Well the LORD did it to me again this morning.....He changed the planned course of this blog. How? By His breath, the word given me to reveal. And as is my usual means of getting here I stopped off at me e-sword program to read what the daily thought in it had to say. And would you know it, it fits here. It reveals some interesting things about the Breath of GOD required for this New Spiritual Life we have been called to. This is written by Pastor Hoekstra:
"I commend you to God and to the word of His Grace, which is able . . . But as for you, continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus." (Acts 20:32 and 2Timothy 3:14-15)
The present verses again point us to our current theme, continuing in the word of God's Grace. Only the Grace of God is able to provide what is needed for the Life we are called to live. This necessary Grace is required for our learning and appropriating "the word of His grace." This Life-giving Grace is to be lived in day by day (ideally, from childhood through old age, in Proverbs 22:6).
Paul urged Timothy to continue in the biblical truth that he had been taught, truth about which he had become convinced. "Continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of." God's word not only instructs us in His ways, it also convinces us of their validity. In this process, God uses human instruments: "knowing from whom you have learned them." In Timothy's spiritual training, the LORD used the prophets of old (who were inspired to write the scriptures), as well as Paul (who discipled Timothy). Timothy's mother and grandmother were also a vital part of this process. "I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice" (2Timothy 1:5). Thus, his spiritual nurturing began in his childhood years. "From childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures." It is the Will of GOD that children be raised upon the scriptures. "Do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). If we were not raised upon the word, GOD wants to begin feeding it to us at our new birth. "As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby" (1Peter 2:2). If we have never had a serious diet of the word, today is now the day to begin.
As we are learning the word of GOD, its ability is unleashed in our lives. Saving grace is the first great matter the LORD wants to bring to us through the scriptures: "which are able to make you wise for Salvation." People can be exceedingly foolish concerning Salvation, until they are enlightened through the word (breath) of GOD . Some think they do not need to be saved. Others think they can somehow save themselves. The Bible reveals the necessary path for all: "through faith which is in Christ Jesus."
Now for the word Breath given to me earlier this morning.
Breath of GOD, the power of:
2Samuel 22:17-27 "He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support. He brought me out into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me. "The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands He rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my GOD. For all His rules were before me, and from His statutes I did not turn aside. I was blameless before Him, and I kept myself from guilt. And the LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in His sight. "With the merciful You show Yourself merciful; with the blameless man You show Yourself blameless; with the purified You deal purely, and with the crooked you make Yourself seem tortuous."
Job 4:7-11, 12-17 "Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. By the breath of GOD they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed. The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions are broken. The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
"Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it. Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: 'Can mortal man be in the right before GOD? Can a man be pure before his Maker?"
Isaiah 11:1-5 "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what His eyes see, or decide disputes by what His ears hear, but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His waist, and faithfulness the belt of His loins."
Isaiah 30:27-30 "Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar, burning with His anger, and in thick rising smoke; His lips are full of fury, and His tongue is like a devouring fire; His breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray. You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel. The LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of His arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones."
The Breath of Life is imparted by GOD:
Isaiah 2:12-22 "The LORD of Hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low; against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan; against all the lofty mountains, and against all the uplifted hills; against every high tower, and against every fortified wall; against all the ships of Tarshish, and against all the beautiful craft. And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. And the idols shall utterly pass away. And people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to terrify the earth. In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats, to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to terrify the earth. Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?"Ezekiel 37:1-6 "The hand of the LORD was upon me, and He brought me out in the Spirit of the LORD and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. And He led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. He said to me, "Son of man, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, You know." Then He said to me, "Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the LORD." Daniel 5:17-23 Then Daniel answered and said to the king, "Let your gifts be for yourself, and give your rewards to another. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and make known to him the interpretation. O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father kingship and greatness and glory and majesty. And because of the greatness that He gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would, he killed, and whom he would, he kept alive; whom he would, he raised up, and whom he would, he humbled. But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was brought down from his kingly throne, and his glory was taken from him. He was driven from among the children of mankind, and his mind was made like that of a beast, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, until he knew that the Most High GOD rules the kingdom of mankind and sets over it whom HE will. And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the LORD of heaven. And the vessels of His house have been brought in before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know, but the GOD in whose hand is your breath, and whose are all your ways, you have not honored."
Acts 17:22-31 "Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: "Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The GOD who made the world and everything in it, being LORD of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek GOD, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us, for "'In Him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed His offspring.' Being then GOD's offspring, we ought not to think that the Divine Being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance GOD overlooked, but now HE commands all people everywhere to REPENT, because HE has fixed a day on which HE will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom HE has appointed; and of this HE has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead."
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