ADAM-ANCESTRY.GOD

Posted on June 16, 2022 by randscallawayffm

My mother got hooked on tracing the generations of our relatives on her father’s side of the family.  We understand that this branch of the family began with two brothers who were Bible salesmen who escaped persecution of being Christians in France, left and then settled in North America.  One brother went north to French speaking Canada, the other brother went south.  The southern branch settled in Oklahoma in subsequent generations.  My grandpa’s family spoke French in the home but insisted that he and his siblings speak only English so they would “fit in”.  And the stories of faith, trials and celebrations go on…

As interesting as genealogy studies are, we all must realize that God provides our genealogy in His Word!  By starting at the beginning, Genesis, God gives us our ancestry line after many generations have been created.  We are only a few chapters in and we discover and realize once more that the human race began with Adam and Eve.  ALL of us were produced from the line of Adam and Eve who were created by God.  There, God did our search for us!  BAM! DONE!

“Live long, and prosper” wasn’t just a line from Star Trek, it was God’s method to populate the earth He created “in His image”.  Let’s camp on this thought for a moment and realize the full meaning of “made in the image of God” expressed in the first chapter of Genesis:

“Imago Dei” comes from the Latin version of the Bible, translated to English as “image of God.”  “Image of God” is defined as the metaphysical expression, associated uniquely to humans, which signifies the symbolical connection between God and humanity. The phrase has its origins in Genesis 1:27, wherein “God created man in his own image…”

This biblical passage does not imply that God is in human form, but that humans are in the image of God in their moral, spiritual, and intellectual essence. Therefore, humans reflect God’s divine nature in their ability to achieve the unique characteristics with which they have been given. These unique qualities make humans different than all other creatures: rational understanding, creative liberty, the capacity for self-actualization, and the potential for self-transcendence.

The term imago Dei refers most fundamentally to two things: first, God’s own self-actualization through humankind; and second, God’s care for humankind.  Do we see the enormous responsibility here?  In other words, for humans to have the conscious recognition of their being in the image of God means that they are the creature through whom God’s plans and purposes can be made known and actualized; humans, in this way, can be seen as co-creators with God. The moral implications of the doctrine of imago Dei are apparent in the fact that if humans are to love God, then humans must love other humans, as each is an expression of God. 

Humans differ from all other creatures because of their rational structure – their capacity for deliberation and free decision-making. This freedom gives the human-centeredness and completeness which allows the possibility for self-actualization and participation in a sacred reality. Only God is God.  We are not God.  But God is in us.

However, the freedom which makes the human in God’s image is the same freedom which manifests itself in estrangement from God, as pronounced and defined by the Fall of Adam and Eve.  As shown by their decisions, humans can, in their freedom, choose to deny or repress their spiritual and moral likeness to God.

The ability and desire to love one’s self and others, and therefore, God, can become neglected and even opposed. Striving to bring about the imago Dei in one’s life can be seen as the quest for wholeness, or one’s “essential” self, as pointed to in Christ’s life and teachings.

The significance of humans being created “in the image of God” is our responsibility to recognize and understand rationality and ability to create abstract conceptions from the natural world. This gives us the capacity to create a glorious peaceful world or a fallen chaotic environment, depending upon our motives and understanding. Just as Satan fell from God, we are capable of falling from God and suffering the consequences. We must realize our dual potential (good vs evil) and act in accordance with God’s will and law to create prosperous and benevolent communities and nations.  “Go forth and prosper!” has even more meaning!

Genesis 5, The Message

The Family Tree of the Human Race

1-2 This is the family tree of the human race: When God created the human race, he made it godlike, with a nature akin to God. He created both male and female and blessed them, the whole human race.

3-5 When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son who was just like him, his very spirit and image, and named him Seth. After the birth of Seth, Adam lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters. Adam lived a total of 930 years. And he died.

6-8 When Seth was 105 years old, he had Enosh. After Seth had Enosh, he lived another 807 years, having more sons and daughters. Seth lived a total of 912 years. And he died.

9-11 When Enosh was ninety years old, he had Kenan. After he had Kenan, he lived another 815 years, having more sons and daughters. Enosh lived a total of 905 years. And he died.

12-14 When Kenan was seventy years old, he had Mahalalel. After he had Mahalalel, he lived another 840 years, having more sons and daughters. Kenan lived a total of 910 years. And he died.

15-17 When Mahalalel was sixty-five years old, he had Jared. After he had Jared, he lived another 830 years, having more sons and daughters. Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years. And he died.

18-20 When Jared was 162 years old, he had Enoch. After he had Enoch, he lived another 800 years, having more sons and daughters. Jared lived a total of 962 years. And he died.

21-23 When Enoch was sixty-five years old, he had Methuselah. Enoch walked steadily with God. After he had Methuselah, he lived another 300 years, having more sons and daughters. Enoch lived a total of 365 years.

24 Enoch walked steadily with God. And then one day he was simply gone: God took him.

25-27 When Methuselah was 187 years old, he had Lamech. After he had Lamech, he lived another 782 years. Methuselah lived a total of 969 years. And he died.

28-31 When Lamech was 182 years old, he had a son. He named him Noah, saying, “This one will give us a break from the hard work of farming the ground that God cursed.” After Lamech had Noah, he lived another 595 years, having more sons and daughters. Lamech lived a total of 777 years. And he died.

32 When Noah was 500 years old, he had Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

After the genealogy lesson, we will learn the real-life stories of these individuals and their families.  There is so much more to come, more to learn, more reasons to prosper as a people made in the image of God!

Lord,

Thank you for giving us the genealogy of our existence, the stories of humans deciding right from wrong, along with the power of your existence in all of us made in your image.  Continue to teach us to walk in your ways so we will live long and prosper according to your will and plan.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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DOING WELL FROM A GOOD HEART

Posted on June 13, 2022 by randscallawayffm

Our hearts are a well spring from which flows our thoughts and ultimate behaviors.  God knows our hearts better than we know our hearts.  The quicker we understand this ‘knowing” the more we will grow in God’s character and bear the fruits of His Holy Spirit which are listed in Galatians 5; “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  As believers who strive to follow Jesus, we have His power working in us to develop the character of the One who made us in His image, bearing this fruit that lasts for eternity.

Adam and Eve have now passed on the ability to sin of their youth to one of their sons, Cain.  Cain’s heart is not like his brother, Abel.  God sees right through us to our hearts.  Abel brings an offering to God and God accepts it as good and right. Cain brings an offering from his work efforts but his heart is not in the giving.  God sees that and does not approve.  Abel does well.  Cain does not do well.

Cain validates the condition of his heart by sulking, replaying the situation, while anger rises within him to the point of killing his brother.  All the characteristics of a heart that is not seeking the heart of God yields the fruits of a different, evil spirit.  The list can also be found in Galatians 5 for reference; “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.” 

We don’t know exactly what was in Cain’s heart, only God knows.  But it seems, between the two brothers, Cain was jealous which led to hostility with outbursts of anger which led to his brother’s death.  God’s disapproval may have been the “tipping point” for Cain who had a “heart condition” that was not well.  Cain then lies to God about the murder!  Sin gives birth to more sin.

We might be asking ourselves; Did the unapproved offering lead to murder?  Or was Cain’s heart not right to begin with before giving the offering?  Was this God’s way of helping Cain see who or what was seriously and truthfully ruling his heart? 

God speaks. God acts according with what He knows.  God knows everything.  This is the story of God and how His created relate to Him—or not.  Read, Think, Pray and Live what we learn from Genesis 4…

Genesis 4, The Message

Adam slept with Eve his wife. She conceived and had Cain. She said, “I’ve gotten a man, with God’s help!”

2 Then she had another baby, Abel. Abel was a herdsman and Cain a farmer.

3-5 Time passed. Cain brought an offering to God from the produce of his farm. Abel also brought an offering, but from the firstborn animals of his herd, choice cuts of meat. God liked Abel and his offering, but Cain and his offering didn’t get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk.

6-7 God spoke to Cain: “Why this tantrum? Why the sulking? If you do well, won’t you be accepted? And if you don’t do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it’s out to get you, you’ve got to master it.”

8 Cain had words with his brother. They were out in the field; Cain came at Abel his brother and killed him.

9 God said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”

He said, “How should I know? Am I his babysitter?”

10-12 God said, “What have you done! The voice of your brother’s blood is calling to me from the ground. From now on you’ll get nothing but curses from this ground; you’ll be driven from this ground that has opened its arms to receive the blood of your murdered brother. You’ll farm this ground, but it will no longer give you its best. You’ll be a homeless wanderer on Earth.”

13-14 Cain said to God, “My punishment is too much. I can’t take it! You’ve thrown me off the land and I can never again face you. I’m a homeless wanderer on Earth and whoever finds me will kill me.”

15 God told him, “No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times over.” God put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him would kill him.

16 Cain left the presence of God and lived in No-Man’s-Land, east of Eden.

17-18 Cain slept with his wife. She conceived and had Enoch. He then built a city and named it after his son, Enoch.

Enoch had Irad,

Irad had Mehujael,

Mehujael had Methushael,

Methushael had Lamech.

19-22 Lamech married two wives, Adah and Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal, the ancestor of all who live in tents and herd cattle. His brother’s name was Jubal, the ancestor of all who play the lyre and flute. Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who worked at the forge making bronze and iron tools. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

23-24     Lamech said to his wives,
Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
    you wives of Lamech, hear me out:
I killed a man for wounding me,
    a young man who attacked me.
If Cain is avenged seven times,
    for Lamech it’s seventy-seven!

25-26 Adam slept with his wife again. She had a son whom she named Seth. She said, “God has given me another child in place of Abel whom Cain killed.” And then Seth had a son whom he named Enosh.

That’s when men and women began praying and worshiping in the name of God.

DIGGING DEEPER

Eugene Peterson, The Message, in his introduction to Genesis writes;

“Genesis gets us off on the right foot. Genesis pulls us into a sense of reality that is God-shaped and God-filled.  It gives us a vocabulary for speaking accurately and comprehensively about our lives, where we come from and where we are going, what we think and what we do, the people we live with and how to get along with them.  The troubles we find ourselves in and the blessings that keep arriving.”

“Genesis uses words to make a foundation that is solid and true.  Everything we think and do and feel is material in a building operation in which we are engaged all our life long.  There is immense significance in everything that we do.  Our speech and our actions and our prayers are all, every detail of them, involved in this vast building operation comprehensively known as the Kingdom of God.  But we don’t build the foundation. The foundation is given. The foundation is firmly in place.”

“Jesus concluded his most famous teaching by telling us that there are two ways to go about our lives, we can build on sand or we can build on rock.  No matter how wonderfully we build, if we build on sand, it will all fall to pieces like a house of cards.  We build on what is already there, on the rock.  Genesis is a verbal witness to that rock.  God’s creative acts, God’s intervening and gracious judgements, God’s call to a life of faith, God’s making covenant with us.”

“But Genesis presents none of this to us, as an abstract, bloodless “truth” or “principle.”  We are given a succession of stories with named people, people who loved and quarreled, believed and doubted, had children and married, experienced sin and grace.  If we pay attention, we find we ourselves are living variations on these very stories.  Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and his sons, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, Joseph and his brother.” 

“The stories show clearly that we are never outsiders or spectators to anything in “heaven and earth.”  God doesn’t work impersonally from space, he works with us where are, as he finds us.  No matter what we do, whether good or bad, we continue to be part of everything God is doing. Nobody can drop out—there’s no place to drop out to.  So, we may as well get started and take our place in the story—at the beginning.”

Lord,

We humans get into messes that become overwhelming, too much for us to take, too much for us to “fix”.  But for you, God of heaven and earth, nothing is impossible.  You take our hearts and mend the brokenness, and save us by your grace.  You give us solid footing on an immovable foundation so we can continue our growth process.  Thank you, Lord.  I trust in you for every detail of my life.  I seek to “do well” in your eyes.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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AND WE ALL FALL DOWN—

Posted on June 11, 2022 by randscallawayffm

FAME, SHAME, AND BLAME IS THE NAME OF THE GAME IN THE GARDEN

“First pride, then the crash—the bigger the ego, the harder the fall.”             

Proverbs 16:18, The Message

All was perfect in The Garden where God placed his created man and woman to live and manage his creation.  Their relationship was sweet.  The work was easy, the burdens light.  The land gave them all they needed until someone told them they didn’t have enough.  The serpent was clever, sly as a fox, and decided that all of them should be more than “like God” but BE God”.  Hence, the first sin, prompted by an oversized ego is realized—wanting to be God, controlling all, knowing all so that they could rule themselves even though they had no real power to do so—because they are NOT God.  But, we’re not like that, are we?

“Full of the devil”—the fallen angel who was kicked out of heaven for trying to be God”, a creature uses God’s own creation, as a way in to mess with the perfect peace of perfection in the Garden of Eden.  He uses cleverly devised lies to lure first the woman, then the man.  Pride enters the ones who were first made “in the image of God” and discontent and desire breeds dissatisfaction thinking they aren’t enough and don’t have enough.  We think, how could they fall for the lies?  We’re not like that…are we?

FAME TO SHAME

The serpent also points out that God is their enemy alluding that God is lying to them!  Ooh, so clever.  But that’s how the devil works, turning Truth upside and backwards until we think evil’s lies are right and true for us.  Yeah, why shouldn’t we eat anything we want!  I know we have more than we need, life is perfect the way God created, but I want more.  Self-importance and arrogance now enter the garden and destroys the peace even more.  Their relationship with God turns from love and adoration to fear and shame.  They hide from God knowing they have gone against what God specifically told them not to do. 

SHAME TO BLAME

More and more sins pile up from the disobedience.  I love how the paraphrase states the obvious, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.”  In other words, I have done exactly what you told me not to do.  Shame now turns to the first BLAME GAME:

“The Man said, ‘The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it.’”  Adam not only blames Eve, he blames God!  “You gave me this woman, so what was I to do?” he seems to be saying.

So, what does Eve do?  She reacts with blaming the serpent.  “The serpent seduced me,” she said, “and I ate.”

As I former first grade teacher, I can hear the sigh of God.  This is truly childish behavior you see on any playground daily…or in any home with immature children.  Sin has a progression to repentance.  I’ve seen in in children.  When I approached misbehaving children, they would always respond in the following stages within seconds of standing in front of me:

“I didn’t do anything.”

“They did it first.”

“Everyone’s doing it.”

“I did it, I’m sorry.”

I learned that if I waited long enough while looking at them with the “teacher look”, the final phase of admitting their “sin” would lead to, “I’m sorry”.  Nakedness exposed.  Fame to Shame to Blame is a human trait that began with The Fall of Adam and Eve.

But God knew.  After the punishment, a plan for redemption was already in the works.  It would go through stages of sacrifice until the Ultimate Sacrifice would rid the sins of the world once and for all.  Notice the pronoun “us” used as God banishes Adam and Eve from the Garden of Perfection, “God said, “The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil.”  Jesus is with God because He is part of God and His Spirit—the Holy Trinity! 

Realize this truth as we continue to learn more as we journey through the Bible starting at the Beginning.  Mankind is now in a fallen state, but God is patient and longsuffering.  After the punishment we see the compassion of God as he creates clothing for his beloved man and woman and dresses them before kicking them out of the Garden where all is perfect to another part of the world where they will work hard, bear children with extreme pain, (thanks, Eve) with a fractured relationship with their Father, God of Creation. 

Genesis 3, The Message

The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?”

2-3 The Woman said to the serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’”

4-5 The serpent told the Woman, “You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.”

6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.

7 Immediately the two of them did “see what’s really going on”—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.

8 When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God.

9 God called to the Man: “Where are you?”

10 He said, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.”

11 God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?”

12 The Man said, “The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it.”

God said to the Woman, “What is this that you’ve done?”

13 “The serpent seduced me,” she said, “and I ate.”

14-15     God told the serpent:
“Because you’ve done this, you’re cursed,
    cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals,
Cursed to slink on your belly
    and eat dirt all your life.
I’m declaring war between you and the Woman,
    between your offspring and hers.
He’ll wound your head,
    you’ll wound his heel.”

16     He told the Woman:
“I’ll multiply your pains in childbirth;
    you’ll give birth to your babies in pain.
You’ll want to please your husband,
    but he’ll lord it over you.”

17-19     He told the Man:
“Because you listened to your wife
    and ate from the tree
That I commanded you not to eat from,
    ‘Don’t eat from this tree,’
The very ground is cursed because of you;
    getting food from the ground
Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife;
    you’ll be working in pain all your life long.
The ground will sprout thorns and weeds,
    you’ll get your food the hard way,
Planting and tilling and harvesting,
    sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk,
Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried;
    you started out as dirt, you’ll end up dirt.”

20 The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.

21 God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.

22 God said, “The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never—this cannot happen!”

23-24 So God expelled them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they’d been made. He threw them out of the garden and stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the path to the Tree-of-Life.

Lord,

We are exactly like your first humans with choice to fall even though you made us in your image.  You knew from the beginning what we would need to be redeemed from the fall, our own fall.  You provided The Way to make it happen through Your Son.  You brought us from death forever to be saved for eternal life. 

Thank you, Jesus, for saving our souls, restoring our relationship with God, the Father while constantly renewing your Spirit’s power working inside us to grow and mature in your character.  You surprise us in this transformation process with maturity of your Spiritual Gifts that bloom from the inside out in any given situation that challenges us.  We are not perfect, but perfectly forgiven.  We yield to you, and you cause us to grow.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In Jesus Name, Amen

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THE NO-SHAME DAYS

Posted on June 10, 2022 by randscallawayffm

No shame.  Imagine living with no shame, not a care in the world, while living in a world of perfection.  We want days like that, where freedom is felt to the fullest.  We enjoy days when we are living our lives with no-shame. Isn’t that really the best life?!  But then we are tempted by new vices and devices, along with other voices that confuse us and draw our attention from God.  We hear voices that say, “There’s no shame in doing that,” until we do, then we regret doing it and shame covers us like a heavy blanket of guilt and remorse.  “Mama said there’d be days like this, there’d be days like this, mama said”.

As we continue in Genesis, the beginning, we are introduced to the first humans created in the image of God.  Adam and Eve are formed from the dust of the ground that God created.  Male and female, man and woman, He created them to help each other manage the rest of God’s Creation.  Did you notice?  God gave them purpose as soon as they were created.  He put them in charge of what He created!  Adam was given the privilege of naming everything!  How fun is that?!  They traveled lightly, no worries or cares in a perfectly created place of beauty.  They talked with God as God met with them where they were—in the Garden of Eden.  Pure and Holy.

Fun fact:  Adam and Eve traveled so lightly, there was no need for luggage!  Imagine spending zero time in picking out clothes to wear or wondering where to store them! They didn’t have to spend any time thinking about how many clothes, shoes or accessories they needed or wanted, no worries about being trendy in dressing well or being popular wearing they clothes they wore, for they were naked.  No need for certain clothes to protect them in perfect world.  It’s a no shame zone for sin has not yet entered their world of perfection and life forever with God.  They are connected to God in relationship with nothing standing between God and His creation of man and woman.

As God rested on the Seventh Day, let us rest in Him.  Who is God?  Who is He to us?  What stands in our way of close communion that builds our relationship with God? 

As we learned in previous days, we must take time to read, think, pray and live what we are learning as we walk through the Beginning—the Genesis of our own lives.  The story will have a plot twist that will affect humanity forever in tomorrow’s reading.  But for now…let’s imagine Adam and Eve, living with no shame, in a perfect place, with direct communion and relationship with the God who created it all.  There is no one or no thing standing in the way of their relationship with their Creator. 

No shame.  “The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame.”

Genesis 2, The Message

Heaven and Earth were finished,
    down to the last detail.

2-4 By the seventh day
    God had finished his work.
On the seventh day
    he rested from all his work.
God blessed the seventh day.
    He made it a Holy Day
Because on that day he rested from his work,
    all the creating God had done.

This is the story of how it all started,
    of Heaven and Earth when they were created.

Adam and Eve

5-7 At the time God made Earth and Heaven, before any grasses or shrubs had sprouted from the ground—God hadn’t yet sent rain on Earth, nor was there anyone around to work the ground (the whole Earth was watered by underground springs)—God formed Man out of dirt from the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. The Man came alive—a living soul!

8-9 Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it. God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. The Tree-of-Life was in the middle of the garden, also the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil.

10-14 A river flows out of Eden to water the garden and from there divides into four rivers. The first is named Pishon; it flows through Havilah where there is gold. The gold of this land is good. The land is also known for a sweet-scented resin and the onyx stone. The second river is named Gihon; it flows through the land of Cush. The third river is named Hiddekel and flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 God took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order.

16-17 God commanded the Man, “You can eat from any tree in the garden, except from the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you’re dead.”

18-20 God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.” So God formed from the dirt of the ground all the animals of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the Man to see what he would name them. Whatever the Man called each living creature, that was its name. The Man named the cattle, named the birds of the air, named the wild animals; but he didn’t find a suitable companion.

21-22 God put the Man into a deep sleep. As he slept he removed one of his ribs and replaced it with flesh. God then used the rib that he had taken from the Man to make Woman and presented her to the Man.

23-25     The Man said,
“Finally! Bone of my bone,
    flesh of my flesh!
Name her Woman
    for she was made from Man.”
    Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh.
    The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame.

Lord,

You still warn us not to think, do or say what will lead us to shame and regret, destruction of relationships and eventually death.  You gave us, as redeemed believers, a Helper, Your Holy Spirit, to guide and lead, convict and comfort, encourage and show us the way to live in a no shame zone of freedom—Your Plan!  We know that comes from repenting of our sins, our imperfections, so that there is nothing that stands between you and your created, your beloved.  Thank you for The Plan that makes our relationship possible. Thank you, Jesus, for fulfilling The Plan to save us.  Continue to teach me your ways.

In Jesus Name, Amen

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START AT THE BEGINNING

Posted on June 9, 2022 by randscallawayffm

Part Four of four

RECAP:  If you have been following “Daily Manna with Your Mug”, you are realizing I like to write short, personal writings that are created from my own “conversations” with God and then passed on to you each morning.  When I rise each new day, I get a large mug of coffee and a bowl of Cheerios and “have breakfast with Jesus.  It begins with prayer, reading, thinking, and then writing.  Since completing the Book of Revelation last week, I am led to go back to the beginning—the Genesis of God’s message to us and for us. 

Yesterday we learned how to PRAY before, during and after we read the Word of God to us.  When we stop to pray, asking God what He wants us to know with listening for how He wants us to change our lives, our relationship with God grows even more intimately—like we would with a best friend or mate.  Our relationship grows deeper still as we begin to see those changes, by His power working in us, in every living.  God is doing something that causes us to BE different! 

Remember, this way to understand the Bible has four parts:  READ, THINK, PRAY, LIVE.  We discussed READ in Part One, THINK is Part Two, PRAY in part three, now let’s learn to LIVE!

LIVE

This is where God’s word begins to shape life.  Jesus was the first one to become God’s word in the flesh. 

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved in the neighborhood.  We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory; like Father, like Son.  Generous inside and out, true from start to finish”.  (John 1)

God’s word by its very nature changes us to make us like Christ: “God means what he says.  What he says goes.  His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey”.  (Hebrews 4)

If you read what God has written, think about it, pray through it, but don’t allow it to change you, you’re missing a big point.  James puts it this way:

“Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other.  ACT on what you hear!  Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.”

“But whoever catches a glimpse of the revealed counsel of God—the FREE life!—even out of the corner of his eye, and sticks with it, is no distracted scatterbrain but a man or woman of action. THAT person will find delight and affirmation in the action.”  (James 1, emphasis mine)

The great part is that God doesn’t leave you alone.  He doesn’t show you how lost you are and then leave you high and dry.  God helps us live the way he wants.  Like Paul told the Philippians, “Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within us, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure” (Philippians 2)

The amazing thing about reading the Bible is that as we spend time with God, this reading becomes part of us!  Like the way relationships with other humans change us and shape our lives, our relationship with God changes us on a much larger scale.  In lectio divina, reading, thinking, and praying come together within us, become part of us, and are lived out even beyond our awareness—like the way a baseball player swings a bat or catches a ball or the way a violinist performs a concerto.  Over time, soaking in God’s Word leads to our living out those words without even thinking about them.

This offers us a tremendous sense of freedom—from our futile and determined attempts to save ourselves by being “good enough”, from the captivity of sin that makes us slaves.  In Matthew 11, Jesus says, “Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

The Bible and is message help us leave behind things that seem to offer pleasure (like living for ourselves) but fail and leave us empty.  God’s Word does more than that.  You find true life.  Jesus says, in John, “I cam so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of” (John 10).  Jesus himself is life (John 14).  So don’t miss this:  When you live the Word, you truly LIVE!

With these thoughts in mind, Read Genesis 1 one more time. See who God is, how He works and what He thinks of us.

Genesis 1, The Message

Heaven and Earth

1 1-2 First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

3-5 God spoke: “Light!”
    And light appeared.
God saw that light was good
    and separated light from dark.
God named the light Day,
    he named the dark Night.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day One.

6-8 God spoke: “Sky! In the middle of the waters;
    separate water from water!”
God made sky.
He separated the water under sky
    from the water above sky.
And there it was:
    he named sky the Heavens;
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Two.

9-10 God spoke: “Separate!
    Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place;
Land, appear!”
    And there it was.
God named the land Earth.
    He named the pooled water Ocean.
God saw that it was good.

11-13 God spoke: “Earth, green up! Grow all varieties
    of seed-bearing plants,
Every sort of fruit-bearing tree.”
    And there it was.
Earth produced green seed-bearing plants,
    all varieties,
And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts.
    God saw that it was good.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Three.

14-15 God spoke: “Lights! Come out!
    Shine in Heaven’s sky!
Separate Day from Night.
    Mark seasons and days and years,
Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.”
    And there it was.

16-19 God made two big lights, the larger
    to take charge of Day,
The smaller to be in charge of Night;
    and he made the stars.
God placed them in the heavenly sky
    to light up Earth
And oversee Day and Night,
    to separate light and dark.
God saw that it was good.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Four.

20-23 God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!
    Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!”
God created the huge whales,
    all the swarm of life in the waters,
And every kind and species of flying birds.
    God saw that it was good.
God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean!
    Birds, reproduce on Earth!”
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Five.

24-25 God spoke: “Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind:
    cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds.”
And there it was:
    wild animals of every kind,
Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug.
    God saw that it was good.

26-28 God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them
    reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
    the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself,
    and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”
God created human beings;
    he created them godlike,
Reflecting God’s nature.
    He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
    “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
    for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”

29-30 Then God said, “I’ve given you
    every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
    given them to you for food.
To all animals and all birds,
    everything that moves and breathes,
I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.”
    And there it was.

31 God looked over everything he had made;
    it was so good, so very good!
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Six.

WHAT WE LEARN—

FIRST GOD.  God is the subject of life.  God is foundational for living.  If we don’t have a sense of the primacy of God, we will never get it right, get life right, get our lives right.  Not God at the margins; not God as an option; not God on the weekends.  GOD at center and circumference; God first and last; GOD, GOD, GOD.

Lord, God of Heaven and Earth,

I begin this day with You.  You are God.  You are First.  I cannot do life without you for as Jesus said, I AM life.  You gave us Life at the beginning and then by your plan to rid us of the death of sin brought us back to Life eternal by believing in your Son who gave His life for us!  I get it, Lord. Continue your transformational work in me.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen.

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START AT THE BEGINNING

Posted on June 8, 2022 by randscallawayffm

Part Three of Four, PRAY

A RECAP:  If you have been following “Daily Manna with Your Mug”, you are realizing I like to write short, personal writings that are created from my own “conversations” with God and then passed on to you each morning.  When I rise each new day, I get a large mug of coffee and a bowl of Cheerios and “have breakfast with Jesus.  It begins with prayer, reading, thinking, and then writing.  Since completing the Book of Revelation last week, I am led to go back to the beginning—the Genesis of God’s message to us and for us. 

Yesterday we learned how to THINK during and after we read the Word of God to us.  When we stop to think more about what God is saying, our relationship grows deeper and we discover that His love is deep.  His love longs for us to commune with him,  Prayer, a conversation, is the way we talk and listen to God.  This way to understand the Bible has four parts:  READ, THINK, PRAY, LIVE.  We discussed READ in Part One, THINK is Part Two, now let’s learn to PRAY.

PRAY

We’ve read the text.  We’ve spent time thinking.  Now comes prayer.  The kind of prayer we’re talking about goes beyond merely asking for things—although there’s a time for that, and God even tells us to do that often.  But in this process of “lectio divina”, there a time when you need to acknowledge what God is saying to you.  Did God reveal something new about who he is?  Did he reveal something about who you are in his eyes?  Is he asking you to think about someone in a different light?  Talk to God about it.  Ask God to show you more about what you’ve just read: 

“Help me understand these things inside and out so I can ponder your miracle-wonders” (Psalm 119)

Don’t just read through the Bible and breeze through the prayer part.  Go beyond the usual “thanks for this or that, help me to be a better person” routine.  Have a conversation with God.  He wants to do that with you!  We discover that these conversations will begin to shift the focus from ourselves and more and more to God, our Creator.

Pray about a passage more than once; it’s okay!  No one needs to know what you say to God or how many times you say it—only God.  We might want to pray with a different focus at times.  Our lives are constantly changing through the many seasons of life.  God knows that.  Talking to God about what you’re learning in each season, thanking him for the truth in the passage, asking God questions, asking him to show us how to make the words real in our lives, asking forgiveness for what we see in ourselves after reading, or just listening—these are all ways to go about prayer.

The point is to focus more intentionally on God and what He’s communicating to you through this process.

Here is an example we all understand.  If you have a friend who constantly asks you for things but never really wants to listen to you, how deep will your relationship go? 

Sometimes we forget that God has a personality and wants to engage us at a deeper level.  Let prayer be a time that you come to savor and look forward to as you enjoy being with the One who loves you most!  Allow this to be a time in which God speaks to you and you actively seek him.  An audible voice may not come booming out of the clouds, but many things will be revealed to you through this process—about God, about reality, and about you. 

Personally speaking, prayer also brings peace to my mind, heart and soul each day, right in the middle of the chaos unfolding around me.  This is a gift from God to us!

So, let’s read, think, and now pray asking for what God want us to hear and understand from Him today in our first passage that begins our relationship with Him.  Tomorrow we will learn to live what we read, think about and pray over.  Here’s where the “rubber meets the road”!

Genesis 1, The Message

Heaven and Earth

1 1-2 First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

3-5 God spoke: “Light!”
    And light appeared.
God saw that light was good
    and separated light from dark.
God named the light Day,
    he named the dark Night.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day One.

6-8 God spoke: “Sky! In the middle of the waters;
    separate water from water!”
God made sky.
He separated the water under sky
    from the water above sky.
And there it was:
    he named sky the Heavens;
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Two.

9-10 God spoke: “Separate!
    Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place;
Land, appear!”
    And there it was.
God named the land Earth.
    He named the pooled water Ocean.
God saw that it was good.

11-13 God spoke: “Earth, green up! Grow all varieties
    of seed-bearing plants,
Every sort of fruit-bearing tree.”
    And there it was.
Earth produced green seed-bearing plants,
    all varieties,
And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts.
    God saw that it was good.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Three.

14-15 God spoke: “Lights! Come out!
    Shine in Heaven’s sky!
Separate Day from Night.
    Mark seasons and days and years,
Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.”
    And there it was.

16-19 God made two big lights, the larger
    to take charge of Day,
The smaller to be in charge of Night;
    and he made the stars.
God placed them in the heavenly sky
    to light up Earth
And oversee Day and Night,
    to separate light and dark.
God saw that it was good.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Four.

20-23 God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!
    Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!”
God created the huge whales,
    all the swarm of life in the waters,
And every kind and species of flying birds.
    God saw that it was good.
God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean!
    Birds, reproduce on Earth!”
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Five.

24-25 God spoke: “Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind:
    cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds.”
And there it was:
    wild animals of every kind,
Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug.
    God saw that it was good.

26-28 God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them
    reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
    the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself,
    and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”
God created human beings;
    he created them godlike,
Reflecting God’s nature.
    He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
    “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
    for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”

29-30 Then God said, “I’ve given you
    every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
    given them to you for food.
To all animals and all birds,
    everything that moves and breathes,
I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.”
    And there it was.

31 God looked over everything he had made;
    it was so good, so very good!
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Six.

Lord,

You are God and Creator, we are not.  You created in us, embedded into our DNA, a place for you in our souls that is not satisfied until we begin a relationship with You.  My soul seeks you and asks you to fill my soul of all that is you and remove all that is not—“as far as the east is from the west”. 

As I read, think and pray over this beginning of your Creation, I am in awe of your Greatness and Power at an even deeper level.  That you would create men and women in your image, knowing they would mess up your perfect Creation with their choices is beyond my thinking until I remember you had a plan and process for that, too—Jesus, who was there at the beginning of it all.  Wow.

Thank you, Lord, God of Heaven and Earth. Thank you for loving us the way you do.  Thank you for providing for all our needs.  Thank you for wanting to be with us, in conversation and in all of life.  Yes, You are God and we are not, but we are allowed to come to you at any time of day or night because of your deep love for us. You want to be with us!  Amazing!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen and Yes!

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START AT THE BEGINNING

Posted on June 7, 2022 by randscallawayffm

Part Two, THINK

A RECAP:  If you have been following “Daily Manna with Your Mug”, you are realizing I like to write short, personal writings that are created from my own “conversations” with God and then passed on to you each morning.  When I rise each new day, I get a large mug of coffee and a bowl of Cheerios and “have breakfast with Jesus.  It begins with prayer, reading, thinking, and then writing.  Since completing the Book of Revelation last week, I am led to go back to the beginning—the Genesis of God’s message to us and for us. 

Yesterday we learn how to READ, part one of learning steps to understand what we are reading so we can more readily begin living what we read.  This way to understand the Bible has four parts:  READ, THINK, PRAY, LIVE.  We discussed READ in Part One, now let’s learn to THINK.

THINK

After reading, the next step is to really think about what the Bible is saying.  This may seem obvious, but there is a difference between letting your ind wander over a few verses or chapters and trying to figure out what it means. 

Have you ever been to the Grand Canyon?  There are some people who drive up to the edge, jump out of their cars, poke around for a few minutes, mabe take a few pictures, and then head off to the gift shop to buy T-shirts or snow globes to take to their friends back home.

There are others wo spend an entire day seated quietly away from the noisy tourists, simply watching from their own private spot.  That may sound boring, but to some, the Grand Canyon is a place of incredible beauty and power—one quick look isn’t enough.  They want to soak it all in.  Those people will often come back year after year, to sit in that same spot—and every time, they see a different show. 

We can THINK about the Bible in the same way.  You can read a sentence or two, quickly decide what they mean and make a mental check next to them, and then head off to the gift shop.

OR, you can spend days and weeks (or even months) meditating on what a particular passage is really talking about—turning it over in our minds, reflecting on it, soaking it in.  We can consider what those words mean against the changing backdrop of real life, our lives! 

God’s Word is personally written to each one of us.  You can begin to perceive the importance and subtle meanings of each word that’s found its way from God to you.  You can learn to identify the sound of God’s voice as you get to know him better.  You can think about them from all sorts of different viewpoints, even putting yourself in the shoes of the characters you’re reading about.  

You can certainly ask the Author to help you soak it all in: “With your very own hands you formed me: now breathe your wisdom over me so I can understand you” (Psalm 119). 

Our cues for read, think, pray, live will always come from God’s Word to our hearts, feeding our minds and souls with the best meal we’ve ever had.

“I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you.

I attentively watch how you’ve done it.

I relish everything you’ve told me of life,

I won’t forget a word of it…

My soul is starved and hungry, ravenous!…

Insatiable for your nourishing commands…

Your words are so choice, so tasty:

I prefer them to the best home cooking.  (Psalm 119)

Go back and READ Genesis 1 again.  Now spend some time to THINK about who God is, what He has done with reflection upon what He has created in each of us.  Get ready to sit down, relax and eat until you are full!  The Bible is not fast food to be eaten on the run!

Genesis 1, The Message

Heaven and Earth

1 1-2 First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

3-5 God spoke: “Light!”
    And light appeared.
God saw that light was good
    and separated light from dark.
God named the light Day,
    he named the dark Night.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day One.

6-8 God spoke: “Sky! In the middle of the waters;
    separate water from water!”
God made sky.
He separated the water under sky
    from the water above sky.
And there it was:
    he named sky the Heavens;
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Two.

9-10 God spoke: “Separate!
    Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place;
Land, appear!”
    And there it was.
God named the land Earth.
    He named the pooled water Ocean.
God saw that it was good.

11-13 God spoke: “Earth, green up! Grow all varieties
    of seed-bearing plants,
Every sort of fruit-bearing tree.”
    And there it was.
Earth produced green seed-bearing plants,
    all varieties,
And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts.
    God saw that it was good.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Three.

14-15 God spoke: “Lights! Come out!
    Shine in Heaven’s sky!
Separate Day from Night.
    Mark seasons and days and years,
Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.”
    And there it was.

16-19 God made two big lights, the larger
    to take charge of Day,
The smaller to be in charge of Night;
    and he made the stars.
God placed them in the heavenly sky
    to light up Earth
And oversee Day and Night,
    to separate light and dark.
God saw that it was good.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Four.

20-23 God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!
    Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!”
God created the huge whales,
    all the swarm of life in the waters,
And every kind and species of flying birds.
    God saw that it was good.
God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean!
    Birds, reproduce on Earth!”
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Five.

24-25 God spoke: “Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind:
    cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds.”
And there it was:
    wild animals of every kind,
Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug.
    God saw that it was good.

26-28 God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them
    reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
    the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself,
    and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”
God created human beings;
    he created them godlike,
Reflecting God’s nature.
    He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
    “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
    for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”

29-30 Then God said, “I’ve given you
    every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
    given them to you for food.
To all animals and all birds,
    everything that moves and breathes,
I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.”
    And there it was.

31 God looked over everything he had made;
    it was so good, so very good!
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Six.

Lord,

You are God and we are not.  Jesus, you were there at the beginning of it all, too.  Everything you created was very, very good.  Then you gave us free will to choose you or not.  When we choose evil, you created a Way to come back to what is very, very good, all that is You!  Your love is amazing.  You are amazing!

Lord, you are in control and have never relinquished your control because you created all and in all and compassionately care for all you created!  What an awesome God you truly are!  You provided for all you created.  You lovingly cared and magnificently created all that we need.  Thank you for loving us the way you do.  I’m still meditating on the fact that we are created in your image, with your character traits in our DNA.  Wow, I will THINK about this all day long.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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START AT THE VERY BEGINNING

Posted on June 6, 2022 by randscallawayffm

If you have been following “Daily Manna with Your Mug”, you are realizing I like to write short, personal writings that are created from my own “conversations” with God and then passed on to you each morning.  When I rise each new day, I get a large mug of coffee and a bowl of Cheerios and “have breakfast with Jesus.  It begins with prayer, reading, thinking, and then writing.  Since completing the Book of Revelation last week, I am led to go back to the beginning—the Genesis of God’s message to us and for us. 

As a teacher and learner, I am led to let you in on a method of study that might help you understand more and more each day what is written in God’s Word about Him.  You will be blessed by diving into the greatest “text” ever written—God’s Word to us.  This text is the beginning of a the most important relationship with personal conversations you will ever have on earth with Someone who so loved us, He gave His Son to save us.  As we read, we will discover that God wants us to love Him back.  He talks about what is best for us because of this love. God, Creator of all and is all knowing, knows what is best for us.  Always.

Most of us have received an email, text or media message from a friend.  A lot of times when we receive one, we can’t wait to see what the writer has to say.  We open it and see the emotion and thought that the author of the letter has poured into it.  It’s the same thing with the Bible—it’s just that person behind each text is God.  And the texts aren’t only about God, they’re also about who we are.

Check out what Eugene Peterson, Theologian, Pastor, Writer of The Message, has to say:

“Reading is the first thing, just reading the bible.  As we read we enter a new world of words and find ourselves in on a conversation in which God has the first and last words.  We soon realize that we are included in the conversation.  We didn’t expect this.  But this is precisely what generation after generation of Bible readers do find:  The Bible is not on written about us but to us.  In these pages we become insiders to a conversation in which God uses words to form and bless us, to teach and guide us, to forgive and save us.”

We don’t usually look at what we read in this way.  When we read a favorite magazine, webzine, or book, we’re reading things that provide us with information about certain topics or take us away into another world.  This book goes beyond that!  This book reveals a God who can change life in every way.

Eugene explains, “This book is different.  This is a world of revelation:  God revealing to people just like us—men and women created in God’s image—how he works and what is going on in this world in which we find ourselves.  At the same time that God reveals all this, God draws us in by invitation and command to participate in his working life.  We gradually (or suddenly) realize that we are insiders in the most significant action of our time as God establishes his grand rule of love and justice on this earth (as it is in heaven).  ‘Revelation’ means that we are reading something we couldn’t have guessed or figured out on our own.  Revelation is what makes the Bible unique.”

Since we are beginning at the beginning of this book by God to us, let’s think about doing it well this time around—as God intended.  Here is a way to fully realize what God is trying to say to us.  There is an ancient practice called “lectio divina” (or “spiritual reading”) that has been used for centuries to do that very thing.  Here is a quick introduction.  If you want to learn more about it, you can go online to read more.  Basically, there are four components that make up lectio:  reading, thinking, praying, and living.  Sounds easy, but it takes practice to get into the groove. 

Ready to take the challenge?

READ, THINK, PRAY, LIVE—

READ

This one takes the most practice.  We live in a culture that places significant value on time and convenience, and this first practice is anything but speedy.  To truly read the Bible, you’ve got to soak yourself in it.

Have you ever been to the ocean?  Have you ever been in the ocean?  Not just pulling up in a car, taking your shoes off and sticking your big toe in the water.  Have you ever immersed yourself in the ocean?  When you do that, it’s almost as if a whole new world opens up to you.  You see and feel and taste and hear things you never could have just walking along the beach—you experience things hidden from the spectators on the beach.  It’s the same when you come to the Bible.  When you immerse yourself in it, a whole new world opens up.

As usual, the Bible says it best:

“Place these words on your hearts.  Get them deep inside you. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder—Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning until you fall into bed at night.  Inscribe them on the doorposts and gates of your cities so that you’ll live a long time.”  (Deuteronomy 11)

“How can a young person live a clean life?  By carefully reading eh map of your Word.  I’m single-minded in pursuit of you; don’t let me miss the road signs you’ve posted.”  (Psalm 119)

Eugene describes it this way:

“First, it is important simply to read, leisurely and thoughtfully.  We need to get a feel for the way these stories and songs, these prayers and conversations, these sermons and visions, invite us into this large, large world in which the invisible God is behind and involved in everything visible, and illuminates what it means to live here—really live, not just get across the street.”

We will discuss THINK, PRAY, LIVE in the days ahead.  This is probably enough for now.  Try reading the first chapter of Genesis leisurely and thoughtfully.  Ask God what He wants us to “hear” as we read.  God answers a prayer like that.  When we read in this way, we begin to “get it’.  We are in conversation with God!  We find ourselves listening and answering in matters that most concern us:  who we are, where we came from, where we are going, what makes us tick, the texture of the world and the communities we live in, and—most of all—the incredible love of God among us, doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves!

GENESIS—THE BEGINNING

Genesis 1, The Message

Heaven and Earth

1-2 First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.

3-5 God spoke: “Light!”
    And light appeared.
God saw that light was good
    and separated light from dark.
God named the light Day,
    he named the dark Night.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day One.

6-8 God spoke: “Sky! In the middle of the waters;
    separate water from water!”
God made sky.
He separated the water under sky
    from the water above sky.
And there it was:
    he named sky the Heavens;
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Two.

9-10 God spoke: “Separate!
    Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place;
Land, appear!”
    And there it was.
God named the land Earth.
    He named the pooled water Ocean.
God saw that it was good.

11-13 God spoke: “Earth, green up! Grow all varieties
    of seed-bearing plants,
Every sort of fruit-bearing tree.”
    And there it was.
Earth produced green seed-bearing plants,
    all varieties,
And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts.
    God saw that it was good.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Three.

14-15 God spoke: “Lights! Come out!
    Shine in Heaven’s sky!
Separate Day from Night.
    Mark seasons and days and years,
Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.”
    And there it was.

16-19 God made two big lights, the larger
    to take charge of Day,
The smaller to be in charge of Night;
    and he made the stars.
God placed them in the heavenly sky
    to light up Earth
And oversee Day and Night,
    to separate light and dark.
God saw that it was good.
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Four.

20-23 God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!
    Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!”
God created the huge whales,
    all the swarm of life in the waters,
And every kind and species of flying birds.
    God saw that it was good.
God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean!
    Birds, reproduce on Earth!”
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Five.

24-25 God spoke: “Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind:
    cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds.”
And there it was:
    wild animals of every kind,
Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug.
    God saw that it was good.

26-28 God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them
    reflecting our nature
So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
    the birds in the air, the cattle,
And, yes, Earth itself,
    and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”
God created human beings;
    he created them godlike,
Reflecting God’s nature.
    He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
    “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
    for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”

29-30 Then God said, “I’ve given you
    every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
    given them to you for food.
To all animals and all birds,
    everything that moves and breathes,
I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.”
    And there it was.

31 God looked over everything he had made;
    it was so good, so very good!
It was evening, it was morning—
Day Six.

Lord,

I’m excited about starting over at the beginning of your Word.  You are already speaking wisdom in volumes to my heart, mind and soul that loves you.  Continue to speak to my heart and to the hearts of all who read this.  Help us all to know you more, as our Friend, who knows us best and wants the best for us.  How can we turn away from someone whose love never ends and will never betray us?  I cannot.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

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STOP, DROP AND PRAISE!

Posted on June 5, 2022 by randscallawayffm

Stop, drop and roll is the adage given when you are on fire physically.  How about today, right now, we stop, drop everything and every thought are thinking and praise God?!.  Some of us need to catch the fire of God’s Spirit!  That happens when we praise Him, tell Him we know how great He is along with thanking Him for all He is and all He has done in our lives and in the lives around us!  Let’s do this—right now!

Psalm 150

1 Praise the Lord!

Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heaven!
2 Praise him for his mighty works;
    praise his unequaled greatness!
3 Praise him with a blast of the ram’s horn;
    praise him with the lyre and harp!
4 Praise him with the tambourine and dancing;
    praise him with strings and flutes!
5 Praise him with a clash of cymbals;
    praise him with loud clanging cymbals.
6 Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord!

Praise the Lord!

Yes, and Amen!

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FINAL CHAPTER!

Posted on June 4, 2022 by randscallawayffm

REVELATION—JESUS IS COMING!

Revelation 22, The Message

1-5 Then the Angel showed me Water-of-Life River, crystal bright. It flowed from the Throne of God and the Lamb, right down the middle of the street. The Tree of Life was planted on each side of the River, producing twelve kinds of fruit, a ripe fruit each month. The leaves of the Tree are for healing the nations. Never again will anything be cursed. The Throne of God and of the Lamb is at the center. His servants will offer God service—worshiping, they’ll look on his face, their foreheads mirroring God. Never again will there be any night. No one will need lamplight or sunlight. The shining of God, the Master, is all the light anyone needs. And they will rule with him age after age after age.

Don’t Put It Away on the Shelf

6-7 The Angel said to me, “These are dependable and accurate words, every one. The God and Master of the spirits of the prophets sent his Angel to show his servants what must take place, and soon. And tell them, ‘Yes, I’m on my way!’ Blessed be the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

8-9 I, John, saw all these things with my own eyes, heard them with my ears. Immediately when I heard and saw, I fell on my face to worship at the feet of the Angel who laid it all out before me. He objected, “No you don’t! I’m a servant just like you and your companions, the prophets, and all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”

10-11 The Angel continued, “Don’t seal the words of the prophecy of this book; don’t put it away on the shelf. Time is just about up. Let evildoers do their worst and the dirty-minded go all out in pollution, but let the righteous maintain a straight course and the holy continue on in holiness.”

* * *

12-13 “Yes, I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon! I’m bringing my payroll with me. I’ll pay all people in full for their life’s work. I’m A to Z, the First and the Final, Beginning and Conclusion.

14-15 “How blessed are those who wash their robes! The Tree of Life is theirs for good, and they’ll walk through the gates to the City. But outside for good are the filthy curs: sorcerers, fornicators, murderers, idolaters—all who love and live lies.

16 “I, Jesus, sent my Angel to testify to these things for the churches. I’m the Root and Branch of David, the Bright Morning Star.”

17 “Come!” say the Spirit and the Bride.
Whoever hears, echo, “Come!”
Is anyone thirsty? Come!
All who will, come and drink,
Drink freely of the Water of Life!

18-19 I give fair warning to all who hear the words of the prophecy of this book: If you add to the words of this prophecy, God will add to your life the disasters written in this book; if you subtract from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will subtract your part from the Tree of Life and the Holy City that are written in this book.

20 He who testifies to all these things says it again: “I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon!”

Yes! Come, Master Jesus!

21 The grace of the Master Jesus be with all of you. Oh, Yes!

Our prayer this morning…

In Jesus Name, For God’s Glory, Amen!  Yes, Come, dear Jesus!

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