On a 3 x 5 index card, I have been writing notes and symbols about the process of spiritual life and death. Also many other 3 x 5 cards with various thoughts and conclusions that come and go. Not to miss anything, but to write while immersed in spirit and reading. As abbreviated mapping, this one goes something like this:
(1) Justification ————-> Event: At spiritual rebirth Kept from Penalty of Sin & Evil
(2) Sanctification ———–> Process: Transformation & renewal of your soul during life Kept from Power of Sin & Evil
(3) Glorification ————-> Event: At physical death Kept from Presence of Sin & Evil
To post this kind of content is my cross to bear at the risk of being confused, wrong, or ridiculed. There’s more to it, but Christ didn’t only die for our sinful rebellion, He also had to live for our righteousness. He is our righteousness. A double imputation. Our sinful rebellion to His death and our redemption. His righteousness is imputed to us. His life of perfect obedience is just as necessary for our eternal life as is His atoning death at the crucifixion. Our sin to Him, His righteousness to us.
In the past week or so, I have still had this lasting appetite to pour daily into Ezekiel. Not in a visceral sense, but as a sheep that nurses to get its energy. Something happens to lighten the heart and spirit by bringing those words into view by holding the pages close and dwelling upon their meaning. Honestly, when Jesus said that we would live on more than bread, but on the word of God, I didn’t take it in the literal sense. I was wrong. It is, in fact, in the literal sense. Once you have a taste, there isn’t a way to live without having those words as a source of wisdom, guidance, comfort, and faith.
“And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ” – Matt. 4:4
Here’s a profile of our newly sponsored child. Destine Hanamaria has made it through one of the most vulnerable times in life for a human living in poverty. She made it past her first birthday because of generous givers like you. At this age, having someone to love and take care of her can still mean the difference between life and death. That’s why your sponsorship provides for a trained Survival Specialist from her local church to visit her every month at home.
Destine Hanamaria Birthday: July 09, 2015 Gender: Female Location: Indonesia (Asia) Child ID: XXXXXXXXXXXX
• Age: 2 • Birthday: July 9, 2015 • Gender: Female • Location: Indonesia • Center: Evangelical Church in Minahasa “Trifena” Karegesan • Child ID: XXXXXXXXXXXX • Waiting: 215 days for a sponsor. Urgent need for a sponsor.
Overview
Destine Hanamaria has made it through one of the most vulnerable times in life for a human living in poverty. She made it past her first birthday because of generous givers like you. At this age, having someone to love and take care of her can still mean the difference between life and death. That’s why your sponsorship provides for a trained Survival Specialist from her local church to visit her every month at home.
These specialists provide access to much-needed immunizations and medical care, as well as food and water to meet critical physical needs. They also lend emotional and spiritual support to family members committed to caring for her. Your sponsorship allows Destine Hanamaria a strong, healthy start, early in life when it can have the biggest impact.
Please remember Destine Hanamaria in your prayers. Your love and support will help her to receive the assistance she needs to grow and develop.
Community
Project: ID-119, Trifena Student Center Location: Karegesan, 25 km southwest of Bitung, Indonesia
Destine lives on the plains of Karegesan, home to approximately 20,000 residents. Typical houses are constructed of cement floors, wood walls, and corrugated iron roofs. The primary ethnic group is Minahasa.
The regional diet consists of fish, plantains, and rice. A common health problem in this area is coughs. Most adults in Karegesan work as day laborers and earn the equivalent of $89 per month. This community has electricity but needs vocational training and scholastic materials
Your sponsorship allows the staff of Trifena Student Center to provide Destine with Bible studies, leadership training, medical checkups, nutritious food, sports, community service opportunities, tuition, scholastic materials, tutoring, and vocational training. The center staff will also provide meetings and seminars on economic empowerment for the parents or guardians of Destine.
Indonesia consists of 17,000 islands along the equator between Australia and Asia. The larger islands have central mountain ranges and fertile plains and lowlands. The climate is tropical with a rainy season from October to April.
The country squeezes a population nearly the size of the United States into a landmass roughly triple the size of Texas; it has the fourth largest population in the world. Indonesia is also a diverse nation with many resources. More than 700 languages are spoken but the most common is Bahasa Indonesia. Islam claims 90 percent of Indonesians; however, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and animism are also practiced.
When Columbus sailed from Spain in 1492, he sought a new route to the Spice Islands of Indonesia. The Portuguese arrived in the sixteenth century but in 1602 the Dutch began slowly gaining control of the islands. Following Japanese occupation during World War II, the country, led by Sukarno, proclaimed independence in 1945. Suharto ousted Sukarno in 1968 and held the presidency of the military-controlled republic until 1998 when a collapsing economy fueled riots and demands for reforms. In 2001, the country elected a female leader, President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
Continuing along in my reading of John Piper’s book, “What Jesus Demands from the World”, I just finished the section entitled “Abide in Me.” Numbered as demand #7 with references Jn 15:4, Jn 15:9, and Jn 8:31-32.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” -Jn 8:31-32
That dwelling, continuing, and remaining with Jesus comes from believing in him and his love daily. By being in daily prayer and abiding in His word, He will produce fruit within us and from us. And I would also add that worship is a crucial practice to glorify God in us in order that we are most satisfied in Him.
“Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things. As for the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” – Rev 1:19-20
Several weeks ago, I began the gradual re-introduction to the KJV. Not to abandon the NASB, but to run concurrently with the archaic and beautiful language in the KJV.
My spirit is still deep into daily reading and study of my NASB, but along with that, I am tracing back all of the same/common written words in this earlier KJV version. Usually a few chapters a day for months now, plus random sections here and there.
There is something deeper and meaningful about repeating the same material with written notes and illustrations side by side. My eyes see the words differently in full absorption of this early translation.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ” -Eph 2:8-9
Obedience must accompany faith. As evidence of authentic faith made real by grace as given by God.
Sola Gratia (Grace Alone) Solus Christus (Christ Alone) Sola Fide (Faith Alone) Soli Deo Gloria (To the Glory of God Alone) Sola Scriptura (Scripture Alone)
These are five principles that give us hope that we could live. And that God could be eternally 100% for us rather than against us and objects of his wrath (Ep 2:3). Principles recognized, understood, and followed to spiritually become made alive in Christ. This is what it is to be made alive in Christ. God sets His love and grace upon His elect for authentic repentance to obey the Son. We are otherwise dead spiritually and completely unable to believe and obey.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Eph 2:8–9). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
What I consider fascinating is this idea of the “Book of Nature” just as there is a book of scripture. First introduced to me by Dr. Hugh Ross as a scientific companion for observation and study. Not necessarily as a book per se, but as a philosophical idea that we are living within to read, measure, observe, test, and understand. To quote Wikipedia, “The first use of the phrase [book of nature] is unknown. However, Galileo used the phrase, quoting Tertullian, when he wrote of how ” “We conclude that God is known first through Nature, and then again, more particularly, by doctrine; by Nature in His works, and by doctrine in His revealed word.”
Book of Nature (Buch der Natur).
To further see a physical manifestation of a book of nature, there is a medieval book of incunabula (Buch der Natur) which serves as a guide which also testifies of Ps 24:1, “The Earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it. ” Both the book of scripture and the book of nature are used as a means to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ. Both books corroborate each other.
What isn’t so obvious between these books is their relationship to God’s spiritual book of life as written about in Revelation 20:12. The books that were opened in John’s vision when he saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. So in addition to the book of life, were the books of “nature” and scripture opened among them?
Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37:1–14)
Can such things be? In Ezekiel’s vision, he saw before him a valley of dry bones. A multitude of God’s people dead, scattered, and dried out to bones. Then suddenly the bones began to come together among them with flesh, tendons, and muscle. Yet still dead, but just corpses, as a multitude of the dead before Ezekiel. God’s people were dead from their rebellion before Him. Laid to waste without life.
Until thereafter the Lord breathed again the breath of life to them all. As with creation and with Pentecost, to revive them. To give them life. A new life unlike anything before. His promise that He would restore the people of Israel. That “He would deliver them from the grave of exile, place His Spirit among them, and settle them once more in the promised land.”
A precursor of what was to come as written about in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:2-5). As now the Holy Spirit dwells within His people today.
Chisholm, R. B. (1998). The Major Prophets. In D. S. Dockery (Ed.), Holman concise Bible commentary (p. 327). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
A man of God, who questions his creator. Job asked God why he paid enough attention to him to harm him. When it just wasn’t so. God allowed an Enemy to bring harm to Job (Job 1:8–12).
Affliction
“Remember that my life is but breath; My eye will not again see good. “The eye of him who sees me will behold me no longer; Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be.
“When a cloud vanishes, it is gone, So he who goes down to Sheol does not come up. “He will not return again to his house, Nor will his place know him anymore.
“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
“Am I the sea, or the sea monster, That You set a guard over me? “If I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, My couch will ease my complaint,’ Then You frighten me with dreams And terrify me by visions; So that my soul would choose suffocation, Death rather than my pains.
“I waste away; I will not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
“What is man that You magnify him, And that You are concerned about him, That You examine him every morning And try him every moment?
“Will You never turn Your gaze away from me, Nor let me alone until I swallow my spittle? “Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men?
Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself?
“Why then do You not pardon my transgression And take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust; And You will seek me, but I will not be.”
New American Standard Bible: 1995 update. (1995). (Job 7:7–21). La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
“For these things I weep; My eyes run down with water; Because far from me is a comforter, One who restores my soul. My children are desolate Because the enemy has prevailed.” – Lam 1:16
This week I spent a few days reading through Lamentations. More of personal study time in prayerful meditation over the words in five chapters of the book. While the book of Lamentations concerns the prophet’s Jeremiah’s lamentations over the destruction of Judah, Jerusalem, and Solomon’s temple, the deep and lasting sorrow speaks of the woes of separation from YHWH our Creator.
Numerous highlights and notes were marked and written to gather a building sense, meaning, and theme as a point of the text. Translated in my spirit as grief, suffering, and mourning of our time and the struggles we see today. Tornadoes, fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, a mass shooting, political strife, cultural warfare, foreign instabilities, a corrupt government, and the evils of Jihad. All these adversities are passing with far more to come in frequency and intensity. So it is of the highest priority to abide in prayer, abide in God’s word, and remain in fellowship as a continuing necessity.
This week under my breath I’ve had the passing desire to just say to the Lord that I love Him. Several times throughout these days just a simple “I love you Lord.” Here and there spontaneous utterances from my soul because He is the love that is in me. In all sincerity and with nothing watched in return. Just an overflow from the heart because my heart is full.
Emerald River
You are the same yesterday, today and forever Just the mention of your name You are my strength You are my anchor You never fail
You are my hope You are my healer You will deliver Emmanuel
You are my King I am a child of the Most High King As fire to iron, everything again is changed You are the same yesterday, today and forever
Exurge Domine to Christian Nobility, on the Babylonian captivity and the Freedom of the Christian. Where we have justification by faith affirmed. On December 10th, 1520, Luther burns the Exurge Domine in a bonfire. The questions of Exurge Domine were burned. On January 3rd, 1521, Decet Romanum Pontificem is delivered to Luther. For the full rejection of opulent religious order and heresy.
Luther was handed over to the Imperial Diet, a collective meeting of rulers of the empire. About 300 princes and rulers with the emperor at the time. All to meet in the city of Worms.
On April 18th, 1521, Luther arrived at the city of Worms to go before the Diet. When he entered the room before the rulers and princes, before Johann Maier von Eck and before Gasparo Contarini, his written works were sitting in view of everyone. Luther is asked to confirm that those are his works. Upon acknowledgment, Eck insists Luther must recant everything he has written. To which Luther requests one night to think about it.
Luther spends the night in prayer. Am I Alone Wise? He asks repeatedly. A night of doubt, yet he becomes reassured and confident. To which the next day, he returns to examination before the rulers and princes. Luther is asked yet again, “are these your books?” Eck demands Luther to recant and rescind his views to save Luther’s life.
Alone and steadfast, Luther proclaims:
“Unless I am convinced by scripture and plain reason. I do not accept the authority of Popes and Councils. For they have contradicted each other. My conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything. For to go against conscience is neither safe nor wise. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.”
In open defiance and by offering his life if they want to take it, he responds. He as much said you have to convince him that he is wrong. Even as he told them that he knows he is right, because Scripture says so, he in full view of everyone acknowledges that they intend to kill him for it.
On May 25th, 1521, Luther was made an outlaw. He is banished with a bounty put on him. Once his safe-conduct passage for trial expires, he will become sought and hunted for arrest and execution. Emperor Charles, by intentional delay, allows Luther to flee.
After that, Frederick the Wise, who saw the diet outcome as unjust, ordered several of his men to kidnap Luther and hide. Knowing he would be compelled to reveal where Luther was hidden, he ordered his men not to tell him where they hid Luther. In distress, it eventually came about where Frederick rightfully told authorities He had no idea where Luther was.
Luther was hidden at a castle in Wartburg. He assumes the name Junker George. Excommunicated from the Catholic church, he solidified his convictions and began the Protestant movement. He translated the Bible from Hebrew, Greek, and Latin to German. By doing so, with the newly invented Gutenberg Printing Press, he put the Bible into the hands of common people. In an effort to break down the medieval understanding of the Catholic church. It was to take society from the dark ages to an ordained understanding of our Holy God and His church.
