Today, I am just going to note some passages that I've written down the last few days. I may add a note or two but then, maybe not. 2 Samuel 18 : 1-3 NLT David now mustered the men who were with him and appointed generals and captains to lead them. He sent the troops out in three groups, placing one group under Joab, one under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and one under Ittai, the man from Gath. The king told his troops, “I am going out with you.”  But his men objected strongly. “You must not go,” they urged. “If we have to turn and run—and even if half of us die—it will make no difference to Absalom’s troops; they will be looking only for you. You are worth 10,000 of us,......" For some reason, when I read this passage this morning, I thought of the contrast with the disciples deserting Jesus when they arrested Him. Ephesians 1 :17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so ...

Ephesians 4:29 : Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  How hard is that to do?  How hard is it to curb your tongue when others are talking harshly about someone or something and you are in complete agreement?  But we are supposed to hold our tongues.  We are supposed to make sure that what we say builds up and does not destroy.  We are supposed to refrain from speaking ill of others and spewing "unwholesome" talk.  "Unwholesome" is a word that we don't hear or use much. Perhaps it is out of style.  Perhaps we don't like what it means.  I looked it up on dictionary.com . Seems it means unhealthy, noxious, morally harmful or depraved.  We need to make sure what comes out of our mouths is not unhealthy, noxious, morally harmful.  Boy, that is a lot of stuff we can't say!  We can't say anything, true ...

Ephesians 2:8 (NIV 1984) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— Have you thought about this before?  I haven't. Until today.  What exactly is the "gift of God"?  Seems to me it could be grace. That is certainly a gift of God. That's what grace is, an undeserved gift. Maybe the gift refers to the word saved. We are saved. That is certainly a gift from God for it is through the gift of his son, Jesus, and the death and resurrection that we are saved. Without that atoning gift, there is no salvation. Perhaps it is the word faith. That is the gift of God. I feel like I have faith that was gifted to me. I participate in increasing it but it is from God that I have faith and that I want to learn more and practice more to increase my faith. I think it should say gifts, because it is all three that God gives to us. Our sins are already forgiven, whether we accept it or not.  That's grace - a gift of ...

Psalm 4:3:  Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;        the LORD will hear when I call to him. There are at least two perspectives for this verse.  One is that I know that you are godly - so we both can take comfort in that.  The other is: I know you are NOT godly so I can take comfort (revenge) in that.  There are several places in the Bible where I am uncomfortable with the implications.  There are a lot of verses where the sentiment expressed is joy that someone else will "get his", or somehow suffer for the consequences of his actions.  Most of these as far as I can remember are in the Old Testament; so it occurs before Jesus comes to turn the world on its ear.  Jesus came to remove the idea of "an eye for an eye" ideology of the OT. When we read this in the Old Testament, we need to remember that it is in the OT and that Jesus came to say turn the other cheek when struck ( Matt 5 :39),...

Ephesians 2:10 " For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." I am not an artist. I don't "create" things. I dabble at this blog but that is the extent of my creative endeavors. I can't imagine how I'd feel about real works of art.  I have heard of artists having places in their hearts for the pieces they create.  I have seen price tags on pieces of art that blow my mind. I have thought, "boy, they are proud of THAT piece."  So obviously I do not have an idea how one feels about their creation.  This is a point lost on me.   This is similar to ours. The point that I do get though is that God created me. I am not a result of some scientifically or medically explained event. That fascinates me. I am intrigued by what an artist or craftsman creates. I see a desk and understand its purpose.  But I don't understand the point of many other craft pieces. We bo...

Yes, I have more to say on the subject.  I never would have thought that when I first saw the passage.  It has such few words and isn't even a complete sentence! (See Ephesians 6:15 - NCV this time) I thought about this piece of the armor a little bit. At first I was focused on preparedness. But looking through images for the previous post, and thinking a little about shoes in general, I gained a fuller understanding and visual image of this piece of armor. Our study included a sentence about the footwear of the Roman soldier, who was certainly  a prominent part of the culture when this passage was written.  I found an image of that sandal.  The shoe/sandal has long nails to ensure solid footing.  The land in the Holy Land is sandy and rocky and hard.  Slick bottomed sandals would not have been considered part of military equipment.  So, to make them military armor, the nails were added. Let's look at that and other purposes of shoes....

Put on your sandals so you are ready.  Well, you don't have to wear sandals.  Any appropriate footwear will be okay.  Just be ready, with your shoes on.  Be ready to tell others what you believe about Jesus Christ; that He is your savior, that He loves you and everyone you come in contact with, that He DIED a horrible death for you, and that He forgives every bad thing you've done, bad thing you've thought and  every bad thing you will ever do or think.( Ephesians 6:15 HCSB ) That is the Good News.  That even though He was in paradise with the Father in heaven, where things are perfect beyond what we can imagine, He still came to us as a baby, grew up stubbing his toes, falling as He learned to walk, hurting his hands working with wood and stone, and otherwise was human.  And if coming to us where we live here on this fallen planet weren't enough to make you tell about Him, He suffered a horrific death, taking on all the sins ever committed and all ...

Ephesians 6: 11-18 The Armor of God Verse 14 is: Stand firm then, .......... with the breastplate of righteousness in place, The breastplate of righteousness is doing what is right.  That is a lot easier said than done. And to be perfectly honest, I think doing what is right changes over time.  I don't mean that God's definition of right and wrong changes.  I mean that the more I learn about the Bible and the closer my relationship gets with Christ, the more I learn about what right and wrong are.  I believe a lot more things are wrong that I used to.  They were always wrong.  I just didn't know it or I chose to ignore it. For example, there was a time when receiving too much change back was considered good luck, or not my problem, or even a gift from God.  But as I have grown in my Walk, I have come to KNOW that receiving then keeping that excess change is wrong and the same as stealing.  Now, if you aren't there yet, that is ok.  I am n...

Ephesians 6:14 says " Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.. ," Let's think of what a Belt of Truth might be.  We already know that Truth is Jesus.  Jesus is the Truth as he said in John 14:6 " ...I am the way the truth and the life......" So, what does it mean to wear the Belt of Truth? When I think of a belt several images come to mind.  One is the slim belt that I wear on my dress pants.  At one time, its purpose was to keep my pants in place and to keep my shirts tucked in.  So this belt is for keeping things in place...or perhaps in perspective.   Another belt is picture is a prize held up after a boxing match.  This belt is to show the winner of a match earned from hard work and a winning boxing match.  This belt can illustrate hard work, determination, fighting for what one believes in. Another that comes to mind is one worn by persons who need help to support their backs. This belt is for being able to ...

Ephesians 4:1-3 (Amplified Bible) I, THEREFORE, the prisoner for the Lord, appeal to and beg you to walk (lead a life) worthy of the [divine] calling to which you have been called [with behavior that is a credit to the summons to God's service, Living as becomes you] with complete lowliness of mind (humility) and meekness (unselfishness, gentleness, mildness), with patience, bearing with one another and making allowances because you love one another. Be eager and strive earnestly to guard and keep the harmony and oneness of [and produced by] the Spirit in the binding power of peace. When I read this today, I was reading my small pocket Bible which is the English Standard Version (ESV).  When I looked at Bible Gateway to copy and paste it, the default translation was NIV.  NIV used the phrase " live the life "  while the ESV used " walk in a manner ".  Those were enough different that I wanted to see other translations.  The Amplified Bible which I used above ...

Deuteronomy 29:29 (NIV) The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. We are just such control freaks.  We want to do it ourselves.  We want to know all the answers - at least all the answers to the questions we ask. We want control and we need to KNOW to be in control.  I'm pretty sure I can say "we" because I know way too many people who think they NEED to know the answers.  Well, some answers are just unknowable.  In a previous post , I looked at Ephesians 3:18 where the phrase " strength to comprehend " is used.  I wondered if we are prevented from some things until we are strong enough to comprehend.  I wonder if there are some things that we are never strong enough to comprehend.   This passage in Deuteronomy certainly leads me to believe that some things are just secrets for God alone.  Maybe we just can't be made ...

Ephesians 3:16 - 19 (ESV) that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. When I first read this passage this morning, my thought was different than now as I re-read it. So I'm not sure if I was just misinterpreting it the first time, or if the moment of revelation is already gone. (This is why I need to take time to reflect as I read this but today, I had to leave for an interview!)  Anyway, when I first read it, the words that jumped out at me were "may have the strength to comprehend...." This is part of the prayer for the people for whom the letter was written.  Paul is praying ...