Monthly Archives: January 2018

2018, Guests

Don’t Leave Home Without It

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YouVersion.

It’s on my phone, on my desk top, on my laptop. I guess you could say I hardly go anywhere without it. 

The devotion feeding me now is this one:

Hey! She has a book! No. I don’t have it. Yet! :)
Looks like it was published in October of 2017. See HERE.

This is a portion of  Day Two’s reading:

Shifting your focus off of yourself and onto God is much harder than it sounds. As broken people, our gaze naturally drifts inward, making vanity a tough pattern to shake. Once I was able to see my own self-preoccupation—both the allure and the peril of it—God took me on a long journey to freedom. He taught me how to adjust my sight back onto him, and it literally changed my life. Once I grasped the truth that life is not about me and shifted my focus onto Christ, it became the song of my heart, one I can’t stop singing to others.

I know from my own experience that it’s hard to look straight in the face of your vanity, but it’s how we break the spell of self. And oh how it is worth it! May God shine on the hidden places in your heart and grant you the courage to see yourself honestly.

If you are not familiar with YouVersion, I urge you to check them out!  I’m providing a link – HERE.

Selah ~ ~ ~
2018, Acts

See?

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Acts 26. Such a worthy read!

If you are short on time at this page opening let us concentrate on just this portion. 

A little background, Paul is in Rome, in chains, and appearing before King Agrippa, Bernice (said to be Agrippa’s sister/lover)  and Fetus the Governor. Paul is giving testimony as to his conversion. 

Acts 26: 15 “Then I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“And the Lord said, ‘I am Yeshua—whom you are persecuting. 16 But get up, and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose—to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things you have seen as well as to the things I will yet reveal to you. 17 I will rescue you from your own people, and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you, 18 to open their eyes—so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of satan to God, that they may receive release from sins as well as a place among those who are made holy through trusting in Me.’

19 “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. 20 Rather, I kept declaring—first to those in Damascus, and then Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also the Gentiles—that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds consistent with that repentance.  source

Verse  18 in particular. What do you see in this one verse packed with so much Gospel? 

Selah ~ ~ ~ 
Ephesians, Proverbs

Becoming

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We have many translations of the Bible available to us from the Biblical languages of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Click HERE for an incomplete list of translations with publication dates.  I read a few translations, particularly when preparing a class lesson. Two of my favorites are Tree of Life Version published in 2014 and Young’s Literal Translation published in 1862. 

As long as I depend upon the HOLY SPIRIT to guide me as to what He said when He inspired the Original Penmen, I have confidence reading all the Translations I have explored thus far.  After all, the Scripture does say: 

Proverbs 11:14  (ESV) 14 . . . in an abundance of counselors there is safety. source 

Would you be willing to look at Ephesians 4:32 with me?

Perhaps the most familiar rendition of this verse is the KJV.

Ephesians 4:(KJV)  32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. source 

I’ve been quoting that one since primary school.  However, the older I get the more I am convinced quoting it is only the beginning of what GOD has in mind for me.  

Would you also entertain with me Ephesians 4:32 in the Young’s Literal Translation?

Ephesians 4: (YLT) 32 and become one to another kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, according as also God in Christ did forgive you. source

KJV is bluntly authoritative. Be ye kind! Perhaps I’m wrong, but as a child ‘be kind’ was a DO to me. It was an action I was expected to take whether I wanted to or not.
Now. For the YLT. Lets read it again: 32 and become one to another kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, according as also God in Christ did forgive you. 

BECOME. 

Become is more than DO, isn’t it?
Do is . . . well, something I do. 

I submit, that BECOME is not DO but ARE (or AM).
I can DO something and my heart (the real me) not be in it, you know what I mean? But when I have BECOME (Ephesians 4:32), it’s no longer something I do, it’s just who I am.
I will admit though, it does take some considerable doing to actually become.
So there is no time like the present to get started BECOMING. Right?
Like BECOME

Kind people
Tender-hearted people
Forgiving people

Other Bible verses give us more to BECOME. 

Selah ~ ~ ~ Kathie