Jonah was so mad with God that he tried to commit suicide. He was so depressed that he left the city and climbed a hill where he sat out in the hot sun near a small bush. God caused the bush to grow large leaves that shaded Jonah all day and acted like an umbrella. God also sent a cool breeze to calm Jonah down. Soon Jonah fell asleep and when he awoke the next day the plant had died. Now Jonah was really mad at God.
God could read Jonah’s mind and knew how angry Jonah was with Him. God spoke to Jonah and asked him why he was so concerned about a little old plant that Jonah had not even planted or watered. Why was Jonah acting so hurt that the plant had only lived for one day and then died? God was wondering what was the big deal?
Jonah was baffled as to why he could not answer God.
Jonah could not answer God. He did not know why he felt that way about a little old plant. Then God said to Jonah, “Just as you are concerned about that little plant, I am more concerned about that great city called Nineveh. It is a town that has more than 120,000 people and a lot of animals in it. At first they did not know Me. But now they know right from wrong.” God asked that arrogant, misguided man whose thoughts were only of an insignificant plant, should I have not taken pity on Nineveh and saved them?
The Triune God uses all of His creation to instruct fools and infidels.
God taught Jonah a very important lesson. To draw people to Himself in order to offer them eternal life, God will use messengers to speak the word, mammals and nature to challenge doubters, plants and animals to protect fools, and the Holy Spirit to convict stubborn hearts. The universal message here is that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
Hello…Hello…Hello…to all my followers out there in cyberspace. Yes, I have deputized all of you guys to claim the title of a cyber-deputy whenever you take it upon yourself to share any of my conversation blogs with your acquaintances. I am particularly hopeful that you will want to share this week’s blog because it will be the beginning (Part One) of me relating the entire Bible story of Jonah and The Great Fish in several weekly parts.
Did you know that blogs are often viewed as offering an opportunity for public discussion in cyberspace.
In June of 2003, I had an opportunity to teach the biblical story of Jonah and the Whale to a group of young married couples. I had to do some serious praying because I knew that in order to maintain their attention and attendance for the next four weeks, I would have to call on the Holy Spirit to instruct me on how to deliver the moral of the story: God’s universal message of how He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that who so ever believed in Him would obtain eternal life.
Knowing that each family had multiple things that demanded their attention: like jobs to contend with, small children to care for, household chores, intense time for bible reading and unexpected situations clamoring for their attention… my job was not going to be easy. So, like I said, I had a little talk with Jesus and told Him all about my problem. As I started the chapters, I became excited as the Holy Spirit began to help me paraphrase the verses by incorporating colloquialism phrases used in casual communication. (This method of storytelling would allowed the students to actually become Jonah and to relive Jonah’s experiences with God.) The students even suggested that they participate by performing some role playing of Jonah’s actions.
FOCUS:
God is Ruler over all the universe
God is Judge over all the universe
God is everywhere in the universe at the same time
God controls nature, events and people everywhere all the time
INTRODUCTION:
The Bible story about a prophet named Jonah helps us to better understand Who God is and all that God is capable of doing. This Old Testament story is about Jonah’s disobedience and how he tried to run away from God and do his own thing. Because of Jonah’s action God made a fish perform like a submarine; a warring nation resemble a crying baby; a plant evolve into an umbrella and an arrogant man stripped of his contrite heart. God did all of this to show love to the world and to show Jonah that God is in control of everything.
PROGRESSION OF EVENTS:
A prophet is a man or woman selected by God to receive His divine message and then go and share the message with others. Sometimes the message is good news and sometimes it is bad news. Which ever it is it doesn’t matter. The prophet still has to deliver the message even if it means the people will get so angry that they will want to kill him.
Thank You, God, for answering every prayer…whether it is ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘maybe’. (*)
Dear Readers of this blog: Please permit me to ask you a very personal question: Have you ever catalogued any of your prayers to the Almighty? Like, perhaps in a scrapbook or diary or just in a plain spiral notebook. And, did you record the answers you received…if any? Well, for this week’s blog a strange thing happened to me. As I was surveying my book shelf, I ran across a scrapbook chucked full of daily prayers concerning world events and situations for the entire month of March, 2006!
As I leafed through it I recognized it as a theology study assignment I had to complete in one of my classes while attending The School of Ministry sponsored by Covenant Church located in a city in Texas, where I was a member. Our professor had just informed the class that we would be embarking upon our first mission trip at the end of our first academic year, and we would be responsible to finance all of our own expenses for air travel. The church would provide expenses for room and board. The classes’ assignment was to draft our first donation request letter that we would send to our family and friends and request financial support for this venture.
Our teacher explained that as future international missionaries, there would be lots of times in our work for the Lord that we would have to solicit funds from abroad to complete many mission related assignments, projects, and tasks in our sphere of foreign mission services.
Dear Lord, please allow the literary composition talent you have invested in me to manifest itself at this appointed time. (*)
So, on March 18, 2006, the Holy Spirit directed me to compose my first donation letter that was to inspire others to dig in their pockets and contribute to my deep passion to become one who is sent by God to the uttermost parts of the world. So, this time, I upped the ante..I went to God humbly with a bouquet of Bluebonnets, Texas state flower. I thought just an olive branch would not do.
God, There’s no one like You. You are the Greatest! I polished Your crown for You. (*)(**)
March 18, 2006Dearly Beloved Family members, Friends and Well-wishers;
Please forgive me for the long delay in between my last update correspondence to you as to how I am learning how to mature in Christ. Well, since moving here, I have enrolled in the School of Ministry sponsored by Covenant Church. In addition to my theology studies, the first year students are given an opportunity to round out their first academic year by participating in a short-term mission trip.
After prayerful consideration, I know I am called to once again team up with follow missionaries and go to Latin America to assist in as many ministry activities as I can.
As the Lord leads you, I would love to have your support in my carrying out this worthwhile project. I have enclosed a brochure explaining the many programs that are in need of yours and my prayers and support.
Can I count on you to help me contribute to make a world of difference in someone's life. Covenant Training Institute is very well known in this state for its outstanding curriculum for missionaries. I am really excited about this opportunity to serve.
Upon my return from the mission field, I will send you my newsletter and pictures of the work the Holy Spirit is doing in those countries.
Please read all of the enclosed literature, follow the instructions and return the tear-off to me. If you have any questions, please call. Whatever your contribution, it will be graciously and gratefully appreciated.
Your personal World Missionary and friend.
MY prayer to you…(Written sometime in March 2006)
Dear Lord: There are a lot of missionaries presently serving in the mission field and a host of others who are preparing to depart on missionary trips. My home church currently has the Driscoll family ministering in Mexico. And a team of us will join them from March 11-18, 2006. A few months later, I will be a member of a mission team dispatched to Nicaragua and Costa Rica. According to Your will and Your ways, please keep all of us safe in Your arms. That’s my prayer in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Scripture Lesson: “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.” (2 Corinthians 9:11-12)
(*) NOTE: The funny cartoon pictures and captions were added for emphasis for this blog.
(*)(*) NOTE: Now that was a bit over the top…don’t you think.
Hello to all my followers and visitors to this blog site. I profusely apologize for being a day late (Saturday) on publishing my blog. As you know, my mantra for my website is http://www.tgif…..which translates “thank God it’s Friday”. The rest of the identity is “masterminds.com”. Those words mean that my Master (God), uses my mind to communicate with Him.
I found it necessary to communicate this to you at this time because last week I experienced a very difficult and stressful time in the hospital and now that I have been released with a favorable report, I feel that a very heavy load has been lifted from my heart. So I asked the Holy Spirit to help me communicate with Him. Honestly, His reply was, let’s laugh together. So, below you will see what He suggested.
(You can title this picture. But I call it “Noah protecting his animals from Covid.)
I’ve got him, Jesus. He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother. Covid wont touch us.
“I believe in wearing a mask. He doesn’t.” “We don’t believe in wearing masks!”
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4:29NOW PLAYING Just click “playing” and listen to a most humorist rendition of a song sung by young boys. It will bust your belly.
After obeying the Holy Spirit’s advice, I felt much better in spirit. My spirits were lifted and filled with joy in my heart. Our Lord wants His children to be happy and full of peace and stability. In every situation in our lives, we must learn to live by the aide of the Holy Spirit. Why,, because He gives us the courage and hope in every situation and also He reminds us of God’s undying love.
Today, I feel much better. And I hope these few moments of laughter has caused your day to be much better, too.
See you next week…God willing… and the creek don’t rise. (*)
(*) Note:
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
The expression “…the creek don’t rise” is an American slang expression implying strong intentions subject to complete frustration by uncommon but not unforeseeable events. It presumably evokes occasional and unpredictably extreme rainfall in Appalachia, that has historically isolated one rural neighborhood or another temporarily inaccessible on several or many occasions. It is sometimes thought that the word “Creek” instead refers to the Creek Indians, but this is unlikely.[1][2]
Classic versions of its use tend to be along the lines of “The good Lord willing, and the creek doesn’t rise”—i.e. “If God so wills, and as long as intense rain does not wash away bridges or parts of dirt roads, or cover roads too deeply for safely following them.” It may take the form of real or mock dialect, in variations like “… Lor’ willin’ an’ th’ crick don’ rise.”
Scripture Lesson:There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1
Oh Boy! Now she’s gone and done it. She has entered the mind of God
No, that is not true. I have not entered the mind of God…I have entered the pages of the Holy Bible. This week’s blog is based on this particular verse: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27
This subject matter came to me as I entertained myself with TV news commentaries, buzzy body text messages, gloom and doom newspaper articles, and celebrity magazine gossip. I said in my heart this world would be a far better place if mankind was more considered, and loving to one another. And Bam! Suddenly, I began to receive confirmation from various prayer groups I’m a member of, and in general conversations I engaged in with friends and family, and most importantly direct from the Holy Spirit. My inner most thoughts kept crying out; “Remember-the-golden-rule…Remember-the-golden-rule.”
Then the Holy Spirit asked me, Daughter, why do you look forlorn? Respectfully, I responded, Oh Lord, since God created mankind in his own image, then why do we treat each other with such distain. The Holy Spirit’s answer was this: All of God’s creation was negatively affected because of the original sin of Adam and Eve. The Triune God was the only WORD that was not negatively affected. Since God had blessed the created man with a free will(*), He knew the propensity(**) of man. Thus God preserved the manifestation of Himself through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. (The Helpers who judge by fire(***).
God also preserved His Holy word by means of providing chosen men and women to record His edicts in the Holy Bible. He also specified certain passages that were the most important ones for mankind to perform. The one referred to in this blog as the “Golden Rule” was among them:
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31
My prayer for you…
Dear Heavenly Father:
Lord God, I am sorry that I sometimes become despondent and appear forlorn as I read the Holy Scriptures without a clear understanding of its contents. I now realize how that disposition can effect how I relate witnessing to others. Please help everyone with that mindset to persevere when witnessing on Your behalf. I know that You Yourself will empower our testimonies, increase our faith and guide us in the ways of righteousness.
Especially make me, Lord Jesus, willing to witness to others about my relationship with You, and then use these people who have heard my testimony for the good of Your kingdom. Amen and Amen.
(*) NOTE: Mankind forfeited his Free Will (received from Father God) for a lie (received from the Devil, the father of lies).
(**) NOTE:Bent of mind, natural or acquired; inclination; in a moral sense; disposition to any thing good or evil, particularly to evil; as a propensity tosin; the corrupt propensity of the will.Example: To inherit a trait from your father or mother.
(***) NOTE: Those who preach, teach, proclaim and witness for God are His fellow workers. And on That Day (of Judgement), every man’s works will be tested and assessed on how much of his teachings will withstand the All Consuming fire.
Suppose you imagined in your heart that the Holy Spirit whispered in your ear these words: I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a (fill in a profession here)* to the people.
What would be your reaction to such a message?
Would your response be similar to the boy called to be a prophet in Jeremiah 1:6; “Oh no, Lord God! I don’t know how to speak since I am only a child.”
Prayerfully, I filled in the above blank with ‘writer‘. Then I added: Oh, Lord God, I’ve always wanted to be a prolific writer or blogger in the public domain. I love to write!
Suddenly, the next heavenly message I heard went like this! Sorry, my child, I don’t think you heard me correctly. What I said was; I chose you…not you chose you!
I provided and equipped you with skills and talents that are always to honor, reverence, trust and obey the subject matter I put before you which will enlighten and inform my people. See, I have appointed you over your tribe, clan, relatives and sojourners to be a pied piper to many soul searchers seeking after Me. So, stay focused, my beloved, as I order your steps for every Friday’s rendition of our conversations.
My Prayerful Mistake…
My confession of repentance is this; perhaps I should have inquired of the Lord as to what profession or special talent(s) He ordained for me instead of naming it myself. So often we are guilty of running ahead of God. And, no doubt we can end up on the wrong road to what we perceive as glorious.
My prayer…
Dear Heavenly Father, I no longer want to try to live the life that You have asked me to on my own. I want to be Your child who is led totally and completely by Your Holy Spirit.
Therefore, I beseech Thee to cleanse me and help me to surrender my life totally to Your control so that in the future Your Spirit can determine my actions as I strive to do Your bidding. In the Precious Name of Christ Jesus. Amen and Amen.
Scripture Lesson:So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Galatians 5:16, 25
(*) NOTE: Jeremiah was called by God to be a prophet.
REBLOGGED…A REQUEST FROM MY FOLLOWERS AND ‘LIKE’ READERS!
Miraculously all abnormalities had disappeared. What welcomed news the doctors had presented my mother, Dorothy, on that cold winter’s day in 1945. No, it was not the first time she had heard this news. For past occasions were too numerous to count when she and her prayer band of girl friends had gone down on their knees to ask the Lord to spare her second child, nicknamed Snooky, from a serious illness. Me!
Yes, you guessed it. This is another blog on how God miraculously healed me when I was a child and his grace and mercy was retold to me later in life by my praying and devoted mother. During my 70+ years of life, I can truthfully say that God has always pitied my family and answered the prayers of my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
I believe I initially inherited my weak genes from my paternal Grandmother Novella. She too, was a sickly child at birth. Often, when I was a teenager, she would sit me down to retell her own stories of how the Good Lord had healed her of a debilitating sickness.
I will forever remember the story she told me in the summer of 1955. That year I was an inquisitive sixteen-year-old woman-child. My mind told me to do the unthinkable; question grandmother about her physical appearance. So, somehow I mustered up enough courage to ask, “Grandmother, why do you have one big leg and one little leg?”
Now you’ve done it, Snooky! You’ve struck a nerve!
Granny and I had just started to prepare dinner in the kitchen when surprisingly, grandmother took two giant steps towards me, threshed out her broad right hand and caught me under my left armpit. Sternly, she marched me pass the cooking stove and into the parlor. My feet were hardly touching the ground. There she plopped me down on the ruby-red settee and proceeded to wipe her hands on her floral apron.
As she stared at me with probing eyes, I noticed they were beginning to fill with tears. Trembling, I sat stiffly on the edge of the sofa seat with my head humbly bowed, knowing that no one came into grandmother’s precious parlor uninvited. Oh, how I wished I could have retracted my imposing question, which seemed to conjure up such vivid and emotional images for grandmother.
Grandmother had composed herself and she was more relaxed.
As grandmother paced back and forth, biding her time, ringing her hands, composing her thoughts she abruptly turned towards me with this admonishment: “So you want to know why I have ‘one big leg and one little leg,’ do you?” Well, young lady, you just sit right there and listen. But by now, her tone of voice was cracking and much softer and somehow filled with more empathy.
My body began to relax. I could tell by grandmother’s monologue that in spite of everything else, I was in for a real treat. She was about to tell me one of her childhood secrets; things she had not even shared with her own seven kids; and I would be the first among her twenty-three grandchildren who would be privileged to know. Grandmother Novella began her tale like this:
Spoken in Grandmother’s broken dialect.
My muther who was your great grandmuther, whom everybody called Big Momma Laura, had a difficult pregnancy when she carried me. Furthermore, she experienced complications at my birth because when born, my right leg was drawn back and locked at my buttocks. The mid wife could not get it to come down, so she left it ‘lone. At the age of five I learned to use crutches. Until then, I crawled everywhere I went.
Since I could not run and play like the rest of the choorun’ broke Big Momma Laura’s heart. So one day, out of desperation, Big Momma summoned all the neighborhood church sistahs to our house for a special prayer meetin’. Someone suggested they take me out back behind the house. There they placed me underneath a number two wash tub. The church sistahs circled the tub and began to sing and chant their praises to the Lord. They feverishly cried out to God for about thirty minutes. Now all the while, I was curled up under the tub. I remember experiencing a heat build-up under there.
Finally, the chanting stopped and someone lifted the tub. To my surprise, I saw uninvited peoples from the neighborhood lurking behind trees and bushes. Also their curious chooruns were laughing and taunting us. We all just ignored them.
Big Momma helped me to stand on my one good leg. Another lady took hold of my bent up leg and attempted to lower it to the ground. My leg joints cracked and popped, but finally that ole stubborn leg came down. Someone slipped my crutches under my arms and I began to hobble around the backyard while using both feet.
All of the church folks broke out shouting and dancing. The younger women lifted their long skirts ever-so-lightly, moving their feet to a syncopated rhythm of hand clapping which was provided by the older women.
The choorun’ danced in circles around us in groups of threes and fours imitating the vocal praises of their peers. I threw my head back and witnessed the clouds playing tag with one another. My ears recorded the whistling of the trees and the chirping of the birds. The entire backyard burst into an atmosphere of holy ecstasy.
At the conclusion of Grandmother Novella’s story she was on her knees beside me at the edge of the settee. We were both crying. But I remember grandmother laughing between her tears as she said; “Even though I grew up with one big leg and one little leg, I still managed to get the most handsome boy in the neighborhood to marry me.”
A great awaking: Knowing God as a healer for myself!
I will never forget that day when grandmother shared that miraculous healing story with me because it literally changed my life. You will recall in the beginning of this story, I said I was a sickly child. Well, one of my adolescence illnesses was I suffered with severe migraine headaches. One evening, about three weeks after my experience with granny, I was at my own house in bed with a bad migraine. As I lay there my thoughts were on her story. I had never in my life dared to converse with God for anything as special as did my Great Grandmother Laura. My mundane prayer life consisted of rapidly reciting the Lord’s Prayer at bedtime. But that night, I carefully slipped out of bed and onto my knees. I closed my eyes, folded my hands and began to pray…to earnestly pray.
Just when I began to retell granny’s story to the Lord with the intent to ask Him to heal me like He had blessed her Somebody turned on my bedroom light. Or so I thought! My eyes were still closed, but I could see a bright glow all around me. I stopped praying and remained very still. Somebody was definitely in my room and approaching me. The sensation felt like a warm beam moving closer and closer. Soon that ‘Somebody‘ passed over me and went out the door.
In amazement, I buried my face in my hands and wept uncontrollably. Soon I realized I was drenched in perspiration from my head to my toes. I stood up to examine myself and discovered that my head was no longer hurting. I shook my upper body violently from side to side. My migraine was gone! Jesus had healed me just like He did Grandmother Novella! And the best part was I had not even finished praying my prayer to Him. Hallelujah!!!
Oh, how I longed for a repeated jubilant performance of what took place over three generations ago. How my daddy’s mother, Grandmother Novella, Great Grandmother Laura and their friends had celebrated God’s goodness and mercy. How I ached to praise God in that frantic holy frenzy, representing a fourth generation of praise.
An example of praising God with uplifted hands.
Very seldom do Christians think about clicking their heels, twirling in circles or running in place when they praise the Lord. Yet, the Bible records numerous occasions where people as well as inanimate objects even worshipped Him. Trees clapped their hands; mountains skipped; hearts trembled; the Sons of God shouted; Enoch walked; the earth quaked; David sang and Mary Magdalene kissed Him. All of these recorded actions contributed joyful noises unto the Lord who heals you.
So why shouldn’t I? All I knew to do to demonstrate my joy was to search the biblical scriptures in a feeble effort to find just the right words to commune with Him. That night I rested in the audible reading of Psalms 66. Miraculously all abnormalities had disappeared. I vowed that night to forever continue to have Conversations With God Using Scripture.
Scripture Lesson:“Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing of his glorious name! Tell the world how wonderful he is. How awe-inspiring are your deeds, O God! How great your power! No wonder your enemies surrender! All the earth shall worship you and sing of your glories. Come see the glorious things God has done. What marvelous miracles happen to his people!” Psalm 66 1:1-5 Living Bible
Just months before that powerful world-wide pandemic that the medical community labeled Covid-19 hit our shores, I received a wonderful women’s prayer journal from my church’s Women’s Ministry Group. It was chucked full of colorful pages where a person could write prayerful notes related to different subjects according to their needs, a to-do list, a reminder corner, an intercessor list, a thank you reminder, etc., etc., etc.
I found this little book entitled, The Prayer Map For Women, extremely useful in helping me to organize my blog posts I submit to WordPress each Friday. Therefore, I am recommending it to all those persons who inquire of me as to how I consistently crank out blog after blog each week for the past six years hopefully for your enjoyment. (To date, that fete adds up to approximately 328 blog posts.)
But who’s counting?…Folks!…I love bloggingabout my time with the Lord!
So, let’s get crankin’ on this week’s blog!
While on a cruise vacation, I saw the Face of God!
Oh, how beautiful! Oh, how marvelous! Oh, how inspiring! Oh, how humbling! Oh, how excellent is His Name! Words could not express all the emotions and awe-struck thrills I felt last week as our cruise ship transcended the waters and shores of British Columbia, Skagway, Glacier Bay, and Juneau. That was about the extent of the Alaskan Southeast inside passage our cruise ship was scheduled to disembark.
And, no, before you ask, that figure shown in the blue-colored iceberg photo above is not me nor is it anyone else traveling on our cruise ship. The photo is taken from a free pexels image website on Google because I wanted you to see the blue haze that permeates throughout the icy glaciers. And this is where my prayerful conversation with the Holy Spirit begins. For truly, I saw the Face of God!!!
My conversation with God using scripturebeganthe moment I saw God’s face in the icebergs! “Why did You design the icebergs blue like the color of the sky?That was my firstimposition!
What you see when observing an iceberg is not what you get in reality! That was the first bit of information I received from the Holy Spirit, on this Friday, a week after I returned home from my vacation.
The Holy Spirit nudged me and suggested that I imagine myself sitting in a lounge chair outside at the pool. In my hand is a glass of water with ice cubes in it. Where are the ice cubes, my child? the Spirit asked. Floating on top of the glass of water was my reply. Well spoken. And that’s because the ‘seawater’ that the ice cubes are floating in is more dense (thicker) than the ice cubes, was the Spirit’s reply. In addition, the ice cubes are reflecting the ski and pool’s (sea’s) hues (colors).
(The Holy Spirit continued to point me to do research on more information about icebergs.)
What most people do not know, my beloved, is that viewers only see about 10% of an iceberg and that 90% of it is concealed underneath sea level and the entire structure is slowly floating along with its massive girth extending miles out into the sea and under water. So don’t be angry that the cruise ship’s captain did not sail closer to the iceberg. (It’s not written that the earth people experience another Titanic mishap in your lifetime.)
In conclusion:
Oh, how blessed I was when with all my getting…I got an understanding about one of God’s many wonders of our world. Yes, at first, I was slightly disappointed when I learned that this cruise voyage did not take us to more ports of call and we did not see a lot of icebergs, but, all in all, it was a very beautiful cruise and I met and travelled with some wonderful ship mates, and a very competant cruise company. I also ventured out on a 2-hour train ride that took us high up steep mountains and rugged trails that appeared impossible to transcend (not with standing laying the railroad track). I can only imagine what the original early settlers and indigenous people went through to survive.
My prayer For You…
Dear Heavenly Father: Thank you so very, very much for allowing me and so many of your children to cruise North to Alaska to witness your awesome landscape of exuberance filled with energy, excitement, and cheerfulness. My heart was made to fill glad and my expectations and element of surprises surpassed my wildest dreams. My prayer is that many, many more of your children will venture out into the wild blue yonder and experience your splendor in unfamiliar and or mysterious places. Thus causing them to reverence You to the utmost. We all must learn to seek and depend on God. I ask all of these blessings in the Precious Name of Your Son, Christ Jesus. Amen and Amen!
Scripture Lesson: “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15
And again I say…OOPs! For this week’s blog title, I have used an antithesis form of speech. Why? Because I thought the title above would infuse the curiosity of my readers more than the title: “God Uses Opposites To Express Himself On How To Obtain Righteousness”.
Now I ask you…did it work? Are you still with me? Have I piqued your interest enough for you to read this blog all the way through?
Well, if nothing else, you’ve learned the definition of a new word…Antithesis! That word refers to the juxtaposition (two things with contracting views) of opposing or contrasting ideas. And we all know that the Bible is full of opposites expressed not only by God in the creation story in Genesis, but also by Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, and many other New Testament writers.
Below I have listed a few examples found in Genesis Chapter One that depict an antithesis form of speech or writing:
Light and darkness
Day and night
Earth and Sky
Morning and evening
Land and sea
Sun and Moon
Male and female
Now let’s apply scripture to the proverb that God disposes but man proposes.
“Many are the plans in a human heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21
“To human beings belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.” Proverbs 16:1
“The Lord works out everything to its proper end—even the wicked for a day of disaster.” Proverbs 16:4
“In their hearts human beings plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” Proverbs 16:9
If you wanted to compose a sentence to share that will better explain the antitheses, you could say that even when man gives his very best to a project, in the end, it is up to fate whether man’s efforts will work out or not. Thus, Man proposes, but God disposes (brings things to fruition or extinction).
So do not be discouraged when you read opposites in the bible. Rather, get wisdom and in all thy getting, get an understanding about God’s word. Study to show yourself approved and allow the Holy Spirit to show you how to rightly divide the word of truth.
The moral of the story:
Recently, I was invited to teach on several scriptures from the Book of Hebrews. The assignment called for me to first read a short story found in Our Daily Bread magazine and use it as the basis for my scripture teaching. Because the magazine story did not fully blend in with the overall theme of Hebrews, I had to pray hard for the Holy Spirit to help me connect the dots. This is the message the Holy Spirit communed with me: Do not reduce holy mysteries to slogans and catchy stories, my sister. In trying to be relevant, you are only being cute and in violation or misuse of what is regarded as sacred. Having a knack for generating ‘amens’ from your audience won’t get you anywhere with the Master. In fact, you will reap what you sow. You can imagine, I stuck with the overall theme of Hebrews…the Old Covenant vs the New Covenant. I was careful not to propose anything in my teaching that the Lord would dispose.
My prayer for you:
Dear Heavenly Father, we give You all the glory, honor, and praise for loving us so much that You sent down the Holy Spirit to teach and instruct us in the way of righteousness. For you used juxtaposition terminology to instruct us in how to recognize what is life-generating and what leads to death-infused conduct. Basically, we must embrace faith, exhibit love and practice endurance as we live out our lives and administer hope to our fellowman. It is our prayer that You will continue to shower us with Your wisdom so that we might become more like You. We ask that all of these various teaching methods be a blessing to others…in the mighty Name of Jesus we ask it all. Amen.
Scripture Lesson:“Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.” Proverbs 21:21
As you can see by the title of my blog post, I have confessed to the world that my God and I often have in depth conversations that are embellished by The Holy Spirit. This cherished relationship has gone on for decades…and I have loved and sought after it every awaking moment. The Guiding Light of His Presence has never failed me yet.
So, for this week’s blog, I decided to let my readers in on a very deep conversation I was blessed to engage in with the Holy Spirit around 5:00 a.m. on Thursday morning back on December 2, 2004. I was around 65 years old at the time and serving as a Deaconess and a member of the Board of Christian Education at a Baptist Church I belonged to at that time. Since my encounters with the Lord were coming so frequently, I always kept a pen and a pad of paper at my bedside along with my Bible.
Please allow me to share with you my entry into the ethereal…
I found myself in an extremely delicate and light and weightless place that seemed too perfect for this world.
Around 5:00 a.m. on Thursday morning, December 2, 2004, I was gently awakened, and for a moment, I just laid there. My mind began to recall the stirring testimonies of the night before at our Wednesday night prayer meeting. Passages from Ezekiel and Jeremiah were read during the closing and I began to reflect on them as I lay awake.
Out of no where I 'felt' a voice say, "My child, you have to become your title...Board of Christian Education." At first, I was confused and had no idea why my mind spoke to me in that fashion. Suddenly, my subconscious was at work and reminded me that ever since the last Board of Christian Education meeting in November, I had been asking the Lord to speak to me concerning the question put to the members by the president. For the next fifteen days I had received nothing! Then, finally, on that distilled morning (and in God's time), He decided to answer.
"Is that You, My Lord?" I said with excitement. At that time, I immediately grabbed my Bible and turned to the book of Ezekiel. As I re-read Chapter 2, the Lord spoke again...
"Ezekiel's life was a living parable or object lesson for the people. And, Daughter of Education, I see you as I see Ezekiel. A representative of Who is to come. For I call Ezekiel, Ben Adam, which is when translated, Son of Man.
"Now, Daughter of Education, get up, wake up, get a pen and write. I am sending you to the children of your church, a rebellious congregation, who has rebelled against Me. They and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this day."
So when I heard Him, I grabbed pen and a piece of paper and I began to write. But then I said, "Oh, Lord, how have we rebelled against you?" I did not hear or 'feel' anybody speak, but my spirit nudged me and caused me to have a fixation on the expression, 'eat the word!'
Then God said, "The Word I have for the Board of Christian Education is one of encouragement. Persons on the Board are to see themselves as a Jeremiah and as an Ezekiel. Both of these men's messages to My people were proclamations. Their preaching was laced with future event happenings. Both of these men's messages were warnings to the people, telling them to get ready for things to come.
"So, when their prophecies did not happen in the time frame that suited the people, they began to shut their ears and mock Ezekiel and Jeremiah and call them a bunch of names and hoped they would stumble in everything they did.
"Because My appointed and ordained priests were also human, their feelings were hurt and their personage was wounded. Instead of getting angry at the people, they got angry with Me. Jeremiah said, 'I will not make mention of HIM!' Board of Christian Education, BEWARE!!!
"Listen My Child, you are to become Ben Christian Education. For like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, your words will be a stumbling block and a proverb to My people. The captors are coming and My people will be swallowed up, but My Word will ring true."
And so ended my conversation with God using Scripture. And I was returned to the solitude of my bedroom. But as I look over my life, I have been in a lot of situations where my prayerful remarks on biblical subjects have been a stumbling block for my comrades. However, sometimes the Holy Spirit has allowed me to witness that God was glorified in their lives. Yes, my feelings were often hurt, but I reminded myself of the precious words of John the Baptist…He must increase, I must decrease.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for hearing the prayers of the righteous and bringing comfort and relief where needed. We also thank you for the promise that You are a refuge and a shelter for us; a help in times of trouble. Please make it possible for us to be calm in the midst of trouble and to acknowledge that You are God and God alone. Amen.
Scripture Lesson:“Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the the heart of the sea. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” Psalm 46:2, 11
Conversations With God Using Scripture 