Month / November 2018

by kennieb

Isaiah 26:3-5

bible.com/100/isa.26.3.nasb

I added 2 more verses because they add an interesting “twist” on what Isaiah wrote.  In the Orthodox Study Bible which I have through Kindle (both Orthodox Study Bible and Kindle protected names), I have learned that what Isaiah said in these verses is much what Mary says in the Magnificat (Lk 1:52).

This happens more than once – that is, a prophet writes something and there is a connection in the New or Christian Testament or part of the Bible.

I have learned, and I suppose it is nothing new to many, is that the two parts of the Bible are “connected”.  The Hebrew, or Old, Testament or Bible, tells us stories of how people were told how to act and what to do, but they never seemed to keep it going. And, how God, even with all the problems people caused, still kept giving them hope and moving along.  God continued to teach the people lessons. That would fix things for a while and then off they would go, doing their own thing. All of the prophets kept telling the people that they better start shaping up or there was going to be a big price to pay.

The people didn’t listen. Doesn’t that sound familiar? Only now, we haven’t had some other country to take over and take all the citizens captive and keep them locked up and decimate their city. I wonder if that would help?

Or, have we?  We see countries attacking each other or revolutions happening and many other countries helping one side or the other. The wars just continue and there will be no peace until people start listening or reading or both.  What can we do?

We need to find peace within ourselves and with others. People are always going to be different or think differently; that doesn’t make them bad.  People are evil when they begin forcing others to act the way they want them to act.  Trying to convince people is not evil. But, if they don’t listen, there is nothing a person can do but pray for them and wish them well. But, another thing we must do is make sure what we are advocating is going to help everyone. Seek advice; pray much; the Spirit will help.

Thank you for reading.  May you be blessed always.

by kennieb

2nd Corinthians 5:7

FAITH IS ALL WE NEED

Whenever I see one of the letters from Paul, I always sort of laugh when I see it was one to the Corinthians.

Paul seemed to be having trouble with that group of people all the time. I often thought that if he did write a third letter to them, he would probably tell them that they really try his patience.  But, we all probably would try his patience.

Some of the communities which Paul wrote to seemed to have no problems understanding what they are supposed to do and the way they should act. I am sure, though, Paul was familiar with the Prophets and all the problems they had, but they never stopped, even when they were put in jail, threatened with execution, and numerous other ways to punish them because the people, the king, or whomever, just did not like what a Prophet was telling them.

Paul was no stranger to many of these things. Not only did he have problems with communities he was evangelising, but also with all the officials in the communities. And, then, after all that, while he’s telling the Gentiles they don’t have to follow the LAW, the other Apostles are  disagreeing with him.  So, off to Jerusalem for a council and getting some decisions about preaching to the Gentiles and the LAW.

So, what has that got to do with the Bible quote for today. Paul finally had to tell people FAITH is what is important; not what a person sees and sometimes not what a person hears.  God sorts everything out and fixes everything. All of us just need Faith. (In one of that adaptations of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s books by Universal – The Scarlet Claw – the priest in the story has one of the best lines: “Aw, what you need is more Faith and less imagination!”  Not only less imagination, but keep your own thoughts out of the way.)  Just pray for more Faith and trust that God will work everything out.  May not be the way we would do it, but then, we are not God’s counsellors.

Thanks for reading.