“Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?” Galatians 4:21 The Apostle, Paul, hoping to show the Galatian Christians their error in desiring to place themselves under the Law, reaches for the allegorical picture of Isaac and Ishmael from Genesis 16-18. Born of Hagar, Ishmael was the result of a vain attempt of Abraham to produce a promised child with Hagar, who was the servant of Sarah. In Genesis 16:2, Sarai had offered Hagar to Abraham saying, ” it may be that I may obtain children by her. ” In Paul’s illustration in Galatians 4, Ishmael is said to be born after the “flesh,” or of natural means. “And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened…
Healing at the Cross Posts
“Nay, we have renounced the secrecy which marks a feeling of shame. We practice no cunning tricks, nor do we adulterate God’s Message. But by a full clear statement of the truth we strive to commend ourselves in the presence of God to every human conscience. ” 2Corinthians 4:2 Weymouth translation “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:” Acts 2:23 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.” Galatians 5:24 “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks…
“And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him. Luke 22:50 -51 Simon Peter reacted in defense of Jesus,. But, his timing was ill-advised because Jesus followed with words to the mob who sought to kill Him, “this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” Peter was full of righteous anger and mistakenly cut off an ear while aiming for a head. Jesus, without rebuke simply fixed the problem with a total restoration of both the victim, Malchus, physically: and Peter the antagonist, spiritually. Jesus demonstrated the propitious (favorable) heart of His Father just prior to His display of justice for sin. Men, not knowing what they do, (Luke 23:34), would carry out this terrible act of justice which also pleased the Father (Isaiah 53:10) — the…
I woke up in fog, in a foreign land. I think it was somewhere like Europe and the conversation had many presumptions. There pervaded an atmosphere, a terrible feeling of doom and gloom. The background dialogue implied fault, mostly of my own. The voices were of unknown caretakers. Not to panic, however, my soul had been trained to yield (attitude positioning), to the Precious Spirit. That seeming real world of dread soon faded and vanished far behind comforting thoughts of love and safety from God’s Word. Romans 13:11 has taught us, ” …knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.”1Corinthian 15:34 also, “Awake to righteousness, and sin not.”Ephesians 5:14 follows, “…Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” Awake: Friends we are to “Walk in the light as…
‘A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.’ Proverbs 17:17 “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24 ” Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” Proverbs 27:6 A man’s self-righteous dignity must be wounded in order for him to receive God’s love unashamedly. The love which comes of Christ alone, functions toward a sinner, toward a strengthless one, toward an enemy; all in the same way. A person may feel they have a right to be loved, or no right to be loved. Man’s rights play no part in God’s love for Men. There is none good, no not one. But, we have “been made fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” See Colossians 1:12 We qualify under the…
Job 42:10 “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” Psalm 126:1 “. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.” My first visit to an African nation was almost surreal. I had only imagined such places and found their reality to be much different than my imaginings. It was the same for Europe and for that matter, Prescott Arizona. Locations differ, but also conditions, such as Job’s trial. A long experience in certain conditions creates a kind of reality and when released from it, seems a dream. Israel had been exiled for 70 years. Release was breathtaking for those participating in it. Both Job and Israel had been in captivity. Perhaps you have had a long battle with sickness, with cancer, with financial issues,…
The story is found in Exodus 7:9 -14: “and given that Paroh will speak to you saying, give for you a wonder, and you will say to Aharon, take your branch and throw it out to the face of Paroh, he will exist as a crocodile. And Mosheh came, and Aharon, to Paroh, and they did so, just as YHWH directed, and Aharon threw out his branch to the face of Paroh and to the face of his servants, and he existed as a crocodile. and Paroh also called out to the skilled ones and to the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Mits’rayim, also did so with their blazings, ( The word “BLAZING” is the same word used for the sword of the Keruv (cherub in most other translations, Genesis 3:24) and each threw out his branch and they existed as crocodiles, and the branch of Aharon swallowed their…
The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesians. In that letter he exhorts them: “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.” Ephesians 4:22-25 And to the Romans: “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Romans 6:13-14 Brothers and sisters, “do not go on presenting your members to sin…
Joshua 5:9 “And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal (rolling) unto this day. “ In the case of the children of Israel, they lived under the reproach of having surrendered to Egypt, being held as slaves in their dominion. Even after having escaped by the strong hand, and with the stretched out arm of God, they were mocked from Egypt, as seen in Exodus 32:12 . “Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. “ also in Moses prayer, in Numbers 14:14-16, ” And they (the Egyptians) will tell it to the inhabitants of this land:” “Now if…
Take heed that no man deceive you! Keep your eyes open, lest some one may or may not deceive you at any point in time. So taught Jesus in Matthew 24:10 “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. ” He was referring to the same last time. 2 Timothy 3:13, “Adam and Eve were in a perfect environment, but Eve was deceived because, as a responder, she didn’t abide under her covering—and she didn’t receive doctrine from God.” Dr. Carl H. Stevens See Genesis 3:4 “the serpent deceived her by saying, “You will not surely die as you have been told” Iniquity is the emotions of Lucifer influencing the emotions of the woman. Notice, the serpent didn’t tackleAdam; he deceived Eve. ” CHS In Revelation we see the fate of the deceiver. “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that…