Showing posts with label promises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label promises. Show all posts

12/12/2022

NOT ONE WORD HATH FAILED . . .. I Kings 8:54-56 . . . . ADVENT 2022

 


1 Kings 8:54 - 56

And it was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto the LORD,

he arose from before the altar of the LORD,

from kneeling on his knees

with his hands spread up to Heaven.

8:55 And he stood, and blessed all the congregation of Israel with a loud voice, saying, 

8:56  Blessed be the LORD, WHO hath given rest

unto HIS people Israel,

according to all that HE promised:

there HATH NOT FAILED ONE WORD

10/26/2015

The UN-CLAIMED PROMISE


The Martyrdom of St. Timothy


Of more value than gold in the bank, the "Promises" from the Bible are well-known by most Christians. We have heard them proclaimed repeatedly whenever problems and troubles arise which plague the human heart.

Great they are, too, and exceedingly precious to the hearts of all Believers. They are TRUE words, as is the constant testimony for those who follow The LORD JESUS CHRIST, The Most Beloved SON+ forever.

These promises of GOD bolster our faith.

However, there is one UN-claimed Promise that no-one seems to claim for himself.

This one, UN-claimed Promise --- for those who recognize its worth --- is faith-stretching. It carries within its very essence the means for us, Followers of JESUS CHRIST to measure our walk.

Using this UN-claimed Promise, we can readily see the answers to these questions; 
·                     Are we truly attached to the TRUE VINE+
·                     Are we operating directly within HIS+ Will ?
·                     Are we compromising His+ Truth?
·                     Are we indulging ( and kidding ) ourselves in "friendship evangelism" and thus, hiding the TRUE LIGHT+ ... which is able to save souls ... under a bushel basket ?      

WHAT is this Precious, UN-claimed Promise, the one that is ASSUREDLY as PRECIOUS as all the other promises of GOD ?

It is the Promise that makes us all shudder, and hence, avoid it at all costs. 

Here it is:

"And indeed, all those desiring 
to live GODLY in CHRIST JESUS 
will be persecuted." 
2 Timothy 3:12, Jay P. Green's Greek Interlinear.

 A Peek At the Greek...

In English, "persecution" is commonly understood as life-threatening harrassment or imprisonment or torture.

In Greek and Hebrew, however, it has the BASIC meaning of being driven out.

"Persecution" in the New Testament stems from the root of two Greek words, one of which means "to flee" and the other one "to pursue." ( See 1375 and 1377 in Strong's Concordance. )

Interestingly enough, the ONLY time "persecution" in the New Testament comes from a different root word  is in Acts 11:19, and that word accurately means "tribulation." (See Strong's # 2347.)

"To chase out or pursue hotly after" is the consistent meaning of persecute / persecution in the Hebrew language ,with all word forms stemming from a Hebrew root word which means "to pursue."  (See Strong's, #7291 and Young's Concordance for persecution.

Now, then, herein lies a problem... a BIG problem.

No-one LIKES persecution and no-one WANTS it as a daily companion. No-one chooses to be persecuted !

Scripture indicates, however, that persecution was the Daily Cup put before the Followers of JESUS. 

That Daily Cup worked many good things:
·                     The Gospel spread across the inhabited world through these persecuted Christians.
·                     Many received the Martyr's Reward, sealing their testimony with their blood.
·                     The persecuted Followers of JESUS founded many churches... with the blood of the martyr's becoming the seed of the church.
·                      The Gospel was translated into languages and tongues for all to have.

In today's world, the persecuted Followers of JESUS become the strongest Christians on earth.

Their cries, pleas, supplications, and intercessions are ANSWERED, as they endure the persecutions as Followers of The LAMB+ of GOD.

They are humble, knowing how to pray for their enemies, loving them and requesting their enemies to be delivered from the father of lies. 

These STRONG Christians have lost all, for the most part, even family members. They know full well that at any moment they could seal their testimony for CHRIST JESUS with their blood.

Some of them live in despair, barely clinging to life from the blows of loss of loved ones, home, health, and income. Our LORD sees their LIVING sacrifice: after all, they did not DENY HIM+ and turn to the world or pagan, demonic religions to avoid their plight. They stood the TEST.

Yes, when they recover from shock, these persecuted Christians become STRONG Followers of CHRIST.

Search out the testimonies of the church in North Korea, established in the midst of prison camps. Read about the Sudanese Christians living in the Nubian Desert, clinging solidly to The LORD and to each other. The Syrian Christians who have been ousted from their homeland are bearing the LIGHT of CHRIST to the muslim world.

What are WE DOING for the Kingdom of GOD, in comparison to these persecuted Followers of JESUS CHRIST ?

Yes, we all do what we can, but we have not been TESTED through the fires yet.


 JESUS said: 
Mark 9:49 ...
For every one shall be salted with fire and every sacrifice salted with salt.

Matthew 5:13 ...
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor,
wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but
to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.


 Dear Salt ... let us NOT LOSE our Savor... and thereby lose our SAVIOR+.

Now is the Day of Preparation. We prepare for Persecution by drawing closer and closer to Our LORD JESUS CHRIST... now !

Now is the time --- when all is quiet (on the surface ) to spend QUALITY QUIET TIME with HIM+. Now is the time ( in relative safety ) for each individual to learn to hear His+ Voice ... UNMISTAKABLY.


If we are diligent to do these things, HE+ will guide us into Spiritual exercises that will help us retain the Salt HE+ has given to us. Hours of prayer, fasting, reading or reciting of Psalms, of our LORD’S Words, of the Apostles writings. Seeking to never be out of HIS+ Presence.

When the fire of persecution comes, then we will not be in shell-shock, but rather we will have our faces "set like flint" --- as HE+ did --- to determinedly go to Jerusalem and face the fire.


JESUS said, 
" Behold, I+ give unto you AUTHORITY to tread on opheON, sharp-eyed ones ( serpents ) and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and NOTHING shall by any means hurt  you. " 
Luke 10:19

JESUS said, 
"All AUTHORITY is given unto ME+ in Heaven and on earth." 
Matthew 28:18

Will the fire of persecution hurt us? 
Only... only... only if we fail 
to Follow our LORD JESUS to the cross.

Pleasant to the flesh? NO... But the rewards are INESTIMABLE and  the fruit lasting unto Eternity.

+  +  +









9/03/2013

HE+ Sustains... in 2 COR. 5:14

Courtesy of www.popscreen.com


2 CORINTHIANS 5:14 
via The Greek Version  

Let's look closely at the Greek Text of 2 Cor. 5:14, via Jay P. Green, Sr.'s translation, with added insights. 

First, that very familiar verse in the KJV, tells us: 

"For the love of CHRIST constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:" 

(and completing the thought, in verse 15: ) 

"And that HE+ died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto HIM+ which died for them, and rose again."

Now, here is the beauty of the Greek and Latin languages: we can take the words and sentences apart to see what is really being said... words being easier to dissect than sentences, to be sure!

So, let us study the word translated as either constrains, or impels, or compels in our various English Bibles.  

Constrain means to draw tightly; to compel means to force or produce in an unnatural or strained manner, to secure by a bond or confine, to bring into narrow compass , to clasp tightly, or to hold back by force. 

However,  the Greek word itself there is sunechei... which is compounded from: 


  • prefix SUN, which means with, together and...  
  • echO, which means to have or hold. 


Thus, "sunechei" literally means  to hold together. 

In the Latin, we have a word: sustinEre, which is quite similar to the Greek root, with that Latin word entering into Old French and from there, into Middle English to make our current English word:

SUSTAIN

"Sustain" is from Latin: sub-, sus = UP , plus tenEre = to hold. 

Sustain has several definitions in Webster's 7th New Collegiate Dictionary: 
  1. to give support or relief to
  2. to supply with sustenance: nourish
  3. to keep up: prolong
  4. to support the weight of, also, to carry or withstand ( as a weight or pressure)
  5. to buoy up
  6. to bear up under: endure
  7. a: to support as true, legal, or just; b: to allow or admit as valid ( as in court)
  8. to support by adequate proof: confirm  


So, let us come to a literal understanding of 2 Corinthians 5:14 ( and 15, to complete the thought) and see if it passes the test of Truth+

" For the agapA  love of CHRIST  sustains us , we having determined this, that if ONE+ for all died, then all were dead;

"also for all HE+ died, in order that the living ones live, no more to themselves, but rather, in the ONE+  having died and having been raised for them. " 

The Test of TRUTH+

Is CHRIST JESUS our support? Does HE+ bring relief when there is no other? 

YES!

Is CHRIST JESUS our sustenance, our nourishment? 

YES!

Does HE+ enable us to keep up ?

YES!

Does CHRIST JESUS support us when we are under crushing pressure? 

YES!

Does HE+ buoy up our hearts with His+ good cheer in the midst of troubles? 

YES!

Is CHRIST JESUS there with us, to help us bear up and to endure until the end? 

YES!

Does HE+ grant us righteousness and grant us Truth and Validity before the Throne of GOD? 

YES!

Does Our LORD JESUS CHRIST support us with adequate proof and confirm to us that we are HIS+ and will be in Heaven? 

YES! 

Yes... all the promises of GOD are yea, yea in CHRIST JESUS!  And thankfully so! 

Therefore, I submit to the brethren in CHRIST , that sustains is the correct English concept and English word instead of constrains in 2 Corinthians 5:14... based on the literal rendition of the Greek text. 

The AgapA love of CHRIST may work to "constrain" us , keeping us back from sin and hurting others... 
if 
...our love for HIM+  is greater than our love for ourselves. 

But, in this passage, the AgapA love of CHRIST seems to be what literally sustains us , and that, in every circumstance HE+ allows to come our way. 

Bless GOD: 
FATHER, SON+, and HOLY SPIRIT
... both now and forever, 
world without end. 
Amen!