The Power of Life & Death

Posted on February 24, 2012 by stevemidkiff

Churchill said:

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity, and optimist sees the opportunity in every difficult.”

Proverbs 18:21 say: the tongue has the power of life & death.

The words we think and speak to ourselves can impose on us good, or harm.  We owe most of our personal self-destructive scars to our damaging self speak. 

Jacob is pessimistic when he says: 

Gen.42:36 all these things are against me.

David is optimistic when he said:

Difficulty is instructive,

Psalms 119:71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Your Word

Difficulty is corrective,

Psalms 119:67 before I was afflicted I went astray: but now I obey Your Word.

Difficulty is life giving

Psalms 119:50 this is my comfort in my affliction: for Your Word has given me life.   

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Love Is Authentic 1John 4:1‑6


Posted on February 23, 2012 by stevemidkiff

Love Is Authentic 1John 4:1‑6
  

   Love Discriminates Truth v.1

      Differentiate                Beloved, believe not every spirit,

      Discern                          but try the spirits

The Dependable       whether they are of God:  

         The Distorters           because many false prophets

The Disconnection  are gone out into the world.

  Love Detects Truth v.2‑4
    

     Precision Declares Christ’s Humanity v.2

         The Criteria              Hereby we know the Spirit of God

         The Credentials      Every spirit that confesses

         The Commitment   that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God
    

     Perversion Denies Christ’s Humanity v.3

   Love Determines Truth v.4
    

      Those Who Are Conquers In God     You are of God, little children, and

                                                                              have overcome them 

      Those Who Are Controlled by God  because greater is he that is in you,

                                                                              than he that is in the world

    Love Discovers Truth  v.5,6
    

          Intimate With The World v.5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of  

                                                                       the world, and the world hears them
    

          Intimate With The Word  v.6
        

              Some Receive God’s Word  We are of God: he that  knows God hears us

              Some Reject God’s Word      he that is not of God hears not us
       

              Some Recognize God’s Word Hereby know we the spirit of truth,

                                                                          and the spirit of error  

Love Is Authentic 1John 4:1‑6

  Love Discriminates Truth v.1

      Differentiate  Beloved, believe not every spirit,

Isolating the differences, quarantining in our mind the dissimilarities, and separating out mentally the disparities is vital

in calculating the difference between a false teacher and a teacher of God’s truth.  False teachers want to break down and interrupt the truth of Jesus.  Teachers of truth construct impact in a living relationship with Jesus Christ.   

      Discern            but try the spirits

Behind every teacher stands a spirit.  We must refuse to be gullible and naively accepting.  We have to test the spirits motivating the teacher.  Is this God’s Spirit moving, is this God’s Word motivating or is this a demonic defrauding spirit misleading?  

The Dependable  whether they are of God:  

Does the teaching oppose God, does it dispute the validity of God’s people, disparaging God’s Church, and does it contradict God’s Word?

         The Distorters because many false prophets

A false teacher maneuvers with distortions, spins fake and misleading stories with layers of dual meanings, allegorical nonsense, and fabricated levels of philosophic jargon.  It’s not how clever and astute the articulation sounds, the issue is does it reconfigure with defiling alteration of who the person of Jesus Christ is?  Does the spin attack the power of the position Christ now holds?  Does the presentation gyrate against the perfection

of Jesus accomplishments in paying our debt?  Or does it redefine the need we have as fallen and hopeless in sin, or ignore the future of eternal death in a lost eternity completely?     

The Disconnection are gone out into the world.

False teachers are on tour to reach out to as many people as they can and deconstruct as much truth as possible.  They enunciate a communication of interruption and disturbance.

   Love Detects Truth v.2‑4
    

         Precision Declares Christ’s Humanity v.2

         The Criteria        Hereby we know the Spirit of God

         The Credentials     Every spirit that confesses 

2 John 7 for many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

If there is no admission, that Jesus Christ is God, Lord of all.  If there is no acknowledgement that He has come from His position of infinite eternity, to live here on earth.  If there is no confession that Jesus lived as a perfect man, to suffer and be judged for our sin by the death of an eternal judgment from God the Father.

It’s not sufficient in a test to just say He’s a historical person.  

If Jesus Christ is refused as the only one who finished this severe justice we deserved for our sin, taking it on Himself.  That after He completed His sacrifice, He rose back to life, as a glorified man and the source of all spiritual life.  

If this risen, exalted God-Man over all is rejected for who He is, what He became and did, and refused as our only real answer, then we are listening to an imposter spirit who is seeking to block a life giving relationship with the real Jesus.    

     The Commitment   that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God

The test of the spirit is do we see a commitment to Jesus Christ as the eternal God in the message of those who claim to have a message?

Is there a commitment to Jesus entrance into this life by coming from heaven through being born with a human body, conceived in a virgin woman by God’s Spirit?

Is there a commitment to the sinless perfection of the God-Man Jesus Christ? 

Is there a commitment to the reality that Jesus is God’s sent Messiah?


     Perversion Denies Christ’s Humanity v.3

And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

All who claim to teach truth from God but represent Jesus Christ inaccurately are not a mouthpiece for God but are speaking for the devil.

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6. Proverbs 1:1-6 The Personality Of Wisdom part 3b v.2

Posted on February 10, 2012 by stevemidkiff

6. Proverbs 1:1-6 The Personality Of Wisdom part 3b v.2

The Aim v.2-4

  To Acknowledge v.2         To know wisdom and instruction;

    To Apply                              to perceive the words of understanding                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

    To Accept v.3                     To receive the instruction of wisdom 

The Aim v.2-4

 To Acknowledge v.2 

Development (Skill)                                 To know Wisdom 

God’s Word is an unfolding of wisdom.  There are specific books of the Bible that are stated as wisdom books, these are Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

In Job 12 Job gives an amazing statement of faith saying that God is Immutable without change.  God is Inscrutable without comprehension.  God is Infinitely wonderful in His ceaseless conception of things, and God is Inexplicable and mysteriously puzzling in His interweaving control over all.

1. God power is Constant Job 12:13 With him is wisdom and strength,

God’s wisdom and power is sage and supreme.  This is fundamental to His being.  Time doesn’t increase or decrease His wisdom and strength, as these aspects of His nature are continual, persistent and unbroken.  He is all wise and all-powerful.  He is the spring of wisdom and the source of power.  He executes His designs, establishes His decrees and enables His determinations.

2. God power is Comprehensive  He hath counsel and understanding.

God’s angle on things is settled.  He is not learning as He goes.  His guidance and counsel are not developed, adjusted or imparted because of circumstances.  His direction is steady always, and flows from His unchanging nature.  God’s counsels are His purposes, which He performs, punctually planning peace with propriety and perfection.

3. God power in Constructive Conclusion Job 12:14 

Behold, he breaks down, and it cannot be built again:

Individuals and nations rise and fall.  They are born and they die and God stands invisible to the physical eye but evident to the spiritual eyes of the heart as He controls every breakdown.

He is sovereign in His erasing of what once existed to the point where it will never live again.  When God says it’s over it’s over.  Daniel, with the eye of faith on God’s wisdom and power saw four empires broken and demolished in the image of iron, clay, brass, silver and gold.

Dan. 2:35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floor; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. 

4. God’s power is over all Captivity 

He shuts up a man, and there can be no opening. 

God hedges in a person with inconvenient calamities and baffling circumstances.  Only He can remove the misfortune and open the resources back up.  There are countless prisons in life and bondage lurks everywhere.  The Lord proclaims liberty to the captives.  David prayed

Psa. 88:8 You have put away my acquaintance far from me; You have made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. 

Again He prayed in Psa. 142:7 bring my soul out of prison, and I will praise Your name. 

This is a prayer for the Spirit of the Lord.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. 2Cor. 3:17 

5. God power is over all Climate Job 12:15 He controls droughts and deluges

Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up: Also he sends them out, and they overturn the earth. 

He manages all droughts and storms.  He is behind every deficiency and monitors every deficit.  He also opens the floodgates of inundations and brings abundance and lavish plenty.

6. God’s power is Controlled Job 12:16  He is guided by His wisdom 

With him is strength and wisdom: 

God’s wisdom designs the course of every occurrence and consequence, but it’s His power and ability that carries out all that he designs.  All other power lacks wisdom, unless those in authority humbly seek God for the wisdom of His designs and purposes

7. God power is Cautious

       He monitors every lie and every liar

The deceived and the deceiver are his.

We see politicians in high place, and despots scattered through history that lie and deceive, but God is guiding the end and final result to His wise purpose.

There are those who deceive and those who are caught in the stupidity of the deception but the deepest problems in the universe through all this dishonesty and duplicity are only cured in God.

8. God power controls Counselors

       He is sovereignly at work in every circumstance Job 12:17

He leads counselors away spoiled,

Isaiah 3:1-3 the Lord…takes away…the stay and the staff, The whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

The stay is food provision, and the staff is authority figures.

The mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, The captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator.

The message renders this passage:

God removes police and protection, judges and courts, Pastors, and teachers, captains and generals, doctors And nurses, and, yes, even the repairmen and jacks-of-all trades.

9. God’s power is over Courts 

And makes the judges (appear) fools.

No matter what the position, ability, power or aptitude of a person in authority.  No matter what the level of jurisdiction or the scope and reach of a decision, God can reverse and confuse every decision and verdict and strip it down to a foolish notion.

10. God’s power is over Congress Job 12:18 

He looses the bond of kings, and girds their loins with a girdle

Those in positions of authority can impose laws that bring bondage and poverty to the people under their rule.  God is able to loose and release those binding laws that seem impossible.  God can gird the loins of tyrant political powers.  He limits their pleasure, position and path of progression stripping away their power.

11. God’s power calculates those in Control 

Ecc. 4:14 for out of prison he comes to reign, whereas also he that is born in his kingdom becomes poor. 

Joseph was release from years of prison to a position of authority over an empire while royal personas are reduced to rags.

12. God’s power is over all Conspiracy Job 12:19 

He leads princes away spoiled, and overthrows the mighty. 

It’s of no consequence, whether the authority of the leader covers enormous territory and the control is amazing domination of wealth, command of popularity and ascendency of intellectual prowess.  No office is sacred and no position is above God.  He is the sovereign Lord of all.  God spoils and demolishes in His time and in His way.

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water; he turns it whithersoever he will.  Prov. 21:1 

13. God’s power is over the Conditions Job 12:20

He removes away the speech of the trusty, And takes away the understanding of the aged.

Communication is what connects mind with mind and compelling eloquence and charismatic articulation is what influences the masses.  Powerful personalities may have persuasive expressions, but God, in a flash, can remove the effectiveness of the speech, even of those who seem to be situated in positions of competence and trust.

The logic of venerated experts and the comprehension and understanding of prestigious penetration is briskly removed by the Lord.

Lamentations 3:37-39 who is he that says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord commands it not?  Out of the mouth of the most High proceeds not evil and good?  Wherefore does the living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?  

14. God’s power is over Conquest Job 12:21

He pours contempt upon princes, and weakens the strength of the mighty. 

The word for princes here is tyrant.  God brings to shame those He chooses to oppose and disgrace and dishonor are His doing.  Worms in the middle of his governing term ate Herod, and whatever strength and authority he wielded was melted in weakness.

15. God’s power is over what’s Concealed Job 12:22

He discovers deep things out of darkness, And brings out to light the shadow of death.

Ps 92:5 O LORD, how great are thy works! And Your thoughts are very deep.

The mysteries of His privileges and the peculiarities of His providence can seem covered with a thick curtain, but God can in a moment illuminate everything to us.

16. God’s power is over Cities, Communities and Countries Job 12:23 

He increases the nations, and destroys them: He enlarges the nations, and straitens them again.

God determines the physical size and numeric population of every nation.  He shrinks and expands, destroys and redesigns.  History is only God’s sovereignty at work.

17. God’s power is over Chiefs Job 12:24

He takes away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way. 

God can confound the plans and purposes of those in charge of any nation.  He makes what they think will work blow up in there face.

18. God’s power is over all Confusion Job 12:25

They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them to stagger like a drunken man. 

Is our assessment of things based on our natural feeling and inclination or on Gods focus and involvement?  If we try to grasp anything apart from God’s power and wisdom we grope in the dark without light, and stagger like a drunk.

To be wise we have to see God’s values in each happening and decision.  What is important to God must become our appreciation.

To learn God’s wisdom and strength and enter into his sage supremacy is to Know Wisdom.

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5. Proverbs 1:1-6 The Personality Of Wisdom part 3a v.2

Posted on February 8, 2012 by stevemidkiff

5. Proverbs 1:1-6 The Personality Of Wisdom part 3a v.2

The Aim v.2-4

To Acknowledge v.2         To know wisdom and instruction;

To Apply                           to perceive the words of understanding

To Accept v.3                   To receive the instruction of wisdom

The Aim v.2-4

To Acknowledge v.2

Development (Skill)                                 To know Wisdom

Wisdom is a perspective.  Wisdom is seeing from God’s perspective.  Everything we think, and the way we respond to situations is based on the way we sees things and interpret.

J.I. Packer writes, “Wisdom is the power to see and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.”

I Tim. 1:17 reveals, “God only wise” which is a reference to the essence or personal attributes of both God the Father and Jesus Christ.

Certain things leap forward when we recognize that God is our only source of wisdom.  We should adore Him for His wisdom:

Revelation 5:12 Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.

Worthy to receive means that God’s value and the significant worth of Christ deserves constant acknowledgement and worship.

To know wisdom is to worship Jesus, find our value in Him, and recognize our need of a deepening relationship to Him as our source of wisdom.

We are intrigued with intellect, brainpower and brilliance.  We want to be smart, feel shrewd and we have enshrined intelligence as a great citadel of attraction.

But where are we looking for wisdom, what are we depending on to create an awareness of our surroundings and personal challenges?  Do we seek God for wisdom?  Do we value Christ’s significant worth and have feelings of adoration expressed to His merit?

We have to daily come to the realization that we all lack wisdom and our natural intelligence is deficient of wisdom.  Our only source of true wisdom is God.

James 1:5 if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and doesn’t scold and reprimand us; and it shall be given him.

This is an amazing promise and it’s surrounded in the context of problem solving in the frustrating tests and trials of life.  We lack wisdom, and don’t have a clue of what would be best as to a solution in difficulty.

In the course a day, we don’t know how to meet a particular problem, and we constantly need to ask God, who gives generously to everyone, without making them feel foolish or guilty. He promises the necessary wisdom will be given.

God is infallible.  He’s perfect, flawless and right every time.  There is no error in His wisdom. He is incapable of a wrong move.

Col. 2:3 state that in Jesus Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

John Phillips writes: “He is wise enough and knowledgeable enough to plan the creation of the universe and to plan the size and composition of everything from galaxies to subatomic particles.

He has wisdom enough to decide the size, speed, and orbits of a hundred billion galaxies. He has wisdom and knowledge enough to hold positively charged protons together in an atom’s heart; enough wisdom and knowledge to invent DNA, the very code of life itself; and wisdom and knowledge enough to control all the factors of time, matter, and space and to hold them in proper balance so that all things work out according to the counsels of His will.

The Lord has wisdom and knowledge enough to comprehend and countermand the entire “mystery of iniquity” (2 Thess. 2:7). He has wisdom and knowledge enough to fathom the mind, malice, and motives of the Prince of Darkness and to overrule unerringly all of his deep and diabolical schemes. He has wisdom and knowledge enough to be aware of the mind, heart, will, hopes, fears, aspirations, potential, limitations, thoughts, words, and actions of every creature in all ages of time. He has wisdom and knowledge enough to foresee the future and make all things work together ultimately for our good and His glory.

He is the only wise God.

No god lolling or lusting on fabled Mount Olympus had wisdom. No pagan god about whom we read in the sacred Scriptures had knowledge. No Baal, Ashtoreth, Moloch, or Dagon had understanding. No god in the tangled Hindu pantheon is wise. We worship the only God who is wise, and His name is Jesus.”

The amazing personality of our loving God is not only that He is infinitely high in power and wisdom, but sovereign over all things.  He is intimately near, designing every matter in our lives with arms embracing our every need and desire.  We can depend on Him for wisdom, nothing is to small and nothing is too large as He is entering into each of our lives in intricate compassionate detailed wisdom.

 

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3. Proverbs 1:1-6 The Personality Of Wisdom part 3 v.2

Posted on February 7, 2012 by stevemidkiff

3. Proverbs 1:1-6 The Personality Of Wisdom part 3 v.2

The Aim v.2-4

To Acknowledge v.2           To know wisdom and instruction;

To Apply                                to perceive the words of understanding

To Accept v.3                       To receive the instruction of wisdom 

The Aim v.2-4

To Acknowledge v.2

Development (Skill)                                 To know Wisdom

The development of the theme of wisdom in Proverbs is a roller coaster of contrasts and paradoxical juxtapositions.  True to the fluctuations and variations of life we’re given the principles of wisdom in the labyrinth maze of the world.

The first nine chapters of Proverbs give us:

Wisdom’s Describer 1:1

Wisdom’s Definition 1:2-7

Wisdom’s Destroyer 1:8–19.

Wisdom’s Defense 1:20–33.

Wisdom’s Dignity 2:1–22.

Wisdom’s Discipline. 3:1–4:27.

Wisdom’s Direction 5:1–23.

Wisdom’s Discernment 6:1–35.

Wisdom’s Despisers 7:1–27.

Wisdom’s Defense. 8:1–36.

Wisdom’s Dinner 9:1–18.

Wisdom is skill and dexterity in technical work.  When the tabernacle was constructed the call was for individuals who God had endowed with wisdom.  The furnishings of this structure and the garments of the priests were to be mastered by individuals who were craftsmen, wise in metal work and sewing.

This structure and the furnishings are representative of Christ in all his beauty and character.  In 1Corinthians we are made aware that now we, in our inner being and personality, are the temple of God, and are to put on Christ.  This demands wisdom, skill and dexterity.

We’re to be wise craftsmen and builders, but also wise warriors.  Since what we are to construct in our building is a beautiful life of Christ living within, we have to have awareness that we live in a challenged territory called the world, which is under the dominating grip of an adversary to all life.  He stalks like a lion to devour our peace, coming to steal, kill and destroy.  All forward progression in personal construction is under constant demonic attack.  Knowing this aggravating obstacle we need to be wise combatants.

Kings and generals of Israel were to be capable warriors and strategists, accomplished in battle tactics.  We also, in maturing in Christ, must master life’s challenges, and become intuitive in problem solving, knowledgeable in battling conflict and alert to subduing confrontational tests.

This is wisdom and the skill of building a beautiful life.  Christ is the only life where we view a perfect human.  His alone is the life of peerless beauty.  He is wisdom personified and He has asked us to abide in Him and He will in us.  His Word is wisdom personalized.  His open welcome to every individual prayer is wisdom’s peace and His indwelling and filling Spirit in us, is wisdom’s power.

Posted in Proverbs 1 | 2 Comments

2. Proverbs 1:1-6 The Personality Of Wisdom part 2 “To Know”

Posted on February 2, 2012 by stevemidkiff

 Proverbs 1:1-6 The Personality Of Wisdom part 2 “To Know” 

The Aim v.2-4

 To Acknowledge v.2        To know wisdom and instruction;

To Apply                               to perceive the words of understanding

To Accept v.3                      To receive the instruction of wisdom

The Aim v.2-4

 To Acknowledge v.2

Development                  To know

“To know,” means to comprehend by observing, to realize by reflecting and thinking, and to comprehend by experiencing.

The Hebrew word for “know” is the term “yada”.  This knowing signifies, to deeply recognize and to genuinely identify. This knowing is direct and personal through intimate contact.  Everything depends on what we are seeking to know.

J.I. Packer writes: The more complex the object, the more complex is the knowing of it. Knowing in the realm of this term refers to life-giving intimacy, as in marriage where our lives are exchanged in completing tenderness.

This knowing God is pinpointing the Lords original intent, design, dealings, and detecting His transactions with us, and distinguishing His actions, activities and accomplishments all around us and in us.  This is discerning God’s intervening providence that structures our outcomes, even when we deface and disfigure them, as we’re prone to do.

Knowing is not an abstract theory, but feelings that involve all our inner beings desires and energy to see God, to realize Him in a growing grasp of His power, provision, perception, and personalizing practice in us.

David’s advice to his son Solomon is:

1 Chronicles 28:9 As for you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands the intention of every thought. If you seek Him, you will find him…

The eternal life, which Jesus Christ gives, is the knowledge of God.

This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

In Psa. 1:6 “the Lord knows the way of the righteous”

And His knowing of us is what instills in us that desire for His righteousness.

To know God, also implies that we first determine whether what we are about to take in hand is really in harmony with his principles.  That is what we’re looking for, and contemplating into knowing, is to experience God’s direction and illumination.

Psalms 9:9-10 states: The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.  And they that know Your name (character) will put their trust in You: For You, Lord, have not forsaken them that seek You.

John Phillips comments:  The word for “refuge” is sometimes rendered “a high tower.” David was no stranger to trouble. He had spent most of his youth and early manhood hiding in the hills, forests, wastelands, and foreign countries from Saul’s executioners.

A high tower, is a place of security into which he could run and hide, secure from his enemies, problems, difficulties.  We face an complex array of general snags and complicated obstacles in our experience.  To know the Lord as our shelter and safe asylum we have to be lowered into the problems and agitations as it’s all by God’s design.  His ways of knowing are not our not our ways of finding intimacy with Him, but this is how God reveals His character.

Prov. 3:6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don’t lean on (human) knowledge, in all our ways acknowledge Him, and he shall direct your paths

To acknowledge means to recognize, to admit and accept.  I often resist problems, personal pain and struggles.  I whine and complain at trials, sleepless nights, and injuries that seem senseless and aggravating.  God wants us to admit, accept and acknowledge His ways.  He is directing us into His hiding place of Himself.  God is teaching us to know Him in every circumstance and incident.

God makes our path straight, or level, showing how to rise above all obstacles in our safe hiding place of Christ.  It’s under God’s direction that we prosper and come to His successful release.  By God’s course we’re kept from deviating into the incorrect path.  We’re guarded as He guides us, “to cut straight”

This power is credited to God, for “it is not in man to direct his steps” Jer. 10:23.

I have the unfortunate inner actuation that appears as a strong willed trigger to keep pushing forward.  It’s often severe pain, which redirects and harnesses my brash assertive nature.

“To know” is spiritual joining where we are living in intimacy with God in prayer that conceives His handiwork of weaving His blessings and victories even in the face of our discouragement and defeat.

“To know” defines an intimate acquaintance that grows. It’s not the weaker type of knowledge, (to know about) in the sense of an objective, intellectual comprehension.  Instead, this is a personal relationship between God and us.

“To know” is intimate contact where we are increasing in contact with Jesus by prayer that secures a sense of the unseen reality of God’s Spirit activity.

As we respond to God’s voice in His Word we know Him in direct, intimate contact with Christ.  This knowledge of His wisdom and instruction is the assurances of His promises to direct our paths toward fruitful, life-begetting endeavors. We see this process of knowing in Exodus 3:7.

Exodus 3:7 the Lord said, I have seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

The Lord viewed the harsh treatment, and then He heard the cry of His people.  Seeing and hearing is what leads to knowing.  The Lord knows our sorrow.

Jesus knows and is touched with our feelings and moved with our weakness.  Touched is the Greek verb sumpatheō, to suffer with another, to be affected similarly (English sympathy).

Heb.4:15 Jesus is touched with the feeling of our infirmity 

This suffering with, is more than pity; it is compassion that is tenderhearted.  Jesus enters the feelings of our suffering because of what he himself has suffered. He has experienced every form of trial and affliction.  He knows by experience all of our feelings.

The term “know” conveys growing in closer and closer intimacy.

We need to challenge ourselves that it’s not what we know, but it’s who do we really know, and who are we intimate with?  What are our passions, what consumes our heart and mind?  It’s our thirsts and cravings, that reveals who we know, or who we want to be close too, and what or who is supreme in our life.

To KNOW GOD, is not just piling up an accumulation of information about God.  On the other end it’s not just a passing acquaintance with Him, and it’s more then a casual familiarity.

To know God is at a deeper level where we experience God in a right relationship with him. To know God is to bow each moment to acknowledge, accept, agree with, and consent in approval to God’s doings, seeing Him in everything He’s allowing

As I examine what I really know, not what I claim to know, or posture and pose as if I know, I’m shocked at what little I know.

The Credit of Our Knowledge is Christ 2 Corinthians 3:1-5

   Our Commendation of Knowledge is seeing how we’re Head Empty v.1

Do we begin again to commend ourselves? Or need we, as some others, notes of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you?

It’s nice when others think good of us but it’s the Lord’s approval that we sense in knowing Him as our hiding place that endorses the real inner need.

It’s empty nonsense to self-advertise. Phillips N.T. says:

Do we need… to exchange testimonials to be friends?

  Our Credentials of Knowledge is seeing our Heart Evidence v.2

Relationships Are Heart Knowledge   You are our epistles written in our hearts

Relationships Are Shared Knowledge known and read of all men

A true measure of our influence is knowledge where heart touches heart in life change.  It’s not what we write on paper in head to head knowledge; it’s how we touch each other’s hearts.

    Relationships Are Christ’s Knowledge v.3

True Knowing is Jesus Inscription on Our Heart

…We are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

When we initially receive Jesus He etches Himself in our heart.  First He is engraved in our heart as our Savior, and the proof of our trust is to grow in knowing Him as He carves the mark of His Lordship in our heart.  He’s the Author of Eternity who permanently carves His truth and character in us, inscribing all real knowledge.  The real story of knowledge our life is telling is how we’re responding to daily problems and aggravations.  Are we connecting with God’s directions of knowing Him in what He allows?  These are the engravings in our heart by the Spirit of Jesus.

When the Lord places His mark in our life, it’s a living influence.  His is a perpetual mark that lasts forever

Spurgeon stated, “A good character is the best tombstone.” It is those who Jesus loves through us, who were helped by us, and remember us when earthly sentimentalism is withered. We’re to carve Jesus love on hearts, and not on marble.

This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent John 17:3

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1.a Proverbs 1:1-6 The Personality Of Wisdom part 1 vs.1

Posted on January 23, 2012 by stevemidkiff

Proverbs 1:1-6 The Personality Of Wisdom part 1 vs.1

The Author v.1

  His Proverbs         The proverbs

His Personality    of Solomon,

His Parent             the son of David,

His Position          King of Israel.

The Author v.1

His Proverbs                                  The proverbs

Proverbs is a term, which conveys the thought “to rule”.  Proverbs are words, pithy maxims or statements, principles and laws, which are to rule our life.  These are the time-tested values, and God given ideologies that direct us to be leaders in life.

The word proverb is first mentioned in Genesis 1:18, where the sun, moon, and stars are designated by God “to rule over the day and over the night.” 

The second mention of proverb, which is the Hebrew word  Mashal is in Genesis 3:16 Unto the woman God said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in sorrow you will bring forth children; and your desire will be to your husband, and he shall rule (proverb) over you.

The third mention is in God’s warning to Cain.

Genesis 4:7 If you (Cain) do well, you will be accepted, and if you don’t do well, sin lies at the door. And unto you shall be his (sins) desire, and you are to rule over him (sin).

These are intriguing thoughts.  Are we mastering sin or is sin mastering us?  This is a moment-by-moment challenge.

Solomon wrote Proverbs as the Spirit of God gave him insights on how to master sin.  In Proverbs he exposes the consequences of being mastered by sin.  This is the perennial battle between truth and error, wisdom and foolishness, facts and lies.  Solomon had incredible insight but wavered in his life experience on his sage advice.

If we can apply the Proverbs we can rule sin in our lives, which will put us into a position to rule in life.  Solomon failed in various ways and his son, who reined after Solomon’s passing, lived as a fool.  Solomon as many parents tend to do, told his children to live as I speak not as I do.  Rehoboam followed the negative excesses of his father Solomon and split the kingdom.

His Personality                           of Solomon,

In the historical account of 1 Kings 3 we are given a special glimpse into the passion and personality of Solomon.

The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give you…

Solomon asked:

Give your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this Your great people?

…And God said unto him…lo, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like you not before you, neither after you shall any arise like unto you.

An anonymous thinker wrote these words:

“Tell me your dreams, and I will read the riddle of your life.  Tell me your prayers, and I will write the history of your soul.  Tell me your asking, and I will tell you your getting.  Tell me what you seek, and I will tell you what you are…

I do not wish to know your possessions…only your wants, only what you have not and desire to have; not your attainments, but what you have not yet attained and follow after.

That which comes to you in your victories by day and your dreams by night, the ideal you set before you, the things you approve as excellent, what you seek after and have given your heart too, these are the measure of our existence”.

 His Parent                      the son of David,

David had 8 wives and 20 sons.  It’s interesting that Solomon rose to prominence as a leader over all of David’s many sons.  The answer to Solomon’s celebrity and fame is seen in his writings.

Proverbs 12:24 the hand of the diligent shall bear rule:  But the slothful shall be under tribute. 

His Position                        King of Israel.

1 Kings 4:29–34 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.  And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men… and his fame was in all nations round about. And he spoke three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five…And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom. 

Solomon had not only a profound intellect but like his father David he had a deep heart.  He was a great King, and amazing statesman, and educator, as well as an articulate writer.

To only remember Solomon for his flaws would be very unfortunate.  God used his writing skill, masterful insights and depth of heart for the promotion of truth and the glory of Christ.

Proverbs 1 Outline

Proverbs 1:1-6        The Personality Of Wisdom

The Author v.1 

His Proverbs                       The proverbs of Solomon,

  His Parent                           the son of David,

  His Position                        King of Israel.

The Aim v.2-4

  To Acknowledge v.2        To know wisdom and instruction;

    To Apply                       to perceive the words of understanding                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

    To Accept v.3              To receive the instruction of wisdom

      Our Actions                                                                                                             

           The Right Direction           justice 

      Our Attitudes    

           The Right Decisions           judgment

       Our Associations     

          The Right Distinctions      equity       

   To Accommodate v.4                To give

      A Protection

        Craftiness                     Subtlety to the simple

      A Penetration            

        Cunning                to the young man knowledge

     A Plan

        Calculating            and discretion     

The Appreciation v.5

    He’s Attentive          A wise man will hear,

    He    Augments        and will increase learning

    He    Apprehends    and a man of understanding

    He    Attains              Shall attain unto wise counsels

The Accuracy v.6

    He’s Aware             To understand a proverb,

    He’s Astute              and the interpretation;

    He’s Affirmative      the words of the wise

    He’s Analytical         and their dark sayings.

Proverbs 1:7-9    The Phenomenon Of Wisdom

The Awe v.7

   A Reverence           The fear of the LORD

   A Revelation            is the beginning of knowledge

The Abstract

   A Rejection             but fools despise wisdom and instruction

The Attentive v.8   My son, hear the instruction of thy father,

                                    and forsake not the law of thy mother:

The Adornment V.9 For they shall be an ornament of grace  

                                    unto thy head, and chains about thy neck

Proverbs 1:10-19    The Perversion Of Wisdom

The Allurement v.10     My son, if sinners entice thee,

The Allegation               consent thou not.

The Approach v.11       If they say, Come with us,

The Ambition                let us lay wait for blood,

The Ambush                  let us lurk privily for

The Audacity                the innocent without cause:

The Annihilation v.12   Let us swallow them up alive as the  

             grave  and whole, as those that go down into the pit

The Aspiration v.13      We shall find all precious substance,  

                                               we shall fill our houses with spoil:

The Agreement v.14     Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have

                                              one purse

The Avoidance v.15       My son, walk not thou in the way With

                                              them; refrain thy foot from their path:

The Advance v.16          For their feet run to evil,

The Anarchy                  and make haste to shed blood.

The Absurdity v.17         Surely in vain the net is spread

                                                in the sight of any bird.

The Abolition v.18          And they lay wait for their own blood  

                                                they lurk privily for their own lives.

The Assessment v.19     So are the ways of every one that is   

                                              greedy of gain;  which takes away

                                              the life of the owners thereof.

Proverbs 1:20-23 The Powerful Cry Of Wisdom

Wisdom Communicates On Every Level v. 20-21

  The Rural Area                 Wisdom cries without;

  The Road Activity             she utters her voice in the streets:

  The Market Place v.21     She cries in the chief

                                                     place of concourse,

  The Management Place     in the openings of the gates:

  The Metropolitan Place     in the city she utters

                                                         her words, saying,

 Wisdom Cares On Every Level v. 22

   For The Simple                    How long, ye simple ones,

                                                        will ye love simplicity? 

   For The Scornful                  and the scorners delight

                                                        in their scorning,

   For The Stupid                      and fools hate knowledge?

 Wisdom Challenges On Every Level v.23

   For Change                    Turn you at my reproof:

   For Comfort                   behold, I will pour out my spirit  

                                               unto you,

   For Comprehension    I will make known my words unto you.

Proverbs 1:24-32 The Punishment Of Wisdom

 

The Rejection Of Wisdom v.24                     

   It’s Call Refused             Because I have called, and ye refused

   It’s Care Rebuffed          I have stretched out my hand, and no

                                                  man regarded

   It’s Counsel Removed v.25     But ye have set at naught

                                                               all my counsel, 

   It’s Correction Repelled          and would none of my reproof

 

The Ruinous Woe v. 26-28

   Devastation                    I also will laugh at your calamity;

   Dread                                I will mock when your fear comes

   Desolation v. 27            When your fear cometh as desolation

   Destruction                     and your destruction comes as a

                                                 whirlwind

   Distress                             when distress

   Disappointment            and anguish cometh upon you.

   Disillusionment  v. 28   Then shall they call upon me,

                                                    but I will not answer;

   Despair                               they shall seek me early, but they

                                                   shall not find me:

The Reprehensible Waywardness v.29-30

   For Hatred v.29     For that they hated knowledge,

   For Hostility           and did not choose the fear of the LORD

   For Hardness v.30  They would none of my counsel

   For Harassment      they despised all my reproof

The Recompense For Wickedness v.31-32

   Patterns Will Be Punished v.31    Therefore shall they eat of

                                                                       the fruit of their own way,

   Purposes Will Be Penalized           and be filled with their

                                                                       own devices.

   Possibilities Will Be Pulverized v. 32 For the turning away of

                                                                         the simple shall slay them,

   Possibilities Will Perish                    and the prosperity of fools

                                                                        shall destroy them.

The Plea of Wisdom v.33

    Respond Attentively           But whoso hearkens unto me

    Rely Assuredly                      shall dwell safely,

    Rest Agreeably                      and shall be quiet from fear of evil

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1. Proverbs 1 The Personality, Phenomenon, Perversion, Powerful Cry & Punishment of Wisdom

Posted on January 23, 2012 by stevemidkiff

Proverbs 1 Outline

Proverbs 1:1-6        The Personality Of Wisdom

The Author v.1 

His Proverbs                  The proverbs of Solomon,

His Parent                       the son of David,

 His Position                   King of Israel. 

The Aim v.2-4

  To Acknowledge v.2   To know wisdom and instruction;

To Apply                  to perceive the words of understanding 

To Accept v.3         To receive the instruction of wisdom

Our Actions 

 The Right Direction           justice 

Our Attitudes     

The Right Decisions           judgment

Our Associations

The Right Distinctions  equity       

To Accommodate v.4         To give

A Protection

        Craftiness             Subtlety to the simple

A Penetration            

Cunning                to the young man knowledge

A Plan

Calculating            and discretion                        

The Appreciation v.5

He’s Attentive            A wise man will hear, 

He    Augments          and will increase learning

He    Apprehends     and a man of understanding

He    Attains               Shall attain unto wise counsels

The Accuracy v.6

He’s Aware                 To understand a proverb,

 He’s Astute                 and the interpretation;

He’s Affirmative      the words of the wise

He’s Analytical         and their dark sayings.

Proverbs 1:7-9    The Phenomenon Of Wisdom

The Awe v.7

A Reverence           The fear of the LORD

 A Revelation           is the beginning of knowledge

The Abstract

A Rejection           but fools despise wisdom and instruction

The Attentive v.8   My son, hear the instruction of thy father,

                                    and forsake not the law of thy mother:

The Adornment V.9 For they shall be an ornament of grace  

                                    unto thy head, and chains about thy neck 

Proverbs 1:10-19    The Perversion Of Wisdom

The Allurement v.10     My son, if sinners entice thee,

The Allegation               consent thou not.

The Approach v.11       If they say, Come with us,

The Ambition                let us lay wait for blood,

The Ambush                  let us lurk privily for

The Audacity                 the innocent without cause:

The Annihilation v.12   Let us swallow them up alive as the grave    

                              and whole, as those that go down into the pit

The Aspiration v.13      We shall find all precious substance, we

                                        shall fill our houses with spoil:

The Agreement v.14     Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have

                                        one purse

The Avoidance v.15   My son, walk not thou in the way With

                                         them; refrain thy foot from their path:

The Advance v.16       For their feet run to evil,

The Anarchy                and make haste to shed blood.

The Absurdity v.17    Surely in vain the net is spread

                                          in the sight of any bird.

The Abolition v.18     And they lay wait for their own blood  

                                         they lurk privily for their own lives.

The Assessment v.19  So are the ways of every one that is   

                                          greedy of gain; which takes away

                                          the life of the owners thereof. 

Proverbs 1:20-23 The Powerful Cry Of Wisdom

Wisdom Communicates On Every Level v. 20-21

The Rural Area                Wisdom cries without;

The Road Activity           she utters her voice in the streets:

The Market Place v.21  She cries in the chief place of concourse,

The Management Place   in the openings of the gates:

The Metropolitan Place  in the city she utters her words, saying, 

 Wisdom Cares On Every Level v. 22

For The Simple How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?

For The Scornful and the scorners delight in their scorning,

For The Stupid   and fools hate knowledge? 

 Wisdom Challenges On Every Level v.23

   For Change    Turn you at my reproof: 

For Comfort   behold, I will pour out my spirit  unto you,

For Comprehension   I will make known my words unto you. 

Proverbs 1:24-32 The Punishment Of Wisdom 

The Rejection Of Wisdom v.24                      

 It’s Call Refused             Because I have called, and ye refused

It’s Care Rebuffed          I have stretched out my hand, and no

                                                 man regarded

It’s Counsel Removed v.25     But ye have set at naught

                                                             all my counsel,  

It’s Correction Repelled          and would none of my reproof 

The Ruinous Woe v. 26-28

Devastation                 I also will laugh at your calamity;

Dread                             I will mock when your fear comes

Desolation v. 27         When your fear cometh as desolation

Destruction                  and your destruction comes as a

whirlwind

Distress                          when distress

Disappointment         and anguish cometh upon you.

Disillusionment  v. 28    Then shall they call upon me,

                                                    but I will not answer;

Despair   they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:

The Reprehensible Waywardness v.29-30

For Hatred v.29        For that they hated knowledge,

For Hostility              and did not choose the fear of the LORD

For Hardness v.30  They would none of my counsel

For Harassment      they despised all my reproof

The Recompense For Wickedness v.31-32

  Patterns Will Be Punished v.31    Therefore shall they eat of

                                                                      the fruit of their own way,

Purposes Will Be Penalized  and be filled with their own devices.

Possibilities Will Be Pulverized v. 32 For the turning away of the

                                                                             simple shall slay them,

Possibilities Will Perish           and the prosperity of fools

                                                               shall destroy them.

The Plea of Wisdom v.33

Respond Attentively              But whoso hearkens unto me

Rely Assuredly                         shall dwell safely,

Rest Agreeably                         and shall be quiet from fear of evil

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Why Do We Feel Like We Are Getting Shoved Off Onto a Treadmill? Psalms 3:4

Posted on January 23, 2012 by stevemidkiff

Why Do We Feel Like We Are Getting Shoved Off Onto a Treadmill?

Psalms 3:4 I Cried unto the Lord with my voice

Does Jesus ignore us?  Does He force us into uncomfortable surroundings?

There’s a unique account in Mark 6:45 where Jesus constrained his disciples to get into the ship.

Constrained means to compel, to even force and urge by putting pressure on.  He has a design in allowing things to happen as He corrals us into a spot.

When He sent them away He didn’t physically escort them.

Mark 6:46-47 when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray…the ship was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land.

Jesus didn’t go with them, but He knew what they we’re getting into, He was actually directing it, and He left them out in a situation where it felt like they we’re abandoned.

Mark 6:48-49 he saw them toiling in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he comes to them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.  But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out:

He saw the impossible storm they were swallowed in and the excruciating rowing as they were spinning out of control.

The word “toiling” means they were in torture; it is undergoing anguish and harassment.  They we’re being exposed by external circumstances as they strained to row harder, and they were getting nowhere.

How weird is it to look out in our storm and see Jesus walking on top of it, but then to feel like He is ignoring our impossible clash with grinding problems, it appears He’s off to another task?  We feel unseen, invisible or uncared for in our intolerable efforts of treadmill cycling.  Like life is happening well for others but not for us.  We’ve been left out of the scheme, or we’ve gotten the bad breaks.

Isaiah 45:15 states it this way:

Verily, You are a God that hides yourself

Why do we feel abandoned and why does He at times look like His answer to our hope is opposed to what we expected?

Four things here make for the extreme condition of what initially appears a haywire encounter.  It was the 4th watch, which is 3 am, so they had been in the struggle for a while.  It was an extreme gale in the middle of the sea.  They we’re not able to move against the squall no matter how hard they rowed.  Now after all that they see what they think is a ghost walking on the top of the storm.  It is spooky to imagine, an appearance of an apparition, a phantom creeping in on them.

It may look like Jesus is passing us by, or even hiding, but He is training us to cry out to Him.  We would like us to depend on Him, but He wants us to make that conclusion.

He comes to us but it’s on His terms, He’s not forcing us to trust but stripping back His assumed care and the expected protective mercy we take for granted.   He wants us to invite Him into the problem.  He comes in the storm, but appears to be ignoring us.

In another gospel account we see Him sleeping in a dark squall in the inner part of the boat.  He does this, because He’s teaching us to trust, to see how given to fear and being spooked we are. He loves our feelings, wants us to give Him our grief and losses, and asks us to cry out to Him.

Psalm 139:3 David states: You surround my lying down.

Jesus surrounds us in our low times, even when we’re feeling nauseated with the storm and physically collapsed.  Often, no matter what we try, it looks ineffective, even futile, but that’s the paradox.

We learn to be dependent when we’re exposed to failure in the self-effort of treadmill rowing.  He’s teaching us over and over our need of H

Paul states: When I’m weak I’m strong.  Weak in our self, is the door to being strong in the Lord.

Jesus is not ignoring us; He’s not abandoning us.  He just isn’t going to force Himself on us.  He is non-intrusive.  He wants us to open up to Him, cry out in dependence, and wait on His design in a real conviction of trust.  We don’t trust Him, really confide in Him as our all, until we’re on our last nerve.

We may feel like Job in our ordeal as he said in Job 9:11

He goes by me, and I see him not: He passes on also, but I perceive him not.

Jesus is with us; He’s always waiting for our new expressions of trust.  We don’t recognize how independent and self-sufficient we are until the storm erupts and we get clobbered.  We were trusting because things are predictable.

We think that things are supposed to work a certain way.

When all is unpredictable, stuff is erratic and fitful that’s when we cry out, that’s when we see how needy we are, and we don’t want to miss experiencing Jesus, His calming influence, and His control of all.  We need to keep inviting Him into the boat, into our storm and into our worries and fears and failures.  Let Jesus have the impossibilities and grow in confidence in His ways.

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To Discover Real Joy We Must Research Sorrow Psalms 3:4

Posted on January 16, 2012 by stevemidkiff

To Discover Real Joy We Must Research Sorrow Psalms 3:4

There are two emotions that are completely opposed or are they?  Is it an illusion that joy and sorrow blend into interactive collaboration?

1Peter 1:6 you greatly rejoice … you are in heaviness.

Psalm 126:5 states: they that sow in tears will reap in joy

Tears and moaning over things reverberates with sounds that are depressing.  We shun what is gloomy and dismal.  Misery is not popular.

How can propagating tears, scattering sorrow and strewing grief secure joy?

Jesus sowed tears at Lazarus’s gravesite.  He felt the loss of a friend; He saw the heartbreak around Him as the relatives of Lazarus vented their feelings of sorrow and grief.

Then Jesus reaped in joy when He raised Lazarus back to life.  The Lord alone takes what is rotten and decayed and makes it fresh and new.

Hebrews 5:7 reviews how Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears.

He sowed in tears and then when resurrected to life He reaped in the joy of solving the sin problem.  It’s amazing that Jesus experienced the adequacy of God by prayer dependency.  He lived out faith as a man who cried out His needs.

In Luke 6:21 Jesus said:

Blessed are you that weep now: for you shall laugh.

This is not lauding the benefit of sadness.  The theme is the profit of pouring tears out at Jesus feet. There is a mourning, which, as Augustine says, “has no blessing from heaven attached to it, at best only a sorrow of this world and for the things of this world. What Jesus speaks of is a nobler grief, a weeping for our sins and the sins of others, for our weary exile here.”

This boils down to love:  Do we love Jesus, do we embrace Him, or do we love sin and embrace our depravity?  If we are drawn to Jesus and His love penetrates our soul we will weep over our sin.

We’re not sobbing about life, but grieving what has robbed our life of its original design.  We mourn the defiance of God and lament noncooperation to His Word.  This is where real joy is secured in compliance with the Lord and agreement to His principles.

Luke 7:38 depicts a woman: she’s burdened about her bad decisions in life, she’s been degraded to the point of prostituting herself.  Here is the merging of sorrow and joy.  She washes Jesus feet with her tears and wipes his feet with her hair.

Sorrow merging with joy is not the contradiction of initial impression. This is a great truth, a paradox that finds depth of delight in combining the two.  Sorrow in our past and sadness in our plight, poured out over Joy in Jesus person and pity for us.

The structure we see in this scene is Jesus reclining and relaxed.  She embraces Him with kisses and tears in repentance for her contemptible condition.  He’s receptive, values her grief.  He fills with the joy and glory in His saving love.  This is the throne of grace and Jesus is grace Himself.  We are forgiven of great inconsistency, great love is poured in correcting all our contradictions.

God who comforts those who are cast down comforted us. 2Cor. 7:6

Paul explains that his comfort and great joy was the mourning, grief and repenting sorrow of the people he wrote to in Corinth.

Phillips N.T. in his renditions composes 1 Peter 1:6-9 charting the paradox of sorrow and joy.

This means tremendous joy to you, I know, even though you are temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials and temptations. This is no accident, it happens to prove your faith, which is infinitely more valuable than gold, and gold, as you know, even though it is ultimately perishable, must be purified by fire. This proving of your faith is planned to bring you praise and honor and glory in the day when Jesus Christ reveals himself. And though you have never seen him, yet I know that you love him. At present you trust him without being able to see him, and even now he brings you a joy that words cannot express and which has in it a hint of the glories of Heaven; and all the time you are receiving the result of your faith in him – the salvation of your own souls.

Jesus tells us:

John 16:19-23 A little while, and you will not see me…you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.  A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.   And you now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you.  And in that day you shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.

What hinders joy is not sorrow.  The sadness felt in the labor of birth pangs only adds to the joy of the transformation of new birth.  As we grow in an intimate relationship with Jesus we find the exhilaration that the Father has given us everything in Christ.

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