Tag: Food For Growth

Deuteronomy 29:29

²⁹ The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

I think that a lot of the time, as Christians, we forget that the Scriptures weren’t written in English. Our favorite or preferred translation is just that, a translation. It’s not perfect. It’s not flawless. And a lot of times, it misses the deeper picture the author was trying to get across to his audience. Does that mean that we shouldn’t read translations? Or trust them? No.

I’m saying, don’t just read one translation and ignore all the other ones. Don’t just take the translations at face value either. Dig deeper. Use those online resources that we have available to us. The entire Bible in its original language (the documents that were translated) are available for anyone to see. They have definitions, root words, etc.

We miss so much, not because we don’t read, but because we cling to one single translation and shun all of the rest. No one translation is perfect. Only the original is. Therefore, search the original. Don’t just accept what someone has translated, check their translation. See if there is something more going on in the original language.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Take It For Granted.

¹⁹ These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac, ²⁰ and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. ²¹ And Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. ~ Genesis 25:19-21

Isaac is a patriarch who gets mentioned, but it’s almost like it’s by default. Like he isn’t mentioned because of something he did, but because of when he was born. He’s the son of Abraham and the father of Jacob. So, when we mention who God is the God of, it’s almost like we only mention Isaac by default because outside of that, he feels very overlooked. But Isaac had some great qualities.

One specific quality he had was that he truly loved Rebekah. He didn’t just brush off her feelings, her desires, her needs. When Rebekah was barren and couldn’t conceive, Isaac stepped up as a husband and prayed for her. He prayed to the LORD his God to open her womb so that she might have children. And because of that, the LORD heard his prayer and Rebekah conceived.

Now, let’s contrast this with Jacob’s response to his wife, whom it says he loved greatly.

¹ When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I shall die!” ² Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” ~ Genesis 30:1-2

Instead of stepping up as a husband and praying for her to be able to have children, Jacob became angry with her. He scolded her. This is the woman he loves, whom he worked an extra seven years for, and they were as if only a few days to him because of the love he had for her. He didn’t have patience for her emotional breakdown. He couldn’t sympathize with her pain and her agony.

Yes, sometimes we, as women, are a little overemotional, but we were created by God to be more emotional than men. We were created to balance each other out. I personally believe that this is what Peter was explaining in his first letter.

⁷ Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered (1 Peter 3:7).

Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church. Have patience with her. When something overwhelms her and makes her emotional, don’t be angered by that emotion; instead, take your place as the head of your wife and pray to God on her behalf. Love isn’t just loving when it’s easy. Love is for all times, especially in times that are harder and more stressful.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Patient In Love.

¹ Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, ² the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” ³ And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” ⁴ But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, ⁵ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? ⁶ I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. ⁷ In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’ ⁸ Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. ⁹ And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. ¹⁰ And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, ¹¹ from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. ¹² When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ~ 2 Samuel 7:1-13

I’ve seen many people say that Solomon was a type of antichrist because the weight of gold that came to him in one year was 666 (1 Kings 10:14-15). Now, while Solomon definitely made many, many mistakes as king, he also wrote two books of the Bible. How can Solomon be an antichrist, but also write two books of the Bible? How does that work exactly? Short answer: It doesn’t. Solomon wasn’t a type of antichrist. Solomon actually had a lot in common with Christ.

The LORD told David that his son would build the Temple. Solomon was that son. It was Solomon who built the Temple for the LORD. Solomon, the son of David. Do you see the connection yet? Jesus, before He was crucified, said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). Solomon, the son of David, built the first Temple for the LORD. Jesus, the Son of David, built the final Temple for the LORD. What is that final Temple? Us. The Church. We are the Temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16-23 and 2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pay Close Attention To The Foreshadowing.

John 4:34-38

[34] Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. [35] Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. [36] Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. [37] For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ [38] I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”

Luke 10:2-3

[2] And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. [3] Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.

I was listening to a Christian novel the other night and the main character was having a flashback. The main character, who is an atheist, was talking with his girlfriend (later wife) about what they believe in. She, being a devout Christian, tells him when you see all of this how can you not believe in someone or something greater than yourself. They say a few more lines and then he asks “That’s it? No more questions? Aren’t you supposed to try to save me?” How does the Christian respond? “That isn’t in my job description. God handles that part.” This is the lukewarm, apathetic, leave it all up to God Church we have become. God said He is the head and we are His body. Therefore, we are to go make disciples of all nations. Not Him. He did His part. He died on Golgotha. He rose on the third day. He ascended on high. Now, it’s up to us to witness. To plant seeds. To make disciples.

Yes, God draws them in, but how can He draw those whom have never heard? There’s little revival and expansion of the Church in the West because we put every single thing on God and take no responsibility ourselves. We don’t witness because God will draw them in. We don’t pray and seek because God will do it if He wants to and in His own time. We don’t spiritually fight for anything because of God has it for me, He’ll give it to me when He’s ready. We have become a passive, apathetic, weak, lazy body. Meanwhile those who will die if they spread the Word or Evangelize or witness to anyone about Christ willingly risk their lives in order to tell others about Jesus.

There’s a hunger there. A desire. An urgency. They yearn to grow the Kingdom of God for Christ because they understand the necessity of it. They understand the need for Jesus.

Today, take some time and reflect. Have you become lazy? Apathetic? Passive? Have you put everything on God instead of giving yourself some form of responsibility? Have you made a difference in the lives of those around you?

Scripture says the fields are ripe on to harvest, but the laborers are few. So, pray for more laborers. Jesus didn’t say pray for more people to get saved. He said pray that those who are already saved will begin to reap the harvest of the world because they are ready to bear. They are ready to receive Christ and God forgiveness, they just need someone to tell them. Someone to reap them.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Begin To Harvest.

Genesis 30:37-43

[37] Then Jacob took fresh sticks of poplar and almond and plane trees, and peeled white streaks in them, exposing the white of the sticks. [38] He set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks in the troughs, that is, the watering places, where the flocks came to drink. And since they bred when they came to drink, [39] the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted. [40] And Jacob separated the lambs and set the faces of the flocks toward the striped and all the black in the flock of Laban. He put his own droves apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock. [41] Whenever the stronger of the flock were breeding, Jacob would lay the sticks in the troughs before the eyes of the flock, that they might breed among the sticks, [42] but for the feebler of the flock he would not lay them there. So the feebler would be Laban’s, and the stronger Jacob’s. [43] Thus the man increased greatly and had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

I’ve read the story of Jacob and Laban many many times before, but it wasn’t until tonight when reading that I saw something more. I never realized the sticks were physically in the water the animals were drinking from. I always just thought it was placed in front of them, but it was actually IN their drinking supply.

So, when Jacob was carving those sticks, he was carving the image or type of animal he wanted into the sticks and then placed them into their water supply because they drank when they mated. So, they were literally drinking stripes into their bodies and filling their system with stripes so that they could give birth to stripes. I never noticed that before that they were literally drinking stripes to produce striped.

So, really what you put into yourself will be what you become. If you water yourself and feed yourself with movies, music, people filled with strong language and crudity, you will find your mind, your thoughts, your mouth thinking, pondering, and saying those things. You’ll find yourself being filled with what you put into you and what you are filled with, will be what comes from you as well.

Dear LORD, thank You that You never stop teaching us. That Your Word never becomes stagnant but is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. LORD, please continue to show me Your Truth. Show me things in Your Word that I missed before. Things that I overlooked. Teach me, LORD, I want to learn. I want to grow in You. I want to know You and Your heart. I want to grow in understanding and wisdom. Thank You, LORD for giving wisdom and understanding freely to anyone who asks. Thank You, LORD. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

[16] All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The Bible is composed of 66 books, written by about 40 writers, over a time period of about 1500 years, yet there is no contradiction. Let that sink in for a second. 66 different books written by approximately 40 different writers over a time period of about 1500 years, and there are no contradictions. That is evidence that it is God-breathed alone. Think about it. A TV show written by a handful of writers in a room together will contradict themselves on the show in later seasons. Movie sequels will contradict the prequels. Yet, the Bible has no contradictions and has been preserved for over 3500 years.

People will deny these facts saying the Bible is full of contradictions, but when you read the context of those so-called contradictions, you will find that there actually is none. They believed their hypothesis was true before they sought out to prove it true, this tainting their search and clouding their judgment.

Peter tells us that we need to be prepared to give a reason we believe the things we do. In other words, we need to know our Bible and be able to defend our beliefs when they are attacked or questioned by the unbeliever. We need to know the reason one says Judas hung himself and another says his insides spilled out. We need to know why one says Mary went to the tomb and another says Mary and others went to tomb. Why one says one genealogy and the other says another. We need to know our Bible and we need to always seek the LORD for understanding of His Word, so that we might be prepared for any questions to our faith.

The Bible is without flaw or contradiction, as it is the Word of God. Why? Because it has but one author, the LORD God Himself who gave man the words to write. If the LORD God gave us His Word, the least we can do is learn it and defend it.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Learn To Defend.

Matthew 1:17

[17] So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

Matthew uses fourteen generations. He makes a big deal about it, so I started paying attention. 14 is the Hebrew 10 and 4. 10 is the number of covenant, and I believe 4 is the number of division or separation (kinda like sanctification).

See, in Hebrew, there aren’t separate symbols for numbers and letters. The numbers and letters share the same symbols. Each letter equates to a number; this is where the Hebrew Gematria comes from.

14 in Hebrew is also notably connected to the name David, which is who Matthew was trying to show them Jesus was the son of. David’s name is 14 in Hebrew Gematria. I thought that it was interesting that Matthew showed them that Jesus was the Messiah (the Son of David) through the numerology of their own language.

Everything in the Bible has a purpose. There’s nothing written just to be written. Just to fill the page. Matthew was showing that Jesus’ very own genealogy states He is the son of David. The rightful heir to the throne. Three sets of 14 generations from Abraham to Jesus, showing He is the promised offspring of Abraham. Two sets of 14 generations from David to Jesus, showing He is the rightful heir to the everlasting throne promised to David’s descendant.

Each and every letter has meaning in the Bible. God has written it, now it’s up to us to seek out the meaning of these things.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Just Read.