Peculiar People, A PEOPLE for POSSESSION .... Passover Meditations for the Monastic-At-Heart ... Ephesians 1:18

Meditations  for Pascha

(The Passover Season, 2016)

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Meditations for the Monastic-At-Heart

Now is My+ soul troubled;

and what shall I+ say ...

FATHER,

save ME+

from this hour ?

but for this cause

came I+ unto this hour.

FATHER,

Glorify Thy Name.

Then came there a Voice from Heaven, saying,

I have both glorified IT,

and will glorify IT again.

John12:27-28

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Meditation Verse 

Ephesians 1: 18

[ 1:17 That the GOD of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, the FATHER of Glory, may give unto you the SPIRIT of Wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of HIM+:]

The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of HIS+ calling, and what the riches of the glory of HIS+ inheritance in the saints ...

The literal Greek: 

The eyes of your  HEART   having been  illuminated in order for you all to have SEEN   what is the hope of HIS+ calling, what the abundance of the glory of HIS+ inheritance in the Saints...

NOTE THIS: 

The Greek word cardias , "heart," is found in the Byzantine Greek text, Nestle-Aland's Greek texts, the Greek Orthodox church's Greek text, the Latin Vulgate, and the Peshitta ( Syriac).

Neither the Pierpont-Robinson Byzantine Textform nor the eclectic Nestle-Aland Greek text lists a single varient for that word!

The word "understanding" (Gk: dianoias ) is found in the Textus Receptus, one of the few places it disagrees with the Byzantine text in important places.

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Meditation

This verse hardly needs anything but  praise and unfeigned worship by those  Our LORD deems worthy of being called "His+ Inheritance."

Redeemed hearts have been illuminated by His+ SPIRIT --- we are told in verse 17 ---  of Wisdom and revelation. This is supernatural wisdom which un-regenerated man cannot receive.

THIS IS NOT "MENTAL" KNOWLEDGE.

Supernaturally we see, we perceive that hope which accompanies His+ calling, a hope so tangible that it is more real than the food we eat.

The eyes of our heart, being illuminated by the SPIRIT, can "see" this very real and very solid hope !

The eyes of our heart can also "see" the abundance, the great wealth of glory placed in store for His+ Saints.

His+ glory will rest upon us... and then we ourselves become a people for possession,**  which is His+ own inheritance!

**A people for possession   is the literal Greek for "a peculiar people" of the KJV, found in 1 Peter 2:9.

The Prophet Isaiah tells us:

 HE+ shall see of the travail of His+ soul,

and shall be satisfied:

by His+ knowledge shall My Righteous SERVANT+  justify many;

for HE+ shall bear their iniquities.

53:11

And the Apostle Paul tells us in Philippians 2: 7-8:

 But made Himself+ of no reputation,

and took upon HIM+

the form of a  SERVANT+,

and was made in the likeness of men:

And being found in fashion as a man,

HE+ humbled Himself+,

and became obedient unto death,

even the death of the cross..

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Let us pray:

O LORD JESUS, YOU+ Who+ made man in the likeness of The Holy GODHEAD, YOU+ took upon Yourself+ our likeness  !

YOU+ did not count Your+ position with The FATHER in Glory something to "lord it over" us with, but rather YOU+ emptied Yourself+ and became a SERVANT+... the servant of sinful man.

Knowing we would bruise YOU+ and smite you from the earth, YOU+ came anyways in order that YOU+ might taste death for every man.

Yet, YOU+ loved us, mankind, me.

YOU+ loved us from the beginning and came to rescue the very ones who put YOU+ to death ... then and now.

Blessed be Thy Holy Name, O CHRIST !

May we show forth our love for THEE+ by laying down our Self for Thy Name's Sake, O LORD JESUS... daily, quietly, consistently.

And if it is appointed to us that we should lay down our lives for THEE+, we do not want to falter and fail.

Keep us in Your+ possession , O CHRIST, and help us turn from temptation, that we might also be known as Righteous Servants of GOD.

In the Name of JESUS CHRIST, the LAMB+ of GOD we pray. Amen 

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Worthy is the LAMB+.

Worthy is The LAMB+

that was slain.

Worthy is the LAMB+,

slain

from the foundation

of the earth.

Revelation 13:8

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PRAISE and THANKSGIVING

be to The FATHER,

and to HIS Beloved SON+

JESUS CHRIST,

and to

the Blessed HOLY SPIRIT.

ONE GOD:

FATHER,

SON+,

and HOLY SPIRIT,

both now and forever,

world without end.

Amen.

HE+ Came to PROCLAIM... and to BE PROCLAIMED... Advent Meditations 2015

At the brow of the hill at Nazareth

Our LORD JESUS CHRIST came to prepare a People for Possession, a People HE+ could call His+ own, a People HE+ was not ashamed to call   "Brethren." 

Isaiah 61:1-2a

 The SPIRIT of the LORD GOD is upon ME+; because the LORD hath anointed ME+ to preach good tidings unto the meek; HE hath sent ME+ to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;

 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,...

This exact same PROCLAMATION was announced by Our LORD Himself+ when HE+ was given the scroll of Isaiah to read in His+ home synagogue in Nazareth.

This was His+ first public PROCLAMATION after the devil had tempted HIM+ for 40 days.

After reading these same words of Isaiah the Prophet to the congregation in His+ home-town, Nazareth, HE+ said:

And HE+ began to say unto them, 

This Day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears.

Luke 4:21

Thus, Our LORD JESUS CHRIST publicly proclaimed that HE+ was indeed the MESSIAH+ of the Israel of GOD, a  proclamation which thrust HIM+ headlong and immediately into ... favor ?

NO.  

That proclamation thrust Our LORD into His+ first persecution by the public... that same "public" that knew HIM+ as a child full of favor among them!  (See Luke 4. )

Luke 2:52

And JESUS increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with GOD and man.  

His+ townspeople tried to cast HIM+ headlong over the cliff, the brow of the hill where their city was built (Luke 4:29).

They failed because His+ time was not yet come to die for the sins of the people... those very people whose sins wrought such hatred and violence against HIM+.

Why was this ?

His+ Words revealed their hearts, that they were dark and evil and ready to kill anyone who revealed them in truth.

When we proclaim His+ Word in SPIRIT and in Truth, the same thing happens to us,  a People for His+ Possession.

His+ Truth reveals the evil in a human heart. His+ Word has power to do this. HE+ knows which spirits are ruling men, just like HE+ knew the spirits ruling the men of Nazareth in the synagogue that day.

 The satan and his minions know they have been revealed for who they are and for whom they serve  in the LIGHT of His+ Word. 

They hate the LIGHT+ of CHRIST, just as the men of Nazareth hated it although JESUS had lived in wisdom, stature, and favor among them growing up.

Knowing this, do we stop proclaiming the LORDSHIP of JESUS CHRIST  unto this dark and dying world ?

Knowing this, do we stop proclaiming the LORDSHIP of JESUS CHRIST  through our lives, in this dark and dying world ?

NO, no to both.  

We proclaim His+ Death until HE+ comes again in power and great glory!

Let us pray:

O LORD JESUS, THOU+ Who+ proclaimed the Light+ to men hostile to THEE+, strengthen me to do the same.

Help me in my resolve to proclaim Thy+ LORDSHIP to both the seen and the unseen.

But first, O Knower+ of all that is in man, help me to live FULLY under Thy+ LORDSHIP myself.  Let the satan find nothing in me that he can claim as his own.

Rather, make me a person for Thy+ Possession, O LORD, for THOU+ hast said there is nothing too hard for THEE+.

So, I renounce the works of the satan in my life -- the fears and the family spirits -- in the Mighty Name of our RISEN LORD JESUS CHRIST, Who+ came to triumph over death, hell, and the grave... and HE+ did  triumph !

Thanks be to GOD for sending His+ Only-Begotten SON+ to rescue such sinners as myself and to make us a People for Possession, His+ Own.

Amen.

A PERFECTED POSSESSION ... Advent Meditations 2015

Now the GOD of Peace  that brought again from the dead Our LORD JESUS, that Great SHEPHERD+ of the sheep, 
through the Blood of the Ever-lasting Covenant

make you perfect in every good work to do HIS Will, 
working in you that which is well-pleasing in His Sight, 
through JESUS CHRIST; 
to Whom+ be glory for ever and ever.
Hebrews 13:20-21
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Our LORD JESUS CHRIST came to prepare a People for Possession, a People HE+ could call His+ own, a People HE+ was not ashamed to call  "Brethren."

How does HE+ prepare such a people? 

HE+ does it this way: 

HE+ calls us to walk the same path HE+ walked.

Hebrews 2:9-11

But we see JESUS, WHO+ was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that HE+ by the grace of GOD should taste death for every man.

For it became HIM, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain+ of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

For both HE+ that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause HE+ is not ashamed to call them brethren

This peculiar people, this holy nation, becomes a perfected people worthy of being possesed by CHRIST when they go through suffering ... that suffering which is ordained by GOD... just as it was ordained for Our LORD'S perfection.

His+ body and His+ mind and His+ spirit endured a tremendous onslaught of temptation for 40 days in the wilderness, in direct combat with the satan and His+ own flesh.

HE+ became perfected every time HE+ chose His+ FATHER'S will over the lures of the satan. 

We do too.

Let us pray:

O Perfect, Tried, and Tested LORD JESUS CHRIST,

I thank THEE+, O CHRIST, for coming in the flesh, for coming a little lower than the angels, for coming to suffer death for me.

I thank THEE+ for enduring the painful path of perfection, when THOU+ was Incarnate. 

O, HOLY ONE+, I need to be perfected. Help me, in my weakness, to choose perfection.

How could it be that THOU+, O CHRIST, needed to be tested ... except that THOU+ had to taste all temptation for every man and beat the satan in it ?  

Help me to remember, O LORD, that THOU+  walked through the valley of temptation for every man with great Victory.

So now, by reason of Thy+ Victory, I renounce my own flesh and my pride and my family spirits that lead me astray and I do this in Thy+ Name, O LORD JESUS CHRIST.

I repent of even listening to the lies and lures of the satan, telling me to choose the way of my flesh, my pride, my family, and the ever-present world,  to make me happy.

Deliver my ears from this death trap, O LORD. Deliver my heart from wanting the easy way.

In my strength and in my weakness, I choose Thy+ Will, O CHRIST, which is the perfect Will of GOD our FATHER.  

Perfect me --- no matter what path that takes ---  that THOU+ will not be ashamed to call me Thy+ "brother" ...

Thy+ brother in suffering, Thy+ brother in perfection.

In Thy+ Blessed and Holy Name, CHRIST JESUS our LORD, receive the meditation of my heart, I pray.

Amen.