherly kindness.” And it says that “if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Wow. Do you ever feel ineffective and unproductive in your walk with Christ? There is quite a bit of an overlap between the qualities listed here and in Galatians 5, so even the repetitiveness of these fruits reveal the importance of them to God. Do you have a desire to be effective and productive in the ministry God has placed you in? Maybe begin with this list in both Galatians and 2 Peter and pray through these qualities; asking God to reveal specific opportunities that you can practice them. It’s tough---so tough to show kindness to people who are more like our enemies but it says later on in that passage in 2 Peter that “ if you do these things, you will never fall, ‘and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savoir Jesus Christ.” Your situation may be less than ideal right now and being kind is the last thing on your mind, but think of Ruth. She lost her husband, brother-in law and father-in law. She knew she had the freedom to go back to her home and possibly re-marry someone else but she saw that Naomi didn’t have anyone: she lost her husband and both her sons! Ruth understood the big picture in all of this and she was rewarded for it.