Quotes of the month
I’m on my second Guardian Angel. My first one quit and is now in therapy.
The Laughing Christian Website
God is not going to rewrite the Bible for your generation. Stop trying to change Scripture when it’s written to change you.
Encouragement Group Website
It is better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
We are living in a time where Satan doesn’t even hide anymore, and the world still can’t see him.
Lightborn Website
If we do not fill our mind with prayer and reading, it will fill itself with anxieties, worries, temptations, resentments, and unwelcome memories.
The Encouraging Disciple Website
Victory in Jesus
By Pastor James Merritt
Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs – he wants to please his commanding officer. 2 Timothy 2:3-4
Because we live in a fallen world, hardship is part of life. As soon as Adam and Eve chose to do things their own way, life got hard. Within moments of sin entering their lives, their world changed completely. For the first time in their existence, they worried. Then came shame and fear. And because of sin, they would have to work hard to survive – even the earth was cursed. Sin ruined everything…or did it?
The hardship, suffering, and destruction that sin brings are endless. Its devastation is greater than any tsunami, hurricane, earthquake, or tornado could ever be. And while we will always have to live with sin and its effects during our earthy lives, we do not have to live in it. Jesus offers something much greater than sin – hope. In Him is hope that we can endure, and one day overcome. He offers a different life, a better life – one lived by faith and not by sight. He offers a life that chooses to live for what will be instead of for what is right now. In Him we can see past circumstances, believing that each hardship is for our eternal well-being and God’s ultimate glory.
The Apostle Paul compares such a life to that of a soldier. Hardship is non-negotiable, but a good soldier endures. He doesn’t waste his time and energy on civilian affairs because his focus is on pleasing his commanding officer. Like a good soldier, Christians can choose to live above our circumstances. The civilian affairs of success, pleasure, popularity, wealth, and ambition need not control our lives. As soldiers in God’s army, we can direct all of our energy towards pleasing our Commanding Officer.
It is so important that we remember who we are…soldiers
in the greatest and most powerful army of all time. Our cause is the gospel. Our goal is the glory of God. We fight for the broken, the poor, the oppressed, and the helpless. Our weapons are truth, love, and the Word of God. We march in justice and compassion. Our enemies are unseen, and our stakes are eternal. But most importantly, our victory is assured.
Are you entangled in the civilian affairs of the world, or are you marching with an undivided heart toward eternity? Remember who you are today, a good soldier seeking only to please your commanding officer.
Almighty God, you are powerful and gracious, holy and compassionate. I am humbly reminded today that I exist for Your glory alone. Please help me to live to please only You. Help me not to become involved in the things of the world as I strive to faithfully follow Jesus today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Questions about The Sermon on the Mount
by Frank Paul
The Sermon on the Mount is a section of the Bible that even casual Christians tend to be
familiar with; and most of us are even more familiar with what has been labeled as “The Beatitudes,” found in the beginning of Matthew, Chapter 5; however, the Sermon on the Mount continues for another two chapters, and there are many words of Jesus that some might find confusing or troubling. This month let’s cover what Jesus said in Matthew 5:43, Love thy neighbor.
A lot of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount was taking Old Testament commandments and updating them, if you will. Jesus starts many of his sayings during the Sermon with “Ye have heard that it hath been said,” and then He tweaks the old commandment a bit. In Matthew 5:43 when Jesus is referring to “love thy neighbor,” He is referring to Leviticus 19:18 when God commanded His people, “but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Then later in Matthew 22:39 again Jesus says “Thou shalt love they neighbor as yourself.” So we have at least three instances where the same command is given.
Well, clearly Jesus has not met any of my neighbors. Seriously, Jesus, this guy gets under my every nerve. So here we go again, what does Jesus really mean by this saying. Let’s investigate.
When we hear “love” in English it usually just has one meaning, although the word is grossly overused; but the Greek definition of “love” has six meanings, the Hebrew has five, and the Aramaic has eight. Once again, this highlights the shallowness of the English language.
I like the Greek definitions the best: familial (family) love, platonic love, romantic love, self-love, guest love, unconditional love. The “guest love” is key here.
Some Hebrew definitions are kindness to guests, acts of kindness, romantic, self, and unconditional. “Kindness to guests” is key here. Aramaic definitions are unconditional, civility to guests, self, selfish, romantic. “Civility to guests” is key here.
The different meanings and levels of “love” now makes this saying of Jesus more palpable. I do not need to love my neighbor as I love my wife. I only need to be civil, to be kind instead of snapping back some snarky comment. Oftentimes the absence of words is a show of kindness. I am treating my neighbor as if I might treat an unwelcome guest or relative in my home. Not being overtly mean, just putting up with him or her; that in and of itself is “loving my neighbor.”
What has previously confused people about this saying was they were thinking about the English definition of “love” and not the 1st Century definition. Similar to "meek, turn the other cheek, and salt" had different meanings and connotations then than they do now.
So the good news after our research is you don’t have to lean over the
fence and give your neighbor loving smooches, you can just put up with him and not be mean; no need to.
Loving him as you would love yourself can be related to something as simple as you wouldn’t be mean or unkind to yourself, so why treat your neighbor that way?
Once again, I hope this helps you understand Jesus’ words and meaning better in today’s world.
The Fear of the Lord
by Frank Paul
(Editor’s note: Interesting anecdotal God wink about this article. I was talking with Eileen, my wife for those of you who don’t know her, about whether to write this article the night before. I was a bit hesitant because I thought perhaps most people knew what this meant; OR that most people were so fixed in their preconceived notion brow beaten into them since youth that God was frightening, that my article would seem ridiculous. We couldn’t really come up with a fixed answer yes or no. The next morning I opened my Bible app on my phone that has a daily verse from Scripture that I read every day and the first words that I see are, “The Fear of the Lord,” as the verse of the day was Proverbs 8:13.
Out of all the Scripture verses in the Bible, this one popped up. Wow, I said to myself, I guess I’m supposed to tackle this subject and write this article. So off I went to dig into the research. Thank you, God.)
I will speak for myself; however, I have a sense many others have the same question. Ever wonder what “Fear of the Lord” really means?
At first glance, it sounds scary, frightening, even foreboding. Is God going to strike me down if I do not behave; should I hide in a cave as David did when King Saul was after him? What is up with this phrase; it appears over 20 times in the Old Testament, and two or three times in the New Testament, depending on which translation of the Bible you read.
I believe a common misconception of the meaning of “fear” is similar to our misunderstanding of “meek, turn the other cheek, ye are the salt of the earth” as covered in the previous three newsletters, which are posted on our website if you want to reference them.
Fear of the Lord is not fear as we know it to mean in the 21st century. Some of this “fear” as we know it today results from years of priests, pastors, and the like pounding the pulpit while sermonizing that God will punish you if you do not shape up, without a follow-up that God will love you if you obey His commandments. I believe the lack of follow-up in these sermons while I was growing up made me think only one way: God is scary unless you behave.
Once again, however, if we do the research, we find that the Hebrew and Aramaic languages have a couple of definitions for fear: dread, frighten; and the one that is relevant for this conversation, reverence. If we rest only in our single-minded English definition, it leaves us with questions. We need to dig deeper into God’s words in reference to the culturally accepted meaning at the time they were written, and not just our current definition, to sometimes grasp the applicability of the words.
Consider Proverbs 8:13, for instance, “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” Or Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Or my favorite, which is also a Jesus prophetic verse, Isaiah 11:1 -2, “…and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might; the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”
Moving up the Biblical timeline: Acts 9:31, “Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria and were edified, and walking in the fear of
the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, were multiplied.”
The way in which the Bible uses the phrase “Fear of the Lord” refers to obedience, reverence, rejection of evil, a Godly way of living; recognizing, and adhering to, knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is not a paralyzing, fire consuming fear, but an understanding and respect for God’s wisdom and obedience to it.
God does not want evil rained down on his creation, but worship of Him and love toward one another.
There is no evil heart in God. Refer to 2 Chronicles 19:7, “Wherefore now, let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God”…
Iniquity definition: immoral or grossly unfair behavior. For if there is no iniquity with the Lord, there is no grossly unfair or hatred He feels toward us.
But let us not think we are off the hook, and we can go a sinning away. Not so. You can find ample examples in the Old Testament where God will direct the current military leader of that particular era to go into a village or an area in Judah or Northern Israel and wipe out every man, woman, and child, and leave not one standing, because they had failed to listen to God and were behaving so poorly for so long. Grossly unfair you say.
Once again, if you take a Biblical verse by itself without context its
meaning can, and very often is, distorted. In the verses preceding village or town destruction, there is always, always, multiple verses giving God’s people a chance to turn back to Him, to repent, to obey His commandments, and to revere Him. Not only is it sometimes just a few years, more often than not it is a century or two before God finally “rains down,” if you will, judgment.
Hopefully, this dig into past meanings and uses of “fear” will give you a clearer understanding so that when you read the phrase “Fear of the Lord” going forward, you will not always get knots in your stomach. I know personally I stopped walking on eggshells once I completed my research.
Will you sin again? Probably. Will you get struck down from heaven for it? Probably not. However, better sooner than later you need to choose a different path for your life and earnestly attempt not to sin.
Hold God in reverence, obey His commandments, and do not “fear” Him, as our 21st century meaning of the word conjures up in our minds.
(Editor’s note: remember, there are several prayers and prayer card posts on our website, with a further explanation of the prayer to hopefully understand it better. If you want to see more of them, go to the website and navigate to Prayer Cards. The following is
from prayer card post 5)
O God, our Father, hold forth Thy light before me; recall me from my wanderings; and Thou, being my guide, may I be restored to myself and to Thee, though Jesus Christ. Amen.
Saint Augustine (354 – 430)
Saint Augustine wandered a lot. He was all over the board. Couldn’t make up his mind on who he wanted to be or what course his life should take.
So he finally broke down and asked God to rein him in, letting God be the guiding light in his life, and restore him to his true God loving self; and it worked.
Think about all the great writings Saint Augustine has published, truly an inspiration; but he needed God’s help to get on the right track. I know I do. Maybe you do too. Ask God to hold forth that light of His true love before you; and follow it.
Prayer card post 27
I seek Thee, and as sure as the dawn, Thou appearest as perfect light to me.
A Thanksgiving Hymn, Dead Sea Scrolls
Most of you have heard about the Dead Sea Scrolls, but have you
ever read them? Absolutely incredible prayers, Scriptures, and hymns contained in them. It is definitely worth your time to pick up a copy of obviously a translated version. Pretty much available anywhere.
This particular Thanksgiving Hymn is typical of the kind of heart that exemplifies Jesus. Most of us, myself included, tend to wait until the worst case scenario is actually here, then we cry out to the Lord.
I would suggest perhaps seek God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit before the worst happens; that way when it does rear its ugly head, you already have a great comforter ready to spring into action.
Jesus will appear in your life, He truly will, just seek and you will find.
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