Trinity - In the Beginning

The trinity of God is right here in this first sentence!  In fact, these four words speak volumes: God said, “Light, Be!”

In the beginning God – “Elohim” in Hebrew – created the heavens and the earth.  “Elohim” is God plural; coupled with a singular verb it denotes the majestic plural.  So the character of God that is emphasized when He spoke His first Word is that of plurality and unity and power. 

The Spirit of God is “ruah Elohim” in Hebrew.  “Ruah” is breath or wind.  So the Spirit of God is the breath of God.  This is important because our voice is carried on our breath.  Without wind . . .

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Spirit of Holiness

“Holiness” is God’s theme for me lately.  This passage in Romans is just one of the many examples of “holiness” surfacing in my readings. Here the Holy Spirit is referred to as the “Spirit of Holiness.”  It seemed like an interesting twist of semantics at first.  But actually, their word choice was deliberate.  And it adds weight and significance to the passage.

If we say “Holy Spirit,” that indicates that the Spirit of God, Himself, is Holy.  We are saying that Holiness as His nature.  “Holy” is who He is.  But if we say “Spirit of Holiness” that indicates . . .

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Holy to the Lord

Aaron, the priest, wears a "seal" in the form of the gold plate on his turban.   The "seal" that Aaron wears declares that he is, "Holy to the Lord!"

This caught my attention because we, like Aaron, are priests of the Most High God.  (1 Peter 2:9)  We have also been “sealed” with the Holy Spirit for . . .

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Revealed to be "Anointed Ones"

Do you see the difference?  In the first version, the implication is that a group of people decided that instead of referring to the disciples as “The Way” or some other designation, they would be called Christians.  In the second version, God Himself reveals some new thing about Jesus followers! This is a game-changer!

This is much more significant than . . .

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Freedom to Praise

I would love it if I could read the Word of God in its original language.  Every detail, every name, every number, is written for our learning.  And so much is lost in the translation.  For example, these verses on healing in Acts are actually a lesson on living a praise-filled life.

The notes in The Passion translation point out that the name of the town where Peter is ministering, Lydda, means “strife.”  And the healed man’s name, Aneneas, means “praise.”  So, this man named “Praise” is living in a place called “Strife . . .

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From Death to Life

The day that our physical body ceases to breathe, and our spirit passes into eternity, is what we refer to as “death.”  But in the above verses, Jesus refers to this as “entering life.”  In other words, what we would call “death,” Jesus calls “life.”  Think about that a moment!

Jesus has an eternal perspective.  He knows that our true life begins . . .

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Blessed by My Own Blog

I’ve been sitting at Deaconess Hospital in Spokane Washington this last week wondering if each day will be my Dad’s last one.  Every morning I would walk in intending to be a bubble of joy . . . to push back the darkness.  But at the end of the week, I awoke one morning with a negative dream and my thought patterns spiraled downward.  Yikes!

That day I was NOT a bubble of joy!  My mind seemed unable to focus or . . .

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You are Significant

Today, I am identifying with Hannah and Ruth, two faithful women from the Old Testament.

Hannah pops out of obscurity long enough for us to see her tenacious faithfulness.  Then she fades into the obscurity of history again.  You can read her story in 1 Samuel chapters 1 and 2. 

Hannah is faithful to God even when no one else in her family is.  Her faithless husband loves her but doesn’t trust God to provide children so he marries another woman.  The second wife . . .

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DO NOT FEAR!

I noticed how similar these two verse sounded.  In the first verse, Moses and the children of Israel had just left Egypt.  The Egyptian army chased after them and overtook them camping by the Red Sea.   The children of Israel were frightened and cried out to the Lord.  It is at this point that Moses said, “Do not fear!  Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord.”  And God delivered them, from their enemy, through an impossible situation.

In Jesus’ day, Jairus was in a similar panic situation.  His only daughter was dying. Jairus fell at the feet . . .

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Twelve Springs and Seventy Palms

I am fascinated by this place of 12 springs and 70 palm trees called Elim (Exodus 15).  Elim is mentioned almost in passing; it gets only a sentence or two in scripture.  Yet as I researched the symbolism, it seemed very significant to me. 

Symbolically, twelve is the number of “divine government,” and 70 is the number of “perfect spiritual order.”  And springs represent “new beginnings” or “a well of salvation.” . . . .

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Give Your Heart to Jesus

I gave my heart to Jesus yesterday. 

Don’t get me wrong; I have been a Christian for many years.  I invited Jesus into my heart as a small child.  And I relinquish the throne of my heart to Jesus some years after that.  The heart I gave Him yesterday was an actual physical heart . . . .

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