Tag Archives: New American Standard Bible

Christian Living

Gather

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Mark 15:43 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

43 Joseph of Arimathea came, a prominent member of the Council, who himself was waiting for the kingdom of God; and he gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus.

via Mark 15:43 CJB;NASB – Yosef of Ramatayim, a prominent member – Bible Gateway.

And he gathered up courage and went.

Isn’t that an intriguing phrase? He gathered up courage and went.

Joseph of Arimathea, I have read, was a member of the Sanhedrin; a powerful body of men who had already as a whole spoken out against JESUS. Yet Joseph gathered up his courage and went to Pilate and asked for the dead body of JESUS to lay in his own tomb. Let us ask the HOLY SPIRIT to revel to us the potential bodily and professional harm that meant to Joseph.

And then let us ask: Do I need to gather up courage and go and do a courageous act of love and devotion?

and he gathered up courage and went
 

HOLY SPIRIT, yes reveal to us that we too can gather up courage from You, Your Word, and the Testimony of Others and we can do that thing we have been afraid to do; that holy and godly thing You have called us to. I pray for each of us in our respective places and our respective callings that we will allow You to encourage us and that we will rise up and go forward in JESUS name.
And, ABBA, our thoughts and concerns are with Loved Ones with illnesses and ravaging diseases – some at the point of death it seems – do Your perfect Will, ABBA, and we will give You glory.

Be Hidden in CHRIST,

 

Celebrations, Repentance, Salvation

Goodbyes

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My soul is sad as I sit to write. It was 15 years ago that we tackled legal issues together for our mutual lawyer/boss. She was spunky, only a little more than a year older than me and yet somehow I always felt much her junior. She knew her way around the office and she was good to me. Yet the day came when I moved on to greener pastures and tonight I learned my friend moved to the Golden Shore quite peacefully on April 27. Ramona fought a good fight and she kept the faith. Her family celebrated her life on Thursday (National Day of Prayer). I wish I had known. I miss her – just knowing she no longer shares this terrestrial sod with me makes me sad; but I will see her again. And I will see her again for only one reason – she said YES to JESUS and so have I. Have you?

10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

via John 4 NASB;CJB – Jesus Goes to Galilee – Therefore when – Bible Gateway.

9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.”

via Romans 10:9-11 NASB;CJB – that if you confess with your mouth – Bible Gateway.  Romans 10:9-11 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Ramona is not disappointed.  If you were to slip from this earth today — do you know where you would spend eternity?  You can know. This very day you can know.  I John 5:13 Questions? Click HERE for email address. 

Be Hidden in CHRIST,

Thank You, ABBA, for the sweet assurance of Ramona’s testimony. Thank You that she lives on and I pray her testimony continues to bring others to repentance and salvation in You LORD JESUS alone.

Christian Living

Nonetheless

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There comes a time when one verse is enough to chew on for the day. Here. See if you agree.

12 So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;

via Col 3 NASB;CJB – Put On the New Self – Therefore if you – Bible Gateway.

Chosen by God before the foundation of the world.
Got that one.

Holy.
Me, Holy? (tough one to get wrapped around me because of a prideful nature BUT positionally in CHRIST JESUS it is nonetheless true this very day and glory be to YESHUA it will one day be true in practice!). You, too?

Beloved.
Another ??? But nonetheless true. We are beloved! In the LORD JESUS we are loved more than we have the will or the mind to comprehend. Perhaps with practice we will learn to relax and rest in being beloved!

Put On.
Chosen. Holy. Beloved – all gifts. Nothing for us to do but receive. But Put On. That’s different. That’s a verb. Requires our will to do for it to be so. And now to see what to Put On.

A Heart of.
You know the heart is the seat of emotions; that place where the real you and me is, don’t you? Actually in the King James heart is rendered bowels. Not a word that 21st Century folks use much outside the medical realm. But let’s think about it. The bowels per my Greek online Lexicon includes the heart, lungs, liver, etc even. You know those essential things that keep us alive. The heart that pumps blood and nutrients through our veins. The lungs that deliver air so we can actually breath. The liver that filters out toxins in the food, water, substances and air that we take so we don’t die prematurely on this sin-cursed planet. Essential stuff! So in order for us to be healthy Christians we have to spiritually put on a HEART that will pump into our beings the BLOOD of CHRIST to keep us cleansed; lungs that will breathe in the HOLY SPIRIT; a liver that will filter out the garbage of this world so it does not contaminate our being.  You get the picture. Right? So what are these heart filters?

compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience

Compassion seems to be pity and mercy set into motion. Whatever warm fuzzy we are feeling when we see the sufferings of another, if it does not move us to extend mercy and pity, it falls short of compassion. In plain terms: If the warm fuzzy feeling inside does not move us to take action to alleviate someone’s suffering we have not yet put on compassion.

Kindness. We know what kindness is don’t we? We know what 21st Century kindness is – it’s tactfulness. It means I never hurt your feelings by what I say or do. Right? BUT Biblical kindness is way different! Biblical kindness is integrity and benignity [source]. It means I am honest, speaking the truth with you in such a way as to cause you no eternal harm. It is kind for the surgeon to cut the cancer out but that does not mean it won’t hurt! Reminds me of the TEXT when YESHUA said we should be wise as serpents and harmless as doves [Matthew 10:16]. Oh, ABBA, help me put on kindness and help my brothers and sisters to put on kindness toward me!

Humility. I read a fine description of that the other day. Humility does not mean I think less of myself; it means I think of myself less. Humility knows in CHRIST JESUS I am a child of the MOST HIGH GOD [that’s the cream of the crop]; but in my flesh without Him, there is ZERO, ZILCH, NADA, NOTHING good about me! (See Romans 7:18)

Gentleness. Guess what I found when I clicked a few references for gentleness?  Gentleness comes from GOD. Click HERE and see what I mean.
Notice 2 Samuel 22:36 says THY gentleness.
Notice Psalm 18:35 says THY gentleness.
Notice 2 Corinthians 10:1 says gentleness of CHRIST.
And Galatians 5:22, you know what you will find there.
Gentleness is not something you and I can come up with naturally on our own. It is a GIFT we can choose to open and put on like a lovely cashmere sweater on a cold day!  :)

One more and we will be done.

Patience.
Oh that was cute!  We will be done. Patience.  Get it? :)

And this one is easy. Not easy to do but easy to explain since we just discussed it yesterday in Sunday School. Patience and long-suffering are pretty much interchangeable. And we learned yesterday that long-suffering is to keep on keeping on delivering the Gospel of CHRIST JESUS even when from all appearances it looks sensible to give up. So I would say patience is when we keep on doing what we know is in accordance with Scripture even when it appears the sensible thing to do is give up.

And there we have one verse to ponder and practice today.

Be Hidden in CHRIST,

 

Thank You, ABBA, for one verse; plenty to guide us this day. Compassion, I need. To be moved to help alleviate suffering. Kindness; integrity that does no eternal harm; I so want to put this on, YESHUA. HOLY SPIRIT, thank You. I trust You to help me be clothed in kindness. Gentleness, patience, humility; all of these YOU are well able to grow and weave into us. So we present ourselves to You today to put on these gifts and bless the world in Your Holy Name LORD JESUS.
We are mindful of many in these moments and we bring them now; all need healing of a kind so we ask You LORD JESUS to heal them of their diseases; cancer, paralysis, and other medical maladies, unbelief, blindness, apathy, un-forgiveness; whatever You find in the hearts of those whose names we bring individually and collectively. Amen and amen.