Author: Merlin Erb

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The remedy for defunct alignment/ revelation issues….

Now, imagine you have just realized you’re out of alignment or without revelation, in a relationship or a communication somewhere in your circle of influence, and it’s publicly visible and going to seed! You’re about to become a-real-deal bonafide “actor” sown by the enemy that Jesus spoke of in the Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13:24. Understand the First Responders are on their way. In the mean-time though…

Step One: Hold your tongue. Don’t speak anything.

Because if you do speak, you’ll speak hypocrisy. See, this is why people who try to speak a goodness into their lives, discover such does not succeed. Let me tell you something. The truth of our Father is universal to all of us. And that means such declarations will not work for just one or two people. No, the truth is for everyone. Even for a heathen if he will accept it. There’s no special technique. None of that nonsense! Truth is truth. God calls it hypocrisy when we speak something that’s not internally aligned or revealed. And he forbids it. But we’ve gotten sloppy and do it anyway. So, what do you do when you know you’re harboring an element of the enemy (negativity) inside you? Too often, we talk too much!

Step Two: Turn off all social media (actually advise that forever).

Flee to your Altar or your prayer closet, and get your soul right by Getting on your knees, Confess, Repent, Forsake, Obey, Re-connect to the Vine, Refuel, Refresh, Rejoice, and Consider only the most-worthy alignment/revelation communications.

It does not take a day. It does not take a week. It’s only a decision! You’re either going to accept or not, just like the last time it happened. Only this time you’ve seen the LIGHT, NOW WALK IN IT, thereby accepting the free (and absolutely freeing) help He provides!

BOTTTOM LINE:  Don’t you let your mouth speak until you’re internally synched with the Holy Spirit.

Next UP: Watch Out For The Precursor Of Lust!

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Hung by the Tongue

Let me be absolutely clear! Not one of you can speak death into my life. Not one. And I can’t speak death into your life. But you can speak death into your own life. And I can speak death into my own life.

Do you understand what’s been happening with you? You have been pushing God’s blessings away by the words you continue to repeat and accept in your heart about yourself. Can you see by pushing away the truth of God’s word in your life by allowing even a single thought to take control of your mind and its subsequent actions, that you are now speaking the opposite of the goodness of the Lord in your life. Do you see that? This is a direct assault of evil upon your life!

I am often asked, “Well, how do you fix that?”

The answer is so simple. “Stop doing it!”

See, because if you are studying your Bibles, you know that God has not recanted his blessings over your life. You’re simply resisting a good word over you. Stop resisting. Stop speaking like Charlie Brown. Stop believing your own death. Just know how you speak is what you accept.

May I give you a great caution yet?

Never speak forth anything that does not align with what God has put in your heart & mind.  Don’t do it. Listen to me, don’t do it, no matter what it is. Do not speak what does not align with what God has revealed to you or given to you in your body, soul & spirit, heart, mind, & will.

By you speaking out of alignment or without revelation is indeed the birthplace of the eventual blooming and going to seed possibly becoming a detrimental source or the root of hypocrisy or similar influence to the Matt 13 Parable of the Weeds (tares). And once rooted & blooming, and going to seed, you’ll become an “actor” in the body of Christ, that speaks Satan’s narratives; innumerable variations of darkness & destruction, chaos & confusion.

By speaking in compliance with what Satan, or even other “spiritual persons” expect or desire you to say or promote, that inwardly does not align with the Spirit within you or has not been revealed to you, will then set you up faster than you can imagine as a Charlie Brown puppet. For suddenly you’ll be out in the dark, stumbling around, hungry, lonely, and feeling, NO, not at all just merely feeling, for you will actually be living like the Prodigal Son. Wake up every one! Hypocrisy has consequences!

The MSG version of the Prodigal Son is much more to the point, “Father, I want right now what is coming to me!” And especially so, if you realize the gross disrespect being exemplified in that culture! We just rather gloss over that, don’t we? We being out of alignment, without revelation, and “a single thought from guess who” will start the whole stinkin’ thinkin’ process! God has totally armed you to destroy these petty distractions. Pay attention or you will suffer. Possibly even die!

NEXT UP: The remedy for defunct alignment/ revelation issues….

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Revealing Signs of My Times: BENCHMARKERS?

Since my 60’s I’ve been tracking my physical limitations by noting those physical tasks increasingly requiring I use a ladder to reach, a pliers to grip, a ramp to roll an implement up, etc. Mentally as well, Pastor Karl challenged us years ago to memorize the Fruits of the Spirit, certainly a worthy task for observing the depth/maturity of our current spirituality. Just understand it has been my continual goal for years to quickly rattle off those nine descriptive words with no conclusive success. Only after forcing myself each morning since this New Years before reading my daily Proverbs chapter, have I accomplished this, and that with the crutch of the acronym of first letters L J P P K G F G S! I possess a strange mind indeed! See why I hallucinate at thinking I’ll ever learn Spanish?

So, as we age and become aware of these revealing and distressing benchmarks, we speak of our “new normals,” which are actually our compensations, in my case, too often excuses for laziness, as Loretta lovingly and patiently reminds me. Actually, God has really blessed me in the fact that after reading Scripture as I do frequently, He then inspires a worthy thought or a concept and I begin to write, and just as the MSG Gal. 5:22 below says that “fruit appears in an orchard,” thus far at least for me, my thoughts appear on the screen. Never mind, how slow they appear, or how long I struggle for particular words, etc.

FYI, I do understand that crossword puzzles and even writing are worthy deterrents for my innocuous less threatening terminology for my brain fog, “new normal” or not! However, I passionately avoid puzzles, both crossword and jigsaw. I presume it’s an expression of a genetic anabaptist workaholic modified gene?

BOTTOM LINE: Reading through Galatians this Sunday, though scuttling my walk, I was greatly encouraged by the directness and the simplicity of Paul’s encouragement to us from Ch 6:9-10 to utilize His resources before our individual & cultural benchmarkers will be removed by the sands of time, actually, even the planet:

9. So, let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit.

10. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

Galatians 5:4, 13-26 (MSG)

4. I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace.

13. It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows.

14. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom.

15. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?

16. My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness.

17. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day.

18. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

19. It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness;

20. trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits;

21. the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.

22. But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments,

23. not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way.

24. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

25. Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.

26. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

Galatians 6:1-10 (MSG) 

1. Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out.

2. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law.

3. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

4. Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others.

5. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

6. Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.

7. Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—

8. harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

9. So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit.

10. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

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READ, WEEP, PRINT AND KEEP!

Every once in a blue moon I am sent something that literally demands an immediate audience. You know I avoid politics like the mRNA plague now consuming our rear view mirrors. You also know I quit posting Sunday mornings to avoid distracting your worship preparation. But this Charley Reese’s Final column (and sadly who I never heard of prior) is just First Class, and I’m betting it’s certainly worthy of being the first ever Memorable Serious Saturday Night Reflection(mSSNR)!

The following should be on the front page of every newspaper and on all social media platforms.

Charley Reese’s Final column!

A very interesting column. COMPLETELY NEUTRAL.
Be sure to Read the Poem at the end..

Charley Reese’s final column for the Orlando Sentinel… He has been a journalist for 49 years. He is retiring and this is HIS LAST COLUMN.

Be sure to read the Tax List at the end.

This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be. The article below is completely neutral, neither anti-republican or democrat. Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day. It’s a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!

545 vs. 300,000,000 People
-By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.. ( The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.)

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House?( John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. ) If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to. [The House has passed a budget but the Senate has not approved a budget in over three years. The President’s proposed budgets have gotten almost unanimous rejections in the Senate in that time. ]

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it’s because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ..

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.
Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees… We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

What you do with this article now that you have read it… is up to you.
This might be funny if it weren’t so true.
Be sure to read all the way to the end:

Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table,
At which he’s fed.

Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.

Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for
peanuts anyway!

Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.

Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.

Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won’t be done
Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He’s good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he’s laid…

Put these words
Upon his tomb,
‘Taxes drove me
to my doom…’

When he’s gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax

STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What in the heck happened? Can you spell ‘politicians?’
I hope this goes around THE USA at least 545 times!!! YOU can help it get there!!!

GO AHEAD. . . BE AN AMERICAN!!!

SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW

REALIZE WE ARE BEING PLAYED BIG TIME AS NEVER BEFORE IN HISTORY!!

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Birth of Hypocrisy: Our Unhinged Tongues

I grew up as a child knowing that even before our births, God had already spoken blessings over our lives. It really makes me wonder now how I as a child could grow up in such a loving Christian home with literally a spiritual silver spoon in my mouth, be known as a “favorite son” of sorts, and yet, spend so many years as a blasphemer in the church?

Strange introduction perhaps, but it’s the truth, and the title “Birth of Hypocrisy” does set the stage, whether for me, or the church. Perhaps hypocrisy is learned in stages, like language. We have both experienced and observed the ease of learning becoming a negative person, likely from the Father of Lies.

The idea of the quantity or scale of negativity we’ve spewed forth verbally, whether private or public, since we learned to talk or cobb an attitude, is really immaterial. Sometimes negativity is directed at or of very specific intention, but when the chips are down, negativity will abound!

Given that common denominator, we as Christ Follower’s know well that our Lord and Savior has, and is, speaking a Fullness over our lives, but too often, we’re the ones, intentionally or not, literally being goaded into rejecting either His blessings or our Fullness, such that, when we look in the mirror, we’ll tell ourselves, “I knew I was no good at this. No good ever comes to me, no matter how hard I try. I’m always just missing everything up.”

When you go into that Charlie Brown mode, you are renouncing what God spoke over you. First, you must understand, you’re the only one that ever has a right to reject the intimacies the Father has spoken over you. Nobody else has that authority. Absolutely nobody!

Next, be aware there are things happening around you attempting to trick or confuse you into speaking against what God has spoken over you. Satan’s minions are continually attempting to get you to renounce the goodness your Father has spoken over your life. If and when that is accomplished, and darkness gets the better of you, you’re going revert into the Charlie Brown mode, and you’ll begin saying, “What’s the use? No good is coming to me. My life is always going to be like this.”

Saying phrases like that, confirms you’re speaking words opposite of your Father, literally destroying His intimate words of destiny for you! That’s what evil has been doing in your life. Can you see that? Because every time evil gains another stronghold area of influence in your life, what do you end up doing? You end up “getting hung by your tongue” rendering the blessings of the Living God in your life in-effective.

Consider KJV Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue…” or the MSG, “Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit – you choose,” bringing forth encouragement, love, & healing, OR causing hurt, division, & destruction.

NEXT UP: Hung by the Tongue

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BBF March 30 Romans 7:1-4 – Married To Christ

Taken from the boquetebiblefellowship.com website, audio sermon archives. Tuesday’s post was the prior Sunday’s sermon that was a review of the first six chapters of Romans. that began earlier in 2023 and concluded in December ’24. The study questions were actually sent me today for the 9 AM Friday Men’s Ministry in the morning and I included them to guide and facilitate your understandings during and after listening. I am suggesting this sound track is a rare find for your study at the opportune time. In the meantime however, you can better visualize this sermon’s important landscape’s benchmarks while listening in a tractor cab or driving to your appointments, etc.

May God anoint your time of listening and study.

Romans 7:1-4 – Married to Christ Questions

1.) Can anyone tell me what Jewish legalism means?

2.) What does the term “hyper grace” mean?

3.) Did Jesus come to abolish the Law of the Prophets? Or did He come to maintain it?

4.) How difficult was this for the Jews to accept?

5.) What about the gentiles? How confusing was this for them?

6.) Would it be valid to ask these same questions today? Why?

7.) What is the Moral Law of God?

8.) Does the Mosaic Law have any power to save us?

9.) What was the purpose, or the goal of the Mosaic Law?

10.) So why do you suppose God set things up this way?

11.) What does it mean to bear good fruit? And how does this come about?

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Ever Had A Randomly Encountered Scripture Flood Your Day With His Foundational Joy?

A few minutes ago dailylightdevotional.org last verse of the AM verses sent me scrambling to I John 3 for context to better comprehend what v. 21 meant when it said “Beloved, if our heart condemns us not, then have we confidence toward God.” Really now? Is that even possible? For our hearts not to condemn us?

Succinctly, I’ve spent decades being condemned by the flip-flopping of either my conscience or Satan, etc., declaring me “unworthy” in all dimensions, terrorizing and holding me captive in my addictive sins. I am so reminded of the landmark verses in II Cor 7:10-11 “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow (merely being sorry) brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done.”

So imagine now, after years of being blessed walking empowered by the Spirit, the burst of joy the II Cor 6 chapter provided me Monday morning that I posted Tuesday morning,

And then this morning, while yet basking in these prior occurrences, I encounter v. 21 which opened the gate for the verses below. Amazing truths revealed afresh for me, hopefully for you as well. Give God the Glory!

1 John 3:13-24 (MSG)

  1. So don’t be surprised, friends, when the world hates you. This has been going on a long time.
  2. The way we know we’ve been transferred from death to life is that we love our brothers and sisters. Anyone who doesn’t love is as good as dead.
  3. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know very well that eternal life and murder don’t go together.
  4. This is how we’ve come to understand and experience love: Christ sacrificed his life for us. This is why we ought to live sacrificially for our fellow believers, and not just be out for ourselves.
  5. If you see some brother or sister in need and have the means to do something about it but turn a cold shoulder and do nothing, what happens to God’s love? It disappears. And you made it disappear.
  6. My dear children, let’s not just talk about love; let’s practice real love.
  7. This is the only way we’ll know we’re living truly, living in God’s reality.
  8. It’s also the way to shut down debilitating self-criticism, even when there is something to it. For God is greater than our worried hearts and knows more about us than we do ourselves.
  9. And friends, once that’s taken care of and we’re no longer accusing or condemning ourselves, we’re bold and free before God!
  10. We’re able to stretch our hands out and receive what we asked for because we’re doing what he said, doing what pleases him.
  11. Again, this is God’s command: to believe in his personally named Son, Jesus Christ. He told us to love each other, in line with the original command.
  12. As we keep his commands, we live deeply and surely in him, and he lives in us. And this is how we experience his deep and abiding presence in us: by the Spirit he gave us.

GO FORTH TODAY WITH JOY FOR AS LONG AS YOU’RE GIVEN BREATH TO LIVE RENEWED & EMPOWERED BY HIS SPIRIT.

True joy comes from our connection with God, not from life’s circumstances. We are called to rejoice even in adversity, trusting His presence. Contemplate Phil 4:4-9.

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Have I Been Lulled Into The State Of “Squandering?”

Earlier we’ve been encouraged at BBF here in Boquete, Panama, to read the 121 chapters or so from Romans thru Jude several times this year. Why? Because in my words, they are the portion of our owner’s manual that is not predominately historical or prophetical. Rather, these books in your Bible are those pages for example, you’d find in the owners manual for your new 70 foot sailboat, or possibly, even your Lear jet, (I chose those two examples specifically rather than your car) to set the stage for most of us to realize that just as we are clueless to a practical working knowledge of all the physical dynamics involved in either sailing or flying, I maintain that similarly, we largely as newly recruited Gentile believers, have not yet a clue for the actual mind of God for the specifics as how to practically build His kingdom.

Oh, we know the stories, and much of the history, but for us to troubleshoot the electrical diagrams of the sensors for the autopilots whether sailing or flying depending on weather conditions, I compare that lack of practical experience similar to what today’s believers may face, be they new or long term, in that they have not yet applied due diligence to understanding and applying either His Scriptural or Spirit infused wisdom and guidance practically in the “nuts & bolts of LOVE engineering ” for building His kingdom. And that is exactly what these Romans to Jude books excel at, so drink deeply!

For example, v. 11 “how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way.” Ouch! Or, V. 14 “Don’t become partners with those who reject God” & v. 17 “So leave the corruption and compromise…”

This has been the most fulfilling & rewarding Bible reading suggestion yet for me, and this is my second time thru already. Frequently, I just keep reading, get inspired, and send clips to friends, etc. I’m using my NIV/Message Parallel Bible for this; principally from NIV, but frequently the inspirational clips are from the Message because it is not familiar to many.. Enjoy.

2 Corinthians 6:1-18 (MSG) 

  1. Companions as we are in this work with you, we beg you, please don’t squander one bit of this marvelous life God has given us.
  2. God reminds us, I heard your call in the nick of time; The day you needed me, I was there to help. Well, now is the right time to listen, the day to be helped.
  3. Don’t put it off; don’t frustrate God’s work by showing up late, throwing a question mark over everything we’re doing.
  4. Our work as God’s servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times;
  5. when we’re beaten up, jailed, and mobbed; working hard, working late, working without eating;
  6. with pure heart, clear head, steady hand; in gentleness, holiness, and honest love;
  7. when we’re telling the truth, and when God’s showing his power; when we’re doing our best setting things right;
  8. when we’re praised, and when we’re blamed; slandered, and honored; true to our word, though distrusted;
  9. ignored by the world, but recognized by God; terrifically alive, though rumored to be dead; beaten within an inch of our lives, but refusing to die;
  10. immersed in tears, yet always filled with deep joy; living on handouts, yet enriching many; having nothing, having it all.
  11. Dear, dear Corinthians, I can’t tell you how much I long for you to enter this wide-open, spacious life.
  12. We didn’t fence you in. The smallness you feel comes from within you. Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way.
  13. I’m speaking as plainly as I can and with great affection. Open up your lives. Live openly and expansively!
  14. Don’t become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That’s not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends with dark?
  15. Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands?
  16. Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God’s holy Temple? But that is exactly what we are, each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way: “I’ll live in them, move into them; I’ll be their God and they’ll be my people.
  17. So leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good,” says God. “Don’t link up with those who will pollute you. I want you all for myself.
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Remember, Yesterday We Ended With Jesus Poised To Speak Truth To This Dear Woman:

“ I who you speak to am he.” (v. 26)

Jesus did exactly what she expected the Messiah to do… he told her all things. Sometimes even without saying everything, our God addresses all things. Be still my heart. Our Christ, the anointed one, often answers our questions about worship by telling us the truth about ourselves. In one fell swoop, he exposed foolish traditions and cuts away human reasoning with his sword of truth. Who wouldn’t drop their water jar and run after hearing this? That is our Jesus. He doesn’t shame the shamed. He takes them into his confidence and shares with them the noble things the Pharisees (and even his disciples at times) refused to hear.

The moment is over. The disciples return and are troubled by the discovery that Jesus had been talking to a woman who is only worthy of their disdain. But their reception no longer matters to her. Once you have been received by God … what is the rejection of man to you? It is interesting to note that not one of the disciples had invited the Samaritans out to see Jesus. That was okay because Jesus had already sent his messenger. She was the one he had in mind all along.

So, the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him. (vv. 28-30)

On close examination we will find she is intentional with her words. She doesn’t call him a prophet or mention that he is a Jew, knowing that both of these might cause the townspeople to reject him. She uses her own testimony to open the way for them. I love that our friend invites them to come and see rather than suggest they come and hear. Seeing can mean believing, and when your eyes are opened, you want everyone else to see as well.3

I love that Jesus chose to reveal something so preemptive, precious, and holy to a woman who others saw as tainted, common, and soiled. By speaking the mysteries of God to someone others considered the lowest of the low, he threw the door open for all of us. For this very reason, I have visited her story in more than one of my books. I always see their interaction from a different angle, but never with an indifferent heart.

For years I have loved this intimate encounter that made the shamed outsider an ultimate insider. For a time, I even liked the fact that she was nameless; that way I could easily insert my name into her story. That was until I learned to know her by Photina, the enlightened. She started evangelizing that very day in Samaria, but as you now know, her reach extended far beyond the that region’s borders.

Her story shall encourage each of us who are deep wells living shallow lives. What else could possibly explain a wayward woman conversing with a prophet about worship? Her well was not only deep … it was also dry. She’d had five husbands and two sons and yet the longing remained. This woman with huge capacity had poured herself out completely until the very marrow of her bones ached.

Suddenly, it was different. She knew the gift. Jesus had invited her, and she boldly asked for living water. This magnificent Messiah knew her completely and loved her unreservedly. So, at his invitation this daughter without rival drank deeply of his living water and went on to become Photina, evangelist and apostle, who walked into danger with unshakable resolve.

BOTTOM LINE:  Woman with a past, will you follow her lead?

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