September 16, 2011
John 1:9-13
9) There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. 10) He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11) He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. 12) But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13) who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
September 7, 2011
Acts 3:19
Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.
This is the Strong’s Greek Concordance Number: 3340
Transliteration: metanoeó
Phonetic Spelling: (met-an-o-eh’-o)
Definition: I repent, change my mind, change the inner man (particularly with reference to acceptance of the will of God), repent.
When I first learned the true meaning of the work Repent I was very surprised!! The church I had grown up in taught us that repenting was telling God you were sorry and that you wouldn’t do it again, then asking Him to forgive that sin. It was usually a one-sided dialog where we repeatedly kept telling God out sorry we were.
It was usually accompanied by remorse and a sense of guilt, but because of the shame we never really allowed the Father to work on our heart. It was if we kept Him at arm’s length while we babbled on about how sorry we were.
So the remorse, shame and guilt stayed and afterwards because we had not allowed ourselves to receive from the Father, we went away unchanged, untransformed and we made the same mistakes and operated in the same sin again and again.
But the true meaning is to ‘change your mind’!
I copied this from the Biblios website under the Strongs word section:
3340 metanoé? (from 3326 /metá, “changed after being with” and 3539 /noié?, “think”) – properly, “think differently after,” “after a change of mind”; to repent (literally, “think differently afterwards”).
The phrase above “changed after being with” makes so much sense to me. When we are with the Father after doing something wrong, we will change our mind and realize that what we did was wrong and that we should not do it again. Being with the Father will change our heart and when we leave His presence we will desire to be different and to do different than before. If we will take our remorse, shame and guilt to Him and allow Him to reaffirm His forgiveness and love, we will see a new and better way.
Our selfish desires will fade away more and more as we go to the Father in repentance, but not just admitting a wrong done, but receiving His transforming grace, instruction and love in regards to the matter.
That would make sense. If we previously thought it was a good idea, or if our selfish desires were leading us to that behavior, then we will change our minds and believe that it is behavior that is not beneficial to us or the kingdom. Therefore we will strive to never do it again. Being with the Father will change both our hearts and our minds. His immeasurable love and grace will give us the power to live a Holy life.
But we must make the move to go to Him so that that change can occur. We must take our mistakes, our sin, our missteps and deeds to Him so that He can reveal the truth of our behavior to us. As He does, He will also show us His loving heart and that kind of love never fails. It never fails to transform us into His image, little by little, day by day.
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Mark 11:23
23) “Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.
Acts 1:8
But you shall receive power (ability, efficiency, and might) when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends (the very bounds) of the earth.
This is the Strong’s Greek Concordance Number: 1411
Transliteration:: dunamis
Phonetic Spelling:(doo’-nam-is)
Definition: physical power, force, might, ability, efficacy, energy, meaning (b) plur: powerful deeds, deeds showing (physical) power, marvelous works.
As a people we are drawn to power or the display of power. From early childhood we are enamored with super heroes and the great and mighty deeds they did. We all secretly wished we could do those things too!
We were also taught that those things were fiction. There isn’t such a thing as a super hero. People can’t fly. People can’t stop bullets with their bare hands, people can’t walk through walls. So we abandoned the thought of being a super hero.
But this word dunamis is just exactly that – supernatural power. The Holy Spirit came to bring us His power; God’s power and ability into our lives. We’ve not lived it because we have not believed it. Believe today that you were meant to receive, posses and use dunamis in your life.
DUNAMIS: physical power – force – might – ability – efficacy – energy – powerful deeds – deeds showing physical power – marvelous works.
Maybe we really were meant to be super heroes. God’s super heroes, doing God’s will on this earth.
August 24, 2011
Pride
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
This is the Strong’s Greek Concordance Number 1347a
Transliteration: ga’own
Phonetic Spelling: (gaw’-ohn)
Definition: arrogancy
When I was studying this word I noticed that there were several Greek variations of this word. I’ve selected the one used here in this verse.
I was not surprised by the definition. It is a word we all know well, and use often.
But one thing I did learn when reading all the different words in the definition is the word – exaltation. I had to stop on that one and think about it.
Isn’t exaltation something that should be reserved for God? You bet it is! That is exactly why when we are prideful we are exalting ourselves and God will not, cannot stand for that. Pride – self exaltation is what got Satan ejected immediately from heaven. Go directly to earth, do not pass go, do not collect $200!!!
I’ve added a bit of humor to this critically serious topic, but we do tend to snicker when we think about how quickly, with no debate, Satan was ejected from Heaven. But we must see that this scripture is warning us that should pride, in any form, enter our behavior or attitude, we are certain to face destruction as well.
If that thought makes you shudder the way it did me, then evaluate your life and your attitudes towards others today to see if even the slightest morsel of pride has crept in. If it has, immediately eradicate it before you to are facing certain destruction.
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August 22, 2011
Today’s Meditation Verse:
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
I love reading the Lexicon version of a scripture. To me it reveals so much.
For instance there is little variation in this scripture from translation to translation. It pretty much says it like it is and in any language or culture it is pretty much the same.
But just now as I was reading this verse in the Lexcon (the original Greek translation) I saw something that I had to meditate on for a bit. Then I saw how obvious the original word was to our own modern terminology.
That word is before. In the Lexicon that word means faces. We use that word often now. She is facing an uphill battle. He is facing termination at work. They are facing the playoffs.
We know this word so well.
Let’s look at this week’s scripture again using the original word, facing.
Pride causes you to face destruction, and a haughty spirit will cause you to face a fall.
We know when we face something that it is coming, for sure. Something that we face is something we know we will have to deal with.
So this week when you meditate on this scripture know that the pride in your life will cause you to face with certainty, destruction and that a haughty spirit will cause you to face a fall.
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i·den·ti·ty 