kjv@Psalms:54 @ @ RandyP comments: Mentioned here are "those that uphold" David's soul in the same sentence as God being David's helper. Shall we assume that amongst other things God is using certain people in David's life to comfort and sustain David's will and judgment? As we are often prone to gathering the wrong people around us, it would be wise to not only pray for the right people to enter and surround us, but to seek out and nurture these necessary relationships well ahead of our time of need, and for His hands to guide them in these times of our crises?
kjv@Psalms:56 @ @ RandyP comments: As much as we want our troubles and prayers to sound like David's, very few if any of us have lived the life and done the things towards justice that he speaks of hear. There is a reason he is pursued by his enemies daily and heavily. He can say that his cause is just and that theirs is unjust, that they are wicked or filled with iniquity because they are. Though we picture ourselves in the David role with our own circumstances, chances are more mathematically probable that we are in the enemies role; if not by direct pursuit then by tolerance and detachment.
kjv@Psalms:59 @ @ RandyP comments: David is surely praying these things for himself about his enemies, but, no doubt that the audience in Jerusalem that would be singing these would identify with similar outside pressures as well. The heathen are identified here in the role of the dog. The danger would be identifying the dog without identifying with the essential limitations and desperation of the upright and the defence and strength of God and His mercy. Otherwise it is just bigotry hatred and prejudice.
kjv@Psalms:62 @ @ RandyP comments: Salvation is not only a word for the future day of judgement, it is a word for the day here and now. Too much surrounds us in a day not to be aware of and in need of His salvation. He is strength. He is refuge. Mischief, inward cursing, oppression, lies, vanity, robbery are but a few of the things that either do or could affect us each and every hour. He is our defense, salvation, and our rock. We shall not be moved.
kjv@Romans:1 @ @ RandyP comments: This passage is often used in the debate over homosexuality and gay marriage. You'll notice though that that the list of reprobate tendencies is longer than just that. Though sexual preference is mentioned prominently, it is mentioned in the context of why God gave them over to this along with the list of things equally abhorrent. To continue in any of these behaviors, to attempt to reason that any are anything less than what they are, to seek out those that are similarly minded, is to continue in the defiant and reprobate nature Paul calls to attention. To judge one ill behavior while performing another is out right hypocrisy. We must all beware.
kjv@Romans:2 @ @ RandyP comments: No one is above judgement. Our only salvation in judgment is in Jesus Christ. In the previous chapter we've read of the ways of the reprobate. It would be natural for us to be judgmental of others given this impressive list. The problem with that is in the many things for which we ourselves will be judged, things perhaps more hidden than for example overt homosexuality. Persons on both sides of the line draw their own conclusions and judgements. A wall builds up between us with sinners on both sides. God's long suffering and forbearance has been shown to us all. It is time for us on both sides to think in terms of the spirit verses the letter of the law. Let us set aside any sin that would so easily beset us.
kjv@Psalms:73 @ @ RandyP comments: It was not until he went into the temple that he realized their end. On the surface it often looks like the advantages of disobedience far out weigh the advantages of godliness. For how long though. In the temple like moments each of us should realize God is God, that God indeed has his judgment and that their day will come, that God will punish wickedness and reward godliness, that things stand as they do now to serve His overall purpose. There is none to desire here on heaven/earth beside thee!
kjv@Psalms:75 @ @ RandyP comments: When it is all said and done we will look back, notice the old things dissolved, the many horns silenced but one. We will know then what a grand work the Lord has done. We can sense that even today if open to it and know that we are going through a separation process where the dregs are settling to the bottom and the good wine poured off into its vessels of honor. There is plenty to praise Him for already!
kjv@Romans:8:19-39 @ @ RandyP comments: This chapter being one of the most quoted in the Bible is often being picked apart into bite size pieces instead of being taken in as a whole. In bites we can make it say all sorts of nice comfy things. As a whole we should see it as an intense spiritual battle over the souls of men. Being saved by hope, helped even still in our infirmities, being drafted into the allied ranks, being counted as sheep for the slaughter, Paul is persuaded that nothing can separate believers from the love of God, that all these trench level struggles and persecutions work for together for the good. No matter what this war can throw against us our Supreme Commander is there.
kjv@Romans:13 @ @ RandyP comments: kjv@Romans:12-13 pair up nicely as a practical explanation of the daily Christian walk. These things take place because of our daily sacrifice and presentation to the Lord. They are a result of faith living forth and not being forced by mere religion.
kjv@Romans:15:1-20 @ @ RandyP comments: "And not to please ourselves". It is so easy even in the course of ministry to do the things we do for the sake of the ministry and not so much for the sake of the person whose infirmities we intend to bear. The person becomes another notch in our belt, a mark to our tally. Perhaps one of the greatest successes of Paul's ministry, his outreach to the Gentiles, was due to his attention to the individual person. This is why we hear of so many people coming to his aid and joining beside his ministry later. Paul encourages us that we are more than capable of doing the same.
kjv@Psalms:108 @ @ RandyP comments: Vain is the help of man. It is said "I get by with a little help from my friends". There is certainly a time and place for this type of help. There is a time and place for a much greater help though as well. I can not think of what I would do facing those times had I not had my faith and God going forth in front of me. Friends can surely be comforting as well as discomforting. They can think that they are saying the right things and they can speak before thinking too. We take that for what it is. But there are times when sheer valor is required, we need our foundation set upon the Rock; that would be most all the time now it seems.
kjv@Psalms:112 @ @ RandyP comments: God can use one upright man can effect an entire generation of upright people. He frequently does. What makes this upright man? He greatly delights in the commandments. What kind of things does he do? We have glimpses here but, it is more to do with how he goes about the things that he does. This description is very similar to the description of Job's uprightness, as in distributing to the poor. It doesn't say that evil tidings will not come, it says the he will not be afraid of them, his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord.
kjv@Psalms:113 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord God's Son not only was high above doing these great and countless things, He humbled Himself to become part of these experiences as well, to the effect that now He is by no means a stranger to the human feelings and human nuances and human temptations that we experience within these great foundations and frameworks. He has been both here and there. Having returned back to His position alongside the Father, having completed the necessities for our redemption, He waits at the right hand as the Father puts His enemies beneath His footstool so that He the Son can return in His much deserved glory. Who is like unto our Lord God?
kjv@Psalms:114 @ @ RandyP comments: The sea parted for Israel. The Jordan river became dry land for them to cross. As a foreign nation watching on from a distance, one would have to ask why such a mighty god would do these things for Israel and not us? Later, after our foreign nation had infiltrated and commingled our gods and idols into Israel, one would have to ask why is this god Jehovah so jealous over Israelite people and not us? What are these many legends being retold about their time in the desert? Surely, Israel is being used as an injection point for His inoculation needle. The surrounding area festers, it fevers, it changes, the remainder of the body takes sudden and frequent notice. The body collectively resists, the body swells against, it is whipped into a frenzy, but, in the process of fighting against the injection the body takes on and spreads the antibody unknowingly, receiving and carrying about that which the Doctor behind the needle had fully intended from the start. 'Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob'.
kjv@1Corinthians:2 @ @ RandyP comments: The spirit of a man alone knows the secrets held within a man. How is it that we think that knowing God would be any different? To know of God one must inquire of His Spirit, search through that which is spiritually discerned, compare spiritual to spiritual. The Spirit searches all things. This is where the natural man fails to understand.
kjv@Psalms:119:105-176 @ @ RandyP comments: One of the things we miss the most in our doctrine nowadays is the concept of just how right each and everything God has said or done or decided or judged or testified of has been. We get caught up in the love and grace without understanding what it is that defines that love, defines that grace, makes it so immense and great: His righteousness. In the law, the statutes, the precepts, the testimonies these things can be searched out, can have their proper effect helping us to grasp His defining nature. We know now that in our faith that the Grace supersedes the moral code, that the spirit of it exceeds the letter, but, the Law still can be our schoolmaster not only teaching where we fall short but where God's righteousness stands out.
kjv@1Corinthians:6 @ @ RandyP comments: Just as this divides itself over it's leadership, just as this assembly tolerates fortification, just as they tolerate civil matters between themselves to be brought before a secular court, this body joins itself as if in marriage to these grievous forms of unrighteousness. The leaven mentioned in the previous chapter has raised up into a spiritual adultery of congregational proportions; and this among fellow believers. Surely not all have done individually these sinful things, but, the congregation is effected as a whole none the less. Tolerance and passiveness in this case is a sin just as pungent.
kjv@Psalms:131 @ @ RandyP comments: When the heart is haughty and the eyes lofty the soul takes upon itself a great deal, increasingly large matters it really has no business in. I think of the political campaigns we are suffering these months ahead of elections. Presented are entire shopping lists of big and grandiose ideas/programs that each and everyone of us knows will never once be addressed. So why are we making concern over them, why to the near exclusion of the things that we would be able to address? This same type issue is true in our individual hearts as well. Oh yes, grand dreams and visions, miraculous intentions, marvelous causes, big and frequent squawks and chatter. It hardly ever results in any more than that. For some though, a new found calm and quietness, a weaning from the demanding tantrums of a suckling child, a trust and obedience to a more modest constantly maturing godly nature.
kjv@Psalms:135 @ @ RandyP comments: He did (and does) what most pleases Himself. He did (and does) big big things. Certain things must bring Him great joy. Our drawing toward other false gods and idols does not please Him so He does against that which doesn't please Him as well. It is very much an insult that we would leave Him for a lifeless speechless deaf figment of our vain imagination just to serve ourselves.
kjv@Psalms:143 @ @ RandyP comments: In all this trouble the important things come to light and for these things we become thirsty and are driven. We are caused to hear of His loving kindness in the morning, caused to know wherein we should walk. We are taught to do His will and quickened with true spiritual life. During these times remember the peaceful days of old. Meditate on all His works, muse on the works of His hands. Know that for His righteousness' sake He shall bring your soul out of trouble.
kjv@Proverbs:8 @ @ RandyP comments: I sense the suggestion that before creation the plan was all laid out, Jesus was to be our redeemer. Wisdom became all that which moved that plan forward, the establishment of the covenant, the law, Israel, the prophecies, the conviction of the Holly Spirit. Wisdom was there when all these essential things were framed, it is there evident in all creation revealing even the Godhead so that we are without excuse kjv@Romans:1:20. Wisdom is the purpose and direction and establishments leading all men back to their savior.
kjv@1Corinthians:14:21-40 @ @ RandyP comments: All things are to be done decently and in order, everything done to the edifying. Notice that even if a word of knowledge were to come to you sitting that there is a time and a patience and an order. The earlier church I sense was a much more organic and participatory fellowship than we would allow for today. Perhaps we should lighten up on the reigns a bit!
kjv@1Corinthians:15:1-32 @ @ RandyP comments: Without any doubt the central core of the Gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to scriptures, buried and raised the third day according to scriptures, witnessed by many and ascended to where all things have been put under subjection to Him and He to the Father. It is not just that He did it, it is that the scriptures all along said that He was going to do it. Of this core in particular the resurrection can not be separated without voiding the remainder.
kjv@Proverbs:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Like all scripture the proverbs take some digging into. Meaning may not be immediately obvious especially when two proverbs take the same point from two different directions. In a sense many of these appear as generalities when taken individually. But if taken as spring boards toward a greater reverence/fear of the Lord, the sum brings true wisdom/understanding; somethings that the casual reader will not spend time to consider.
kjv@Proverbs:15:22 @ @ RandyP comments: The problem is that few of us have ever taken the effort of developing and maintaining a circle of wise counselors. It is a purposeful and extensive investment long before an issue ever arises. Knowing who to trust, who most sees things as they really are, having previous experience with them in smaller issues. Men seem to hold off seeking counsel until times where a circle of counsel cannot be mustered soon enough. Women tend to seek the wrong counsel, counsel that will tell you whatever they think you want to hear instead of counsel that is honest and fearless enough to tell you where you are wrong.
kjv@2Corinthians:2 @ @ RandyP comments: God causes us to triumph in Christ. He causes doors to open of the Lord and makes manifest the savour of His knowledge. To some that means life, to others death, to us sufficiency to speak forth. At times it requires strict obedience to those placed above us and at times it allows for forgiveness by proxy. There is great sorrow of heart and great joy as well, but, there is always thanks to God in all things.
kjv@Proverbs:23 @ @ RandyP comments: Dainties...deceitful meat...desirous. Not everything is as it seems. Not everything is as it is presented. People put the best spin on things. People have their way of making even the worst look the best. Their is a price that they have had to pay; no need paying it alongside with them or for them.
kjv@Proverbs:31 @ @ RandyP comments: The virtuous wife parable is not so much as list of what she is doing as it is the attitude in which she is doing it and who she is doing it for. It is the attitude of being a tangible blessing to all. Caution must be given not to extend oneself to the harm of the marriage, that in all things she honors and exalts her husband.
kjv@Ecclesiastes:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Just days ago we had read kjv@1Corinthians:15 that the righteousness of God in putting us through this corruption was to break us down, have us die to ourselves that we might germinate to a spiritual plant/being (be born again). Here it says similarly the travail God has given the sons of men to be exercised with. From the observation from heaven it is a unnecessary and righteous thing and from our sense it is a grievous and sorrowful thing. This is because of the weight with which we invest ourselves into making something carnal out of this present corruption. We do not see the things under heaven as they were before nor the things as they will be. All is vanity, but, God submitted us to this vanity because of a much greater righteous hope kjv@Romans:8:20-23.
kjv@Ecclesiastes:7 @ @ RandyP comments: Solomon has spent a great deal of time considering the ends of things. Sure they seem right to us here and now but, what of it in the end? He concludes that while somethings are better, some are wiser, all things are temporary, that they all end as vanity. Not everyone goes as far as to consider these things, the thought being "what does it matter?". It matters to the life to come and the abundant entrance ministered unto us into Christ's eternal kingdom kjv@2Peter:1:11.
kjv@Ecclesiastes:9 @ @ RandyP comments: One event happens to us all and after that there is no more work and no more remberance of us in this realm. All that we have done for ourselves is occupy our time. Left at that it would appear to be vanity. Christ however did not come here in vain nor did He die in vain nor is this the end He intends. Live joyfully with thy wife, do all these good and wise things but, most of all live for Him.
kjv@2Corinthians:11:1-15 @ @ RandyP comments: The fact that Paul has been addressing these things throughout this letter must mean that somebody(s) were accusing Him him of such. Other Jesus's are what we still face today. Selling another Jesus often involves placing doubt upon character of the saints of the true Jesus. Paul is attacked even today by numerous groups presuming to have a clearer definition of Jesus. It is not the same Jesus however.
kjv@Ecclesiastes:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Upon our deaths nothing more can be said or done. That in which we put ourselves to on this earth will cease and no longer be remembered. We have the option of spending this remaining time doing for ourselves or we can follow after our Lord and Shepherd to His final pastier. Fear God, and keep His commandments: for that is the whole duty of man. The end of all things is vanity if not for God.
kjv@2Corinthians:11:16-33 @ @ RandyP comments: You would think that a messenger of love and truth would be well accepted as people need a good bit of love and truth. You would think that people would be thankful for a man willing to suffer such things to bring us such truth and not complain that he was too soft or too hard or too.... We would like to think that if we are anything as believers that we are much like this man. Most likely though it is overwhelmingly possible that we are like the many that inflicted such upon him or looked away and that the people that we have put in charge of putting us in rememberence of these truths are not this type of man who has for a long time suffered our whims.
kjv@Ephesians:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Unsearchable riches, mysteries, things abundantly above all that we ask or think; this is our Lord and His Father. You ask me what kind of things. How could I know if they are unsearchable mysteries? You would say then they don't exist. Do things only exist that you can comprehend? Are they only believable if they can be comprehended? In a sense I can know the unknowable things by the things that can be known. In another, I don't really even know fully the things that I do know. All this does not mean that things are unbelievable, they are simply unknowable. Anything beyond that requires revelation.
kjv@Isaiah:29 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord does not just do these things without purpose and results. The path of men digs itself into deep ruts unaware. As if those ruts become their treasured possession, they are not about to give them up. They have rationalized, fully justified, become comfortable in their rebellion. Hearts harden, the foreign becomes normal and nothing by God short of this seems to penetrate and steer the peoples where God intends. As far as they are concerned they are doing everything right. It is sad for them that they have to go through this but, informative to us; this is after all our sin nature as well.
kjv@Philippians:2:12 @ @ RandyP comments: There is the eternal salvation direct from our confession and repentance acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord, the salvation that because of His sacrifice was purchased and imputed to us. There is also the salvation having the knowledge of Jesus Christ that we are fruitful with as applied toward our daily circumstances and situations; this is the type of salvation that we work out. One can be saved in the one sense but yet be a poor worker of the salvation that effects daily life, even by the things in this same chapter Paul speaks to, contention and strife and isolation from the broader body etc..
kjv@Isaiah:37 @ @ RandyP comments: We tend to imagine the worst. If this enemy was strong enough to do this or that to the others than what chance do I have. The other nations stuck to their flase gods; God was using Assyria to clean their house. Judah had their false gods but, there was also a remnant of those committed to Jehovah; God was using Assyria as a means of cleansing and correction. What a tremendous testimony especially being that the Assyrian defeat was prophicied. God also used a false messenger from Ethiopia. All things work for God's purposes, the more open, the harder we look for that common thread, the sooner we will see the events and circumstances in our lives in their truer light.
kjv@Isaiah:38 @ @ RandyP comments: The king was suffering from some disease causing the skin to boil. Indications are that it was making him to be bitter towards God. Hezekiah had been a good godly king, the right man for the times at hand in Judah, but, not even that keeps one from suffering deadly illness, the curse of Adam. We cannot say that bitterness caused this cancer. We cannot say that the illness was intended to bring to light a hidden bitterness that then could be dealt with. We can not say that Hezekiah's illness was intended to stir the faith of the others around him. For then we would have to say the same about anyone of us. Though these things may have resulted, we can say that God dealt with everything that happened with the good of His plan and love for His servant in mind. The same would have been true if Hezekiah would have been called back into the Lord's rest.
kjv@Isaiah:41 @ @ RandyP comments: You can imagine a tyranical king thinking that his mighty hand had done all this. How does he explain the fact that wonders have occurred even where his feet have not gone? that there is a momentum and wave far beyond his? Surely he will not admit that he has been played like a pawn just as all the rest. These things even are by God.
kjv@Isaiah:48 @ @ RandyP comments: Knowing the heart of man and His servant Israel, the Lord knew how we would bend the truth of this thing, that we would claim we knew it, that our own hands or our own gods brought this thing to pass. The Lord therefore declared it long before it happened, declared a new thing that could not be known any other way and performed it with intricate precision. This is how He has to operate given our blind and corrupted nature. It may seem terrible that Judah must suffer the furnace of affliction in double measure. It seems odd that this would be the only way left to refine them and prove His love/covenant. But, it seems odd that we would refuse to see things in the light of truth, follow His commandments and directions, not pollute His name with our rebellious and self serving whims.
kjv@Isaiah:50 @ @ RandyP comments: One that truly fears the Lord should walk in a confidence such as this. The Lord did not cause these things to happen but, His arm is not shortened that He can't get us out. He gives us the tongue of the learned, the ear to hear. He will be our help. If there is no light in us, He needs to be that light and that fire. BY this we will not be confounded and those that contend against us will not succeed for it is He that works through us. Fear the Lord, hear and obey His voice, walk in His light
kjv@1Thessalonians:1 @ @ RandyP comments: People do notice. There is not a particular individual mentioned here. The congregation is likely acting together as one, they are working and laboring doing things as a body that are being observed and talked about. One thing that stands out is that they are not doing what everybody else is doing, in this case having turned from idols. For this they suffered affliction yet withstood the pressure with patience and hope. Such things stand out and are talked about distances beyond our personal knowing and causing the gospel to be spread. Where can we stand out in our churches today?
kjv@Isaiah:59 @ @ RandyP comments: This is a massive description of sin and how things are seen from the Lord's vantage point. Let us remember that this is not just the Heathen Gentiles that He is talking about, this is also the Religious Hebrew to whom this is addressed.He looked down and saw no man remember. This is why He has had to do what He has done. This is why He seems as distant as He does. This is why there will be a day of His vengeance. Not because He is a big meanie, because this massive and profound iniquity (of which we are barely aware) cannot any longer be allowed.
kjv@Isaiah:62 @ @ RandyP comments: It may seem odd that there is such a focus on singular objects, Jerusalem and Zion in the age to come. Surely the focus will be on the Lord, but, the tangible proof of that focus will be these symbolic things. That the Lord has done this, that it is now viewed by others as He had said it would is the proof of His commitment. That we would come to do this in this manner is then proof of ours.
kjv@2Thessalonians:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The work of Christ here is explained as being two fold: using the tribulation of others to grow and stir us, using the persecution of others as the mark against them in the day of judgment. We should not be discouraged by tribulations which to us is a righteous token of His judgment, a sharing in the same things He Himself suffered.
kjv@Jeremiah:2 @ @ RandyP comments: The language of these pictures paint an indelible image that cannot be erased nor altered no matter what translation. Withered vines and broken cisterns, insolent camels and wild asses, brides in harlots attire, butchers stained in blood declaring themselves innocent. These things cannot be mis-interpreted into being something better or good about the state of Israel/Judah. The Lord is extremely upset there can be no doubt.
kjv@Jeremiah:2 @ @ RandyP comments: We have it that Israel had crossed the line quiet some time ago. The Lord requests that they look back to a time very early on 'the love of their espousals' that He seems to view fondly. If we look back we see that even in that time Israel didn't seem so faithfully betrothed. Yet the Lord has waited. He has been more than patient. If that was a fond time for Him just imagine how bad things must have been now at this critical point.
kjv@Jeremiah:5 @ @ RandyP comments: Remember that the Lord is declaring this in advance. He had offered to them the possibility once again to escape, but, knew in this case that they would not. If He knew they wouldn't accept these terms why would He even offer them? By having this declared, by having this written for the sake of the remnant, they in the future will know these things to be true and thus the Lord to be greatly feared.
kjv@Jeremiah:8 @ @ RandyP comments: How could one say after having seen these things come to pass that they were not from the Lord when He told them before hand what exactly He was going to do and why? This did happen as it was foretold and we have a considerable amount of historical proof. We do know how they reacted and what their religion became after this up to the time of Jesus on earth; that they saw it as exactly this as well. Even that however was not enough. So then, how can we say today even that the Lord did not do this and that this was not why?
kjv@Jeremiah:10 @ @ RandyP comments: Is it not in God to have feelings as well? We go about as if we are the only ones that feel violated and forgotten and grieved and spoiled. Is it that He is unaffected by what we say and do or is it that it just doesn't matter to us? Is it even in our way to direct our own steps? We demand of Him to be righteous enough not to be affected by these things that we do, to be above it all, but not of Him to be righteous enough to actually do something about all of this.
kjv@1Timothy:6 @ @ RandyP comments: This epistle has been written to encourage and develop a younger pastor on Paul's team. It is interesting how the letter dives into the more daily essentials of being a pastor and an example of Christs to the fellowship and community as a whole. The functions of a church, the how to's of keeping the church activities focused and not distracted, it's investment in the truly needy, it's absence from vain arguments and partiality, the qualifications of elders and deacons, what to look for in people that may intend to take advantage of the church's compassion, etc... all these things good for us to know as well; pastor's or not.
kjv@Jeremiah:16:5 @ @ RandyP comments: It is not that the Lord would have to perform this evil, He would have to simply remove His good. Think of how much good He has over our lives and what it would mean if those particular things were no longer there. Think about Judah then which has received these things in double measure.
kjv@Jeremiah:17:9-10 @ @ RandyP comments: Whose heart is deceitful above all things? Did He qualify or pin point certain hearts? Move this forward to the time Jesus Himself stood upon this earth with a crowd gathered round Him. Was their any in the gathering not of a deceitful heart? Those that wanted Him killed in God's name? Those who followed just for the free fish? The hypocritical zealots? Even the disciples arguing over who will be the greatest? Whose heart is deceitful above all things? The heart...Our hearts!
kjv@Jeremiah:26 @ @ RandyP comments: Not a good time in the land to be a prophet. A sign of the inflamed rebellious nature of the people towards the things of God.
kjv@Jeremiah:36 @ @ RandyP comments: One might ask "why does the Word of God need to be written"? "Can't He just speak it into our hearts"? Jehoiakim knew the things written in Baruch's scroll. It testified against him recording a long history of the king's rebellion and transgression. The king's advisers knew well how he would react for they had the scribe and prophet to hide away. The Lord undoubtedly knew as well, just as He knows today. The heart hears what the heart wants to hear, it reasons as would serve it's own desires the best. Nothing is beyond the scope of the deceitful heart. The written word is as much to testify against the fleshly heart as it is to convince it. Today we have the testimony of several thousands of years and several other Jeremiahs in written form. Is the heart then any different today?
kjv@Hebrews:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The Son is even above the angels. They minister unto His needs. All things including angels were created to be His inheritance. They minister for us the heirs of salvation.
kjv@Jeremiah:44 @ @ RandyP comments: We see how the mind will always justify itself. Their argument is that because they stopped their offerings to the queen of heaven these things have befallen them. When did they stop making these offerings? Haven't they made them all along? Even to others gods as well?
kjv@Hebrews:3 @ @ RandyP comments: The unbelief of Israel in the wilderness is given as a example to us of the deceitfulness of sin. They saw many great wonders on their course, but, even seeing was not enough as they were still deceived by their hearts into many things that angered God. We too must examine ourselves daily as we think that we are doing right toward God. So much though is done in unbelief, by our own fear, limited by our perception of the size and scope and purposes of the Lord. We may not be in the promise land yet and we may not be in the bondage from which we were delivered out of, but, we certainly are in the middle of a considerable and lengthy process.
kjv@Jeremiah:52 @ @ RandyP comments: What does this completion of judgment mean in the grand scheme of spiritual things? Does it mean the the experiment is over? Israel is finished and we move on to plan B? Does it mean that God has learned from His mistakes and will start up in a different fashion again? Or does it mean that there is something vital for all of mankind to understand? Something of our depraved sinful nature that even with promises, even with miraculous deliverance and provision, even with tremendous blessing and tremendous cursing and every sort of intention revival and effort, none of this has any effect upon the true core nature of man's deceptive heart. The heart does not obey because it cannot. The heart cannot be spiritual because it is not. All that we intend and invent and contrive is but utter vanity. What is blind cannot see. In this unfamiliar light we sense that only by His grace and by His election are we separated from this wretchedness.
kjv@Lamentations:3 @ @ RandyP comments: It is interesting now that we know more about Jeremiah how similar his lamentation is to Davids psalm. Both were in positions that you would think would be well respected and that people would gather alongside to support and comfort. Both seem almost alone. The things that the Lord had them do set much of which was on the peoples behalf set them apart and made them targets. No singular enemy mentioned but an overwhelming mass of momentum and continuum labeled as godlessness/wickedness. The prophets comfort is instead the recollection that not a thing happens that God does not set forth; the goodness God intends for us all for a long moment can appear as an evil until our hearts are completely turned. If not for these times how would our heart know? During these times how would our heart not know?
kjv@Ezekiel:2 @ @ RandyP comments: The fear of the Lord often takes second place to what we fear might be said or done by other people like us. Perhaps Ezekiel is shown these mysterious heavenly things so as to reduce his fear toward other men. This along with the Lord's own words not to be afraid of them.
kjv@Ezekiel:4 @ @ RandyP comments: Think of the strange public methods that have been employed to broadcast the impending judgment. Here Ezekiel is to lie on one side on a tile 390 days continuously and 40 days on the side eating only the rations given at the start and bread cooked on dung. Jeremiah was breaking ancient pots and such. Wasn't it Isaiah walking naked for three years? Certainly not just anyone could get the message out by doing this, these men must have been fully established as prophets before hand in order to have impact. With the state of things the way they are this well may have the best of all options. It is rarely the convincing intellectual dialog and reasoning we think of that is called for. Knowing that God is perfect in all His ways, it makes me wonder what methods He might have for us today?
kjv@Hebrews:10:24-39 @ @ RandyP comments: There are times in all Christians lives where they miss the mark, where they become drowsy or sloppy or unfruitful even counter productive. There are times even when we shake our fist and blame God (as in the death of our young child). We have all encountered times when we wondered if this draw back passage wasn't written for us. Self condemnation can be a tremendously discouraging thing. I would imagine however, if it is still in your heart to get back to the things of God, if there is still the will to repent and rejoin the body in fully restored standing, if the love of God is still wanted and sought after, then you definitely have not crossed this final point yet. This is written for the man where there is none of crushing sorrow, confussion and desire that remains, he has completely given himself over to his own condemnation, forever sealed in the hardness of his own heart.
kjv@Ezekiel:8 @ @ RandyP comments: How easy is it for us to judge the actions of God without seeing what it is that He sees. We are rarely afforded the opportunity to see what is occurring amongst us in secret. We judge things by our own decency and by how we imagine our fellow man to be. In this case the very temple has been invaded by the wicked. The holy things are such an attraction to the unholy, like a open light to a miller moth. We find it hard to imagine such abominations but, then again we look closer and closer and we see that there is almost no end to what the heart of the unholy will think of and do. This is what God sees. This is why His anger is raised. And then to see how the rest of us blindly react to His doings?
kjv@Ezekiel:8 @ @ RandyP comments: Imagine this seeing this vision as the elders of Judah sat there in the parlor before you. It wouldn't surprise me if they were there to tell him how things were going to be if he didn't stop with all the rhetoric. Before the vision you might be thinking 'well these guys know what they are doing', 'intelligent people can see things different ways', 'how could all of them be wrong and only me right', 'hmmm...maybe some compromise is called for'. Then with the vision seeing these men the way God sees them? This is such a curious passage!
kjv@Hebrews:11:1-19 @ @ RandyP comments: Faith is most commonly defined as something we believe or hope for. Here it is better defined as something that totally moves us and shapes the course of things to come, a leaving of ourselves to commit/pursue the greater promises laid before us. Faith is a both a destination and the road/process of getting there. It is it's own country.
kjv@Ezekiel:14:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Does this mean that God lies? That He deceives? Think of it this way, if He created the mental faculties to believe the truth when they heard it couldn't it also be said that these faculties could also be used to believe their own vain imaginations rather than the truth? If God made certain things to be more enticing than others to guide man along the straight and narrow, cannot that gravity toward be corrupted and converted to something else? If that which is meant for good can be used for harm, if that which locks men's hearts into good instead can lock them into falsehood, cannot it not be said then that God in this sense has made it so?
kjv@Ezekiel:16 @ @ RandyP comments: They then remember not the days of Israel's youth, an abandoned un-suckled bloody fetus mercifully adopted and raised by the Lord into world wide prominence and splendor. They today forget His covenant will be fulfilled and established forever when His anger is pacified. In between is a time of incredible whorish lewdness beyond what any other sister nation can claim. His anger, as with all things, is pacified in Christ Jesus; they have yet to see how this need be so.
kjv@Ezekiel:18 @ @ RandyP comments: He hath no pleasure in the death.. Several times here it is illustrated what the righteous man would be doing and what the wicked do as well. These are not new things, they have been known all along. Yet so many choose the wrong path. There appears to be a decision, one can make themselves a knew person by choosing to do right. So why then do people not choose? Elsewhere we learn that this answer has to do with the sinful nature of man, a nature only curable by the sacrifice and resurrection of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ; imposing moral law upon this nature only illustrates its depravity all the more. Did great numbers turn to the living God by in the time of this prophecy? Certainly not.
kjv@Hebrews:11 @ @ RandyP comments: I have often look at this definition of faith as if it was me looking out into life's vastness and seeing the evidences of what I hope; if I looked hard enough and sincere enough I would see actual proof. Suddenly I have considered that it may well be intended to be the reverse. If I truly believe, the activities of my life will naturally become living proof that I believe; my faith will become evident. I have faith despite the appearance here of things, I live forward out of trust. Like Abraham, others can discern that I believe by the manner I proceed in trust and obedience, what I am willing to sacrifice, how and where I am willing to sojourn, what spiritual promises I am willing wait long past my physical death patiently for and how such waiting guides me. Faith is not a collection of scientific insight, it is a substance born of hope.
kjv@James:2 @ @ RandyP comments: There is an eternal salvation and justification accomplished on our behalf strictly by the work of Jesus Christ our savior at the cross of Calvary. No other work can replace that. What James means by works leading to justification here is similar to what the author of Hebrews meant by 'the evidence of things unseen/substance of things hoped for' ( kjv@Hebrews:11 ), the effect faith has in producing corresponding action. It is difficult for one man to justify that another man has faith if their is no tangible evidence outwardly of said faith. It should be just as difficult for us ourselves to justify our reasoning for believing in Christ if we yet disallow His natural effect upon us causing us to act forward in a new and living way. If our faith leads us to no more than what faith in any other god would lead us to do or not do, what justification would we have for such faith? The question then must be asked 'how much does Christ's redemptive work on the cross mean to us personally'? 'To what extent does it/will it effect us'? Jesus called it 'abiding in' and Peter called it 'being neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of Christ'.
kjv@James:4 @ @ RandyP comments: The mention of friendship with this world along with lust to envy is used to describe our spirit. All of the things we want and have not, all the things we ask but do not receive, the strivings and wars, they have their roots in this combination. It appears to be within our power because if we are to come to Christ we must put aside these things. But, putting this aside involves humility and affliction, mourning and cleansing, which are the opposite of our envy and destructive to our friendship with this world. This mention may be just as much for the body of believers as for the individual.
kjv@1Peter:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Peter is rarely quoted by the prosperity preachers as much as the others because these earthly things were of little importance to him. This coming from a productive business man. Of the many things more likely important to him tops would be unfeigned love toward God and brethren, the testing and trying of faith to its precious purification, the furtherance of the commission of the spreading of the Gospel to the vast world beyond. The prosperity message more times than not is a direct hindrance to these types of things.
kjv@Ezekiel:37 @ @ RandyP comments: Some of the dispersed have been regathered here since 1947 + 1968. Many are still left to come. Judah and Israel are again solidified as one. The things not yet achieved is the revelation of the true Shepherd, the cleansing of their hearts, the installment of David as His king. Whether the raising of the bones is literal or symbolic, it would have to be at least in the case of David. These things are moving ahead quickly.
kjv@Ezekiel:39 @ @ RandyP comments: Seven years of burning nothing but weapons for fuel. A gathering of many birds and creeping things to eat on the carcasses. Seven months of flagging and burying the dead. A national effort by every citizen to cleanse the land. This would be an effective way of making yourself known again to your people. It would certainly lift the veil from their eyes. Imagine being in Israel at this time. Given the odds of the battle this sight would only be by the hand of God.
kjv@1Peter:4 @ @ RandyP comments: So should we go out a stir up some suffering? The gospel is preached that men dead to Christ might be judged as men of the flesh. They are this to begin with, their reaction once presented condemns them all the more. One does not have to go out purposely to stir things up, the Gospel of Christ does this by itself. By presenting the Gospel in it's truest form man's very nature is stirred against Him/Us.
kjv@Ezekiel:40 @ @ RandyP comments: What is the importance of these details to us today? That God has a great many (if not all) details planned out; that He is trying to tell us something needed to be known. Consider that this temple fell and was desecrated just as the first and yet it is not a mistake that God gave it such detail and foresight; it is all part of a much greater plan/dialog. Often physical things and events described in the Bible are shadows/pictures/blue prints of things occurring in the spiritual world put into a language we could more readily understand. I have heard men like Dr. Vernen Mc Gee attempt to show how the Temple, the things of it, the predetermined rituals spell out a spiritual description of salvation and atonement; things like the 'holy of holys' that only the high priest was able to enter after being cleansed once a year. North gates, south gates, having to go in one gate and out another, tables and hooks, borders of pomegranate and palms, etc..., they all have their meaning in a spiritual sense. The thing for now to know is that Jesus is the complete fulfillment of all of these descriptive types. To go back and rediscover what each of these types means is to study what Jesus was able to accomplish and who we are in Him; for us each detail measured out precisely.
kjv@1Peter:5 @ @ RandyP comments: Though addressing church elders initially, the message here applies to each of us. Humbling ourselves, casting our cares, subjecting ourselves to one another, being sober and diligent to resist the Devil, suffering willingly to the ends of perfection. Peter, I feel, is driving the point home that these worthy things are brought about by the constant feeding the flock and taking oversight.
kjv@1Peter:5:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Peter's motivation by now should be clear. It should be our motivation as well. Peter considers himself a witness of Christs suffering and a partaker in the glory to be revealed. Peter is this in the truest sense perhaps like no other having been there with Him. Thanks in great part to His testimony/obedience we are/can be this as well. The sufferings of Christ are so crucial to our proclamation because they point to the hands of those for whom He willingly suffered for. The glory to be revealed is equally crucial because it tells us that this was no ordinary man that suffered these things on our behalf, it was the very son of God, the promised one of Israel, the name above all names, Jesus Christ and Savior the King of all kings. Those that are thus inspired and motivated will be partakers of both the sufferings of and later the Glory of.
kjv@2Peter:3:15-16 @ @ RandyP comments: It has been the doctrine of some cults (even the universal church at times) that the unlearned masses must be kept from the holy scrip based on the possible misinterpretation and destruction it might cause them identified by this passage. The context however of this passage in light of kjv@2Peter:2 is more properly of those who once knew of the Gospel/Grace of Christ but chose not to continue, turned to oppress and afflict and teach falsely after their own increased unrighteousness and gain. Paul's writings in particular are targeted by these cherry picking wicked souls as points of fierce contention, points of apparent contradiction, points to slander and attack. Peter here stands up for Paul in uncompromising fashion and therefore endorses the distribution of his works. The general masses are greatly helped rather by the availability of unfiltered scripture, their trust in leadership deeply enhanced in the things that are not easily understood by the things that are. Those who are going to fall away are going to fall away any way. Disputes and factions may arise amongst us over certain points as we try to become learned, but, even that is used to challenge and stir and put essential truths into our remembrance. Challenge does not mean destruction, challenge means hunger and thirst and utter trust in the most certain hope of an eventual divinely revealed answer.
kjv@1John:2 @ @ RandyP comments: To abide in Him is to love and to walk as He walked. This does not come naturally. The special anointing that we receive as repentant believers teaches us of all new and necessary spiritual things. We are taught by abiding in Him, abiding is our school. We love as He, we learn. We walk as He, we learn. How then can we love unless we abide in Him? His love is not just any love, His walk not like any either. This love and walk we are unfamiliar with even to the point of being at enmity with it. It is only by His unction that we are able to do it. Some then by not abiding have come out from us and have become our opposite, the antichrists.
kjv@Daniel:4 @ @ RandyP comments: A thought about free choice... Nebuchadnezzar had twelve months to consider the interpretation of his dream. For some the dream alone would be enough to alter/soften their hearts, or so we would hope, but, is that actually true? Daniel as much as said some sort of lessening would be possible. It was not ever said though that this chastisement would ever be avoidable, that the choice was totally his. It could be that over the course of twelve months Nebuchadnezzar did everything that he thought would hold this off only to realize that he was still under it's shadow. He may have hardened in the end. Therefore it is evidenced that as much as Nebuchadnezzar may have thought that he had changed, he had not actually changed; the pride was still deep within him. Our circumstances may be similar, God may be trying to remove a destructive trait or element from our heart. We may try (and be given time) to extract that ill on our own, but, until it is given into God's hands it is never really removed; it simply lays hidden producing further atrophy/paralysis. Where then is free choice? It is in accepting the way things must be. It is all things given into His hands.
kjv@1John:3 @ @ RandyP comments: There is so much said here that entire books can be (and have been) written. For the moment it should be enough to consider that these things are all expansions of the core doctrine that John presented in kjv@1John:1 , namely that God is light and in Him is no darkness. If we are in God, so too there can be no darkness in us. Knowing the 'how' this is possible is knowing the 'what' Jesus accomplished in His death and resurrection and the 'who' He is. The working of this knowledge produces unfeigned love in us for the brethren, which is the proof positive of possessing this knowledge. It can be produced in no other way.
kjv@Daniel:10:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Daniel had done two things right in order for his prayers to be answered, he sought/set his heart to understand, he chastened himself before God. From that point (even though at times it may not have seemed to him like it) his prayers were heard. Now the Lord comes.
kjv@Daniel:10:21 @ @ RandyP comments: The scripture of truth. Could refer to two things and perhaps both. The scripture as written thus far by Moses. The eternal plan as written and agreed upon from before creation by the Trinity. The Lord has always made it a point to reference scripture directly.
kjv@Daniel:12 @ @ RandyP comments: I feel presently that I am not equipped to explain this kjv@Daniel:10-12 passage. There are a great many scholars that have looked into this much more deeply who disagree one to another. I started to add further reading resources as starting points, but, don't want to outright endorse any of these particular views. Like with much of bible prophecy, I believe that every single word is true and that when it is all fulfilled we will everyone say 'boy Daniel sure nailed that'. Until it is all fulfilled however, I marvel at the detail, I marvel at how it could explain this and that, I marvel at the angels and the means of communication they use. I seek to understand these things and I dig deeper and deeper into them.
kjv@3John:1 @ @ RandyP comments: We should know that not everyone in the fold is for the fold. John may have written some of these smaller letters in part to gather intel and to make sure that the things/persons that he had sent were being received and used. He has taken the time to develop networks of 'wellbeloved' and so should we. We should be participants in this network that our true spiritual leaders are maintaining as well. Who knows, maybe one of these letters will be arriving at our desk one day.
kjv@Jude:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Contending for the faith once delivered begins with praying in the Holy Ghost, keeping oneself in God's love, looking for His mercy unto eternity, having compassion for some, making the difference, saving some with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. The fact that we would have to contend with others supposedly within our own faith means that it is not an easy list of things to do. We are warned that these apostates have crept in unaware and that there is a certain advantage and admiration inherent for them to do so. They are defined as dreamers defiling the flesh, despising dominion, speaking evil of dignities. They preach out of what they know naturally.
kjv@Revelation:2 @ @ RandyP comments: These churches are no doubt real churches dealing with real matters in real time. These churches are also symbolic of the things our churches today must face and overcome. To them that hear, to them that overcome, is our part now as much as it was theirs. Aware and alert, active and knowledgeable and courageous we must hold fast to our first love living our faith forward into the matters of a church body.
kjv@Hosea:14 @ @ RandyP comments: We tend as readers to read these things clinically from the top down knowing how the Lord feels about them. Imagine these things down looking up from the street view. Who is this Hosea? Why does he say the things that he does? Does he not love his nation Israel? What wrong has Israel done and who have they harmed? Sure there are idols but then where is the God who delivered us from out of Egypt? Why does He not deliver us now? You see how deceitful hearts work; they work the same today as yesterday. When it comes to blessings everyone is all for it, when it comes to correction there is nothing to be corrected for/by. As if God needed correcting, we pray to God for Him to change His mind. Who then shall be wise to these matters?
kjv@Revelation:3:14-22 @ @ RandyP comments: Laodicean, the lukewarm church, what a terrible thing to be. Many consider this church to be the closest to our modern American church. Some even suggest the the churches listed here in Revelations mark out specific church ages and that we are in the last age. The things that most identifies this church is that it is affluent and coasting not receiving much persecution but not extending itself outward into any situations that it might receive any reproof or chastisement. It is the polite to everybody, let's not stir anything up, we got it too good church.
kjv@Joel:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Joel was a prophet for Judah at the time of Isaiah and Amos and king Uzziah. The region faces a terrible plague like few ever seen, it sounds like a plague upon a plague. Not many of us have experienced a plague or drought, what little I know I've been told from grandparent survivors and some study of the 1930's dust bowl. They are times of great soul searching, there is nothing to do but pray and wait them out. People are changed however. They become thankful for the simple things, frugal and thrifty and inventive beyond end, engaged with family and neighbors and community. They set the table of viewpoint for generations to come. They also become much closer to God. They are reminders of how much/deeply we need God's mercies in so many ways, how much we miss them when they are partially withheld.
kjv@Revelation:4 @ @ RandyP comments: If you have ever been blessed with revelation you know that your attention to detail is un-human. The things that you remember are remembered because there is divine meaning planted in each and every little thing, they are sealed in your memory because they are meant to be sealed. There is no doubt coming out that you are granted occasion to be a part of something foreign and miraculous and you want to go back into it without letting the moment get away from you. You try to get back into it for days, but, eventually realize that it has ended. It may be the only revelation you ever again receive or it may be years until another. Part of you however searches for it again in your dreams, in strange little occurrences, in voices you think that you might of heard. John here receives perhaps the greatest and most complete revelations ever recorded. The imagery and symbolism and threads tied to other bible prophets and covenant history that God uses is utterly mind blowing. John must have been exhausted afterward beyond human strength.
kjv@Revelation:5 @ @ RandyP comments: We just read and commented that these things must happen; it is not a matter of us holding them off. Now we read of why it must happen. This is not a terrible thing, the crowning achievement of our worthy Lord to open the book. The judgments inside this sealed book are terrible to those outside the coverage of His blood, but, the purging that will result by opening it is much needed in the hearts of men and angels alike. All creation groans as in travail for this to happen.
kjv@Amos:5 @ @ RandyP comments: Many today think of their sins as personal things that have little or no effect on others such as the just, the poor, the oppressed, the needy. This passage speaks of such transgressions causing a nation's judgment as a whole to become as soft porous wormwood and it's righteousness to be left off. The stark evidences can be found in how the just are more and more rebuked, abhorred and afflicted (to the point the just are better off personally to keep silent). The results are a form of personal prosperity and social suave that comes quickly to an end having no bases of support (earlier described as being lead away by fish hooks). The nation as a whole is judged not only by it's failed condition, but, by God. Doesn't sound all that personal to me.
kjv@Revelation:9 @ @ RandyP comments: The end of the world is often thought of as men inflicting evil upon men, mankind out of hand. What we are seeing here however are things totally outside the scope of man's doing. Stars falling and rivers contaminated by the fall out, pits being opened up, Grasshopper like scorpions stinging with five month agonies, one third of this and that and of man. Even this is not enough to change the hearts of many as if they blame God for allowing this to happen.
kjv@Revelation:10 @ @ RandyP comments: John is kept from revealing too much. There is an importance to mentioning vaguely what he was about to record, but, being told not to reveal it any further. Instead he is given a book to eat that will make him to prophesy that which is required by others to be known. We must consider that not everything is for us to know outright, though to a few it may have been shown. Somethings are to be searched for like hidden treasure, other things to be merely trusted. This may in part be because of our best interest, more fully it may also be because of who else would be reading this.
kjv@Revelation:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Some things we are told about Satan. He has had access to the courts of God in heaven being an official accuser day and night of the brethren. He is overcome by the Blood of Christ and the word of testimony, cast out of heaven along with a third of the other angels by Michael. He is wroth with the woman who had delivered the Messiah and wars against the remnant of her seed.
kjv@Micah:6 @ @ RandyP comments: Three things that the LORD requires: 1. To do justly 2. To love mercy 3. To walk humbly with God. It is the Lords' contention that none of these things have been or are being done. You might say that you have done enough good works. Have you done justly? You might say that you are a loving person. Have you loved mercy? You might say that you've tried when you could to walk a good walk. Have you walked humbly with God?
kjv@Habakkuk:1 @ @ RandyP comments: In the midst of the prophet's many questions/complaints to God it is revealed that the Chaldean's are next to take Judah. If you knew anything about the Chaldean's you too would wonder why a people as filthy wicked as they would be used of this God to rule over His people. We have a tendency to look at the people in charge in a similar light. What did they do to deserve being this? How is it God put them there instead of me? Are they not bitter and hasty and scornful, all the things told to me not to be? Doesn't God require judgment and dignity? Why then is He silent in this matter? Habakkuk ponders.
kjv@Habakkuk:3 @ @ RandyP comments: The prophet concludes with a song. In context it comes to mean that we may not know everything about what the Lord is doing. We may think that He is doing nothing at all or that He is letting evil overcome good. If however we could see the Lord in all of His larger than life actions, the directions He comes from, the foundations He shakes at, the tireless march that He is on, His goings forth for the salvation of His people; then certainly our view of things here and now would be much different. The song is summed up kjv@Habakkuk:3:17-19.
kjv@Zephaniah:1:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Those that say things like this are typically hiding behind something that they know they shouldn't be doing. These men are settled on the dregs of wine called lees. In order to do this they have to say and believe that. To them, God is simply not engaged or attached. What does God care about little old man? It makes perfect sense to a man awash in the bottom of a keg.
kjv@Revelation:15 @ @ RandyP comments: His judgments are made manifest. How can these be known as being from anyone/anything other? None of these things before this could be analyzed honestly and be said to result from nature gone bad or coincidence or misfortune; especially when He has made it known so far in advance. Instead, I would say that the people are fully aware of where these judgments are coming from but, are all the more angry that this God would be judging them. These times are flushing out those who no matter what the situation proves to be, no matter what evidences are on the table, will not allow themselves to be part of nor worship Jehovah God or Son Jesus Christ. God is proven then to be fully justified to discontinue His grace and presence amongst these rebel tares. These vials are brief tastes of that absence, not even this will change many hearts.
kjv@Haggai:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The consideration of time frame is important dict:easton Haggai . The time is of Ezra and Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the Temple has stalled out two decades. The people have tried to resume their lives outside of captivity but it is as if despite their energetic effort things are falling short or they are loosing ground. The Lord has wanted to bless them but the His hand has been held back because of the lack of progress on the Temple project. What had been dedicated to the Temple is being used in their own roof tops. Spiritual matters should always come first and goods and time dedicated should remain clearly purposed. Without such perspective we can work twice as hard for half the return.
kjv@Zechariah:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord was displeased with Israel/Judah and He used the Gentile nations to correct them. But the gentile nations He used displeased Him as well and He will use them against each other to correct them. We have the sense that He has sent forth watchers to keep close eye on the dealings of these nations. He knows all; it is for the remainder of the heavenly host and for us that these things are being observed.
kjv@Zechariah:7 @ @ RandyP comments: The command seemed simple enough, to execute true judgment, show mercy, oppress not. To do these things as an individual is one thing; as a nation quite another. When the Lord cried out they would not hear. Now that they are crying out the Lord seems to not hear. What was so hard about the command? The answer may be within. Now they fast in the fifth month these many years, but, is it to the Lord they fast or to themselves? They send men to inquire of the prophet, but, is it for the truth or to bend God's ear? Why should He listen if they do not listen? Why should He do for them when they intend to do plenty for themselves only as well? Worship is not about doing better for yourself. It is not about bending His will around yours. It is not Him plucking you out of the pit that you've dug yourself so that you can run along to dig yet another. Worship is about Him, it is about what you most value, what you are most willing to serve. One cannot perform the command without the deepest reverence and worship towards Him who wants you first to listen. And to best do that one must do this worship as a nation. That is what is so hard.
kjv@Genesis:3:1-5 @ @ RandyP comments: A great many things are given and allowed in the garden. One simple thing is not. It is the one thing that often occupies our mind. People are to some extent defined by what they can't have, by what is forbidden just as they are defined by the fear of death. Not only is there what is forbidden, there is what is threatened, and there is someone readily willing to deceive.
kjv@Genesis:9 @ @ RandyP comments: The faith of a righteous man can help to deliver his children, but, those same children still have to make the decision to receive salvation each one themselves. We see too often the case where the righteous are followed by rebellious even evil sons, some for a spell, just as many continue to their own ruin. It is not the fault typically of the righteous (though there are always things that could have been parented better) it is rather a frequent tendency of one's self image to take a completely opposite course than the parent. We see it with the rich and successful, the powerful, the popular, the learned, the influential, the benevolent, why not then the righteous?
kjv@Genesis:18 @ @ RandyP comments: Is there anything too hard for the Lord? Of course not. Is there anything that He will not do? Yes, sin. Did Abraham or Sarah ask this blessing of Him? Did they ask Him to spare a city for sake of the righteous? No and yes. There are times we can ask Him to do something for us that as long as it doesn't ask Him to sin and is in agreement with His further plan that He'll gladly do. There are things that we ask that are intended to bend His will, demote Him as servant to our whim and pleasure, things based out of fear or pride or foolishness or ignorance that He certainly will/can not be part of. There are times where His grace alone must be sufficient. There are times when He intends to do for us great things that we don't even need to ask.
kjv@Genesis:20 @ @ RandyP comments: Remember that Sarah is an older women now and yet her beauty is still much desirable by kings. The king knows that he acted out of the integrity of his heart, the Lord knows it as well and warns him, but, the whole thing has the appearance of a threat and the functionality of a curse. How many other things might there be in our lives that are ways of warning us about grave danger that are likely perceived as threats? The Lord is protecting His chosen man as well who fears the unrighteousness of others, fears for his life the possible consequences of the obvious beauty of his wife. This event must have taken place over the amount of time for it to become noticeable that the kings maidservants were not birthing.
kjv@Genesis:28 @ @ RandyP comments: It may seem that the Lord is talking and revealing things directly to these patriarchs every day. You think about it though in terms of a 100 to 120 year lifetime there are just a few notable occasions, and those moments set the course for the remainder of years. The Lord's direction seems to occur almost despite the decisions and reactions of the involved parties. These are good people no dout, don't get me wrong, but, they end up doing some odd even at times deceptive things. No wonder the outsiders are fearful. Is there someone you know that you are somewhat fearful of because they are a loose cannon, but, somehow they seem doubly blessed?
kjv@Matthew:6:25-34 @ @ RandyP comments: The 'therefore' here seem to point back to the singleness of eye and one master service preciously discussed. The key verse appears to be the 'seek ye first'. If you seek the food and raiment first then the worry for it becomes your master. It is not that you don't need these things for the Father knows that you have need of these things. It is not that the birds do go about the task of seeking out a field in which to eat, it is that it doesn't worry them. Serving two masters makes us to hate the one (most likely our Father) should the worry consume us.
kjv@Exodus:5:20-23 @ @ RandyP comments: So the first approach did not work, in fact things got worse. The people blame Moses and Moses blames the Lord. It was actually a pretty lame approach to begin with, but, one has to realize that you don't just go up to a pharaoh and ask him to let my people go. Things have to be proven, leaders have to be tested, effort and sacrifice invested, God has to be depended upon.
kjv@Exodus:16:35 @ @ RandyP comments: Not to get ahead of ourselves, but, it was forty years of Manna only because of their disobedience and lack of trust. Since the chapter began with God wanting to prove whether they would obey or no, we should know that almost immediately from outset onward the answer was no. For the manna obedience was somewhat locked in, it would spoil overnight and not grow on Sabbath. For the many other things God was doing the obedience was more voluntary. You have to remember also that these people were in a desert isolated from foreign influences and still had these disobedient tendencies. Is our nature any different? Where do we stand in our proving yet today?
kjv@Matthew:13:23 @ @ RandyP comments: For the few strong that remain all of this process works to produce fruit in them 30 60 100 fold; supernatural returns. Fruit like this would not be possible if it were not for the entire process the necessitated it and brought it about. We should not consider it odd that these many things go into producing spiritual fruit. It is producers like these that the Lord wants with Him in His Kingdom. These souls are basically the humble and meek He spoke of in the Beatitudes that His light and Spirit have shown through, His redemption has fashioned, branches abiding in His vine, created unto good works; they are the blessed.
kjv@Matthew:21:12 @ @ RandyP comments: There is the physical temple and there is a temple of individual men's hearts. Where a man's heart is there will be his treasure. There are men who treasure making money from the religious needs of many. There are men who treasure peace that do not confront them. There are men who treasure their position in the church that allow for even profit from such allowance. There are men who treasure the way things just the way they are, the way things have long time been. There are those who treasure their own ideals of the temple and not the ill image it projects to those it mistreats. These are the types of men who would be displeased by Jesus' message carried out in the temple for they do not treasure Him. When we look as individuals upon a collective temple such as this we look upon men's collective hearts. The object is not to avoid coming to the collective temple, it is to call upon all men's hearts by a higher calling; to call upon all men to come observe the most holy heart of our Lord and Savior; to meet with Him by His grace then and there. And if need be, shake a few tables of our own.
kjv@Psalms:60 @ Psalms:60 @ RandyP comments: By the time of son Solomon's reign, God had used David as an instrument of bringing Israel from the pits of "hard things" to a nation with all enemies subjected to it. It was a time like never before and never again for Israel. David from the start believed in God's promise and God's ability. These neighboring nations were to be overcome by God's hand if only there be a leader such as David faithful and fully expectant. It is a hard lesson to learn when we go about electing our own way and our own man, going about by our own resource as they had done in the reign of Saul. Israel was taught in hardship that it really didn't have it's own resource and had little ability to stand against such hardened external/internal foes. It is also taught by prosperous times that God can bring about a great many essentials outside of their normal resource to surround faithful leaders such as David. Battles begun being won for the cherished nation that by their own strength would have undoubtedly been lost (or not even pursued) largely by the faith and petition of a God fearing/seeking man. God surely teaches by the hard times and by the prosperous times; the message either way is much the same. This lesson unfortunitely would have to be relearned every few short generations.
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