REVELATION, UNDERSTANDING, AND INSPIRED ACTION

REVELATION, UNDERSTANDING, AND INSPIRED ACTION

Truth has three parts: REVELATION, UNDERSTANDING, AND INSPIRED ACTION. Revelation is something revealed. God has revealed Himself and His ways in the Bible. But the Bible is only words in a book until those words are illuminated, or we could say, Understood. Illumination is when the proverbial light bulb goes on, and we all-of-sudden understand what we’ve read or heard. It’s that “ah-ha” moment. It’s when things flow together, and understanding takes place. This can only happen when God’s light turns on in a person’s heart, and only God or His son Jesus Christ, can give true understanding.  

 

This morning, I looked up the word “understanding” in an online Concordance and there were so many great scriptures. The following are only a few of them: “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45). Proverbs 2:6 says: “For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.”

 

Solomon specifically asked God for understanding and this was God’s answer: “Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart “ (1 Kings 3:12). 1 Chronicles 22:12 tells us: “Only the Lord give thee wisdom and understanding.” And David said: “Let my cry come near before thee, O Lord: give me understanding according to thy word” (Psalm 119:169).

 

The Lord wants to illuminate us with His light, and like Matthew 15:10 tells us: “Jesus called the multitude, and said unto them, ‘Hear, and understand.’”

 

But without the light of God illuminating what we hear or read, this is what happens: “Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: for the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Acts 28:26-27).

 

In the New Testament, the Greek word for “illuminate” is ‘sunesis’ or ‘suniemi,’ and it means “to understand, put together, and mentally comprehend.”

 

Sunesis is what brings everything together and makes the Bible alive and real, and not just words on a page.

 

So, first we have the revelation, then the illumination, or the understanding, and the final part is inspired action.

 

The word ‘inspire’ comes from the Latin combination of two words: ‘in’ or into, and ‘spirare’, to breathe. According to the dictionary, the word was originally used of a divine or supernatural being, taking the action to impart a truth or idea to someone. So God takes the action to breathe into us an understanding of His will and His ways, and then we are to take the inspired action to share it with others. In this way, God’s truths, His will, and His ways spread out to bless all the earth. 1. REVELATION 2. UNDERSTANDING 3. INSPIRED ACTION

 

Love, Carolyn

 

IT'S A RELATIONSHIP, NOT A FORMULA

IT’S A RELATIONSHIP, NOT A FORMULA

About a week ago, I read a message from a friend telling me about some of the healing patches she uses. In the middle of her message, she included one sentence that seemed a bit out of place with the context of the rest: “Speaking in tongues also clears my ears.” But it sparked my mind, and a week later, God used it to heal me.

 

One morning, I was in a hurry and quickly grabbed my pajama bottoms and threw them in the washer with the rest of my laundry. Unfortunately, my phone was in the pocket, and it wasn’t until I went to put the laundry in the dryer that I heard a clunking in the washing machine and found my phone at the bottom of the tub! Bummer!! I tried putting it in rice and then drying it with the hair dryer, but neither worked. When I went to get a new phone, it turned out that they couldn’t put my old SIM card into the new one. Now, what do I do?

 

I bought a new phone but knew I’d lost all my contact numbers. I wanted to keep my old phone number, so I called the company. I tried talking to one of the customer service people, but it was frustrating because I couldn’t understand their English, and they were talking really fast. It took a while, and finally I got the message: I couldn’t get my old number back until I first put a service plan on the new phone. So, after being on the phone for about 30 minutes, I still had procedures to go through to get everything going.

 

I went back to the store and got a new service plan. But then I had to call the phone company to put the service plan on the new phone and change the new phone’s number to the one I had on the old phone. Once again, I got a customer service person whose English I could barely understand. At this point, I would have ordinarily asked to speak to a supervisor. Still, after explaining my situation twice, I really didn’t want to go through all that again, so I stayed on the line and annoyed the customer service person by asking her to repeat, repeat, repeat. She was very patient, and after an hour on the phone, I finally got what I needed. However….

 

I had to lie down because I had a huge headache. You know those clamps you use to fix a garden hose? You cut the hose, put the clamp on, and tighten it with a screwdriver. Well, that’s what I felt like I had on my head—a giant clamp, squeezing and pinching my head tighter and tighter. And then it came to me: that out-of-place sentence from my friend’s message: “Speaking in tongues also clears my ears.”

 

Instantly, I knew that it was God using that sentence from a friend to make the headache disappear, so I rehearsed in my mind how speaking in tongues is perfect prayer, from Romans 8:26-27:  “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

 

And I also knew from Isaiah 28:11-12 that speaking in tongues is perfect peace and rest: “For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, ‘This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing.” I pondered for a few minutes on these two wonderful characteristics of speaking in tongues, perfect prayer and perfect peace. I fell asleep, and 30 minutes later, when I woke up, I felt no pain. My head was perfectly fine, and I was refreshed.

 

I believe God talks to us all the time. He’s our Father, not a mere formula we apply at will to aggrandize us as human beings. He’s given us many practical instructions in His Word that we practice, practice, and practice. But as we continue faithfully seeking Him and His ways, we grow up in Christ to see our Father with our spiritual eyes, communicating with us in just about everything.

 

It wasn’t random or coincidence that my friend wrote what she did, and I caught it a week before I really needed it. God was working in her to write it, and He worked in me to hear His word through her writing. Then, when I needed it, God nudged me, and I remembered what was said, believed it, pondered it, and was healed.

 

Our Father, God, works in the body of Christ through His people to get His answers, His healings, and His deliverance to us. God’s voice is hearable if we only pay attention. We yield to Him in even the smallest details, and they become some of the biggest blessings.

 

Thank you, Judith B., for hearing and sending the message. And thank you, Wendy P., for the plaque you gave many years ago, with the poem about those seemingly “little things.”

 

Love, Carolyn

 

BIBLE LESSONS IN NATURE is out now in paperback and Kindle. I think you’ll really like it 😊

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REMOVING THE DARK SHADOW WITH THE CLARITY OF THE LIVING CHRIST

REMOVING THE DARK SHADOW WITH THE CLARITY OF THE LIVING CHRIST

Satan shook his ugly finger at God and perverted the hearts of God’s people. They began to see their creator as severe and unforgiving. They were sure He was constantly watching them. Looking to find fault, pass judgment, and delegate harsh punishment. But, as E.G. White puts it: “It was to remove this dark shadow, by revealing to the world the infinite love of God, that Jesus came to live among men.” Jesus said of himself: “He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised” (Luke 4:18).

 

Love, mercy, and compassion were evidenced in every aspect of Jesus’ life. He took on mankind’s nature to see and relate to what every person needs and desires. The poorest and weakest were not afraid to approach him, and children responded to his love. He didn’t hold back on speaking God’s truth but always spoke it in love. Jesus exercised tact, kindness, and thoughtful attention when interacting with people. He was not afraid to denounce hypocrisy, unbelief, and sin, but tears were in his voice as he uttered scathing rebukes. Even when he raised his voice to cast out demons or commanded the storms to cower to his authority, he did it with love for the people.

 

Every soul was precious in Jesus’ eyes. His mission was to bring all people back together with their creator, to be in God’s family forever. Jesus saw that many people were damaged souls and was there to save them.

 

In everyday circumstances, we’re not smart enough to figure out the right thing to do every time. What we think is good may not be. What we think is bad may not be. We guess and hope we’re doing it right. But only God has perfect foresight and hindsight. The bravest thing we can do is abandon our self-constructed ideologies of what it takes to be a good person. Whether we are born-again Christians or not, we need to drop the idea that we alone can devise the standard of what it means to be good. The Lord of heaven, our creator, has already given the parameters.

 

We need to jump off the cliff of “ME” into the arms of HIM! When we know what the Bible says and have Jesus as our personal Lord, we access true standards of ethics for every circumstance.

 

When God got a bad reputation in the Old Testament times, He sent Jesus to be a man like us, to relate to us, to understand us, and be among us forever. “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matt. 1:23). He is the only Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6b), the only Lord of lords. “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for his is Lords of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful” (Rev. 17:14). Jesus is the presence of love and the conduit of all God’s grace.

 

Isaiah 9:6a says: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder.” That’s the government of our souls! What a relief! Whenever I get stressed about money, I recall that I gave Jesus the government of my finances. He takes the stress away and gives me peace and wise instruction. Jesus is pure and genuine.

 

Going into this new year, let’s make an effort to recognize and allow Jesus into our everyday activities, setting the rules for our lives from this day forward with the written word and revelation. It will definitely be more exciting, versatile, loving, and satisfying than anything we can come up with on our own.

 

Even though we are now in the aftermath of Christmas, I want to share the lyrics of this beautiful hymn written in 1739. Read to the end and slowly. It’s packed! And it will bless you.

 

Love, Carolyn

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King,
peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
join the triumph of the skies;
with th’ angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”

Christ, by highest heaven adored;
Christ, the everlasting Lord;
late in time behold him come,
offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
hail th’ incarnate Deity,
pleased as man with man to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,
born that man no more may die,
born to raise the sons of earth,
born to give us second birth.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”

Come, Desire of nations, come,
fix in us thy humble home;
rise, the woman’s conquering Seed,
bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface;
stamp thine image in its place.
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the new born King!”

Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”

 

 

 

 

GREATNESS IS MADE TO BE SHARED

GREATNESS IS MADE TO BE SHARED

We are all familiar with lines from Ecclesiastes 3. The first verse reads: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” As we know, some things happen immediately, and some things take longer. It took the Israelites 40 years to get to the promised land. I’m praying that 2024 is my 41^st! Promised Land, here I come!

 

But guess what? When God’s people went into the land God gave them, there were giants and mighty kings they had to battle. And no one could fully enjoy the fullness of what this new land promised until everyone was in!

 

That’s how I feel about this upcoming year. We, as individuals in the body of Christ, are stepping into a new place, a wonderful place. We are leaving behind what is past and not letting it dictate or captivate our futures. We have places to go, people to see, new adventures, new delights, and new encounters with greatness.

 

But we are not alone. We need to stretch out our prayer to encompass more individuals in the body of Christ, reaching out in our empathy and reaching higher in our faith. People desperately need our sincere, Christ-inspired prayer and our giftings in many other fields of service. One scripture Jane and I pray every morning regarding this is the prayer of Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4:10: “Oh that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!” (Emphasis on “enlarge my coast”). Another great one is Isaiah 54:2: “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes.”

 

The thing is, God doesn’t ask us to stretch out our prayer or our gifting without rewarding us for doing so. The Lord is always thinking about the whole body of Christ being blessed, each member as an important part of the process:  giving AND receiving.

 

The Lord Jesus will show us, as individuals and groups, how to do the Father’s will in every aspect of our lives, and let’s expect an amazing year.

 

Love, Carolyn

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