“Lighten my eyes.” “The prayer from Psalm 13 rests upon the profound conviction that Jehovah is the fountain of life, and that only by His continual pouring of fresh vitality into a man can any eyes be kept from death.” comment from “Expositors Dictionary”. Fresh vitality? From the fountain of life? Meaning? I’m a realist and fresh vitality means stimulating, invigorating, exciting, gushing, energizing stuff; my best picture stands me under a waterfall of delicious and fresh spring for drinking and bathing, playing and splashing. Does the psalmist have this in mind? Yes, but: The eyes create the problem, they need brightened. They might die. Matthew 6:22 tells us, “The light of the body is the eye, if that eye be single, thy whole body is full of light! Okay? What’s single eye? liberal, generous, and bountiful, simple, clear, not looking two ways. Contrasts the evil eye or “Bad” eye. John…
Category: <span>Law – Grace</span>
“Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.” “So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about. ” 2 Chronicles 20:15,17, 20, 21, 22, 30 Another battle breaks while Elisha lives: “Alas, my master! how shall we do? And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of…
In Paul’s “Romans” letter we delight in a plethora of plenty, an Easter basket of colors, a bounty of beautiful treats, a bundle of love. First, a plethora of plenty; We have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. by faith we stand in Grace. Second, an Easter basket of colors; While we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Third, a bounty of beautiful treats; The gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounds to the many, The free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. By the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness we reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Fourth, a bundle of…
Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:11-14 Light brightens up our darkness, and in the light we gain more and more light in the rooms of our soul. Rooms of our soul? The metaphor was first painted by our Founder and Pastor, Dr. Carl Stevens. He states, “The first thing grace teaches us is to deny ungodliness. Then we can live “soberly”—with discreet, quiet truth, having the rooms of our soul filled with categorical doctrine.” He continues, “Once the foundation, which is Christ, has been established in…
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!” And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.” “So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone!”Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The LORD of hosts.” Isaiah 6:1-5 “Then one of the seraphim flew to…
“The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Timothy 1:5 “Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.” 1 Timothy 3:9 “Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.” 1 Timothy 1:19 Faith seems to depend on conscience, but what about these; purity, love? Faith grasps a mystery, a secret. Faith holds function in a (katheros) conscience. our English derivative is katharsis which is a cleansing. The blood of Christ, applied by the Spirit, cleanses our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God, simply put. Conscience accuses or excuses the owner. A good conscience has good constitution or nature, is useful, good, pleasant, agreeable, and joyful..” A good conscience functions right. What else does it do? It bears witness, producing a “knowledge by the side of the original consciousness…
Common sense can cure some depression but folks who renege at receiving God’s grace may be the source of their own problem. Common sense often requires no spiritual insight, and unchristian men and women may handle their depression by simple coping. They understand things like “no sense crying over spilled milk.” Here are some more common sense sayings: “Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” Edmund Burke blrainyquote.com “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.” brainyquote.com How could these men know these things? Martyn Lloyd Jones said this, “Christianity is common sense and much more, but it includes common sense.” He goes on: “Let us then lay this down as a principle…We must never for a second worry about anything that cannot be affected or changed by us…It is a waste of energy…if you can…
The Book of Job teaches us some interesting phenomena about the ways of men. “The tendency to conflate, (blend), poverty with other social issues such as unemployment, welfare receipt or substance abuse, or to uncritically cite these conditions as explanations of poverty, is tied up with the tendency to portray poverty as a problem created by those experiencing it. .” From jrf.org.uk “… those who deviate are seen as the source of trouble. The obvious question observers ask is, why do these people deviate from norms? Because most people view themselves as law abiding, they feel those who deviate do so because of some kind of unusual circumstances: accidents, illness, personal defect, character flaw, or maladjustment… In other words, the deviant is the cause of his or her own problem.” Borrowed from “the sociological approach to social problems—Russ Long” I guess we must talk of this phenomena. If a person falls to chance or…
A friendship features a level of security, and many factors determine this. I can list the first 400 of these determiners but lets skip to the real good ones. People who are thankful, truly thankful, have a good chance at longevity. Why? — because they have a very mature outlook on life. The Bible teaches “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5 What makes a person thankful? Our Greek word for “thanks” is (eucharisteō, eu plus charis) equals “well graced”? Aha, the thankful man or woman consists of the well-graced. This one has graduated from all other inferior precepts for life and has found a grace one. Noah was such a man. he found grace in the sight of Adonai and it made him mature? He was just, had integrity, and walked with God. But the earth…
Job maintained his own sense of honor. Repulsed by the deadly trio, he stood totally aloof of their accusations. However, as Peter Kreeft repeats, Job’s friends “do not listen to Job because they are too busy talking to him, and, Job does not listen to God because he is too busy talking to Him.” In other words, Job’s heart did not condemn him, but, “God is greater than the heart.” 1 John 3:20 Later on “…God shows up as Questioner, not as Ánswerer.” “God cannot be an object of our concepts.” “Faith comes from the deep eternal center of the person, the I, the will, not from feelings…” Kreeft from his book, “3 Philosophies of Life.” In a trial of our faith, God appeals to our sense of responsibility — what’s in there? God wishes for us to see, in its utter rawness, what, where, or what manner abides our…