Deeper Furrow

  Our Book Ephesians – all of it.      If you are a Gentile like me.   If you have never participated in a Passover meal.   If you don’t know what a shofar is good for.   This is the book for you.      Emancipation proclamation!   We slaves sat at the mercy of our sinful man.   It was not until Christ died and provided the way to freedom did we know any differently. In fact, our bulb burned so dimly that it didn’t burn at all.   We were dead in our sins before God who enlightened us to become…and this is the good part…children of God!      You gotta be crazy!   The all powerful, Omniscient One, holy without beginning or end, wanted us close?   A mass of peoples ignorant of His ways He has called to sup with Him.   “Come My children.   My arms are open to embrace you.   The time has come for you to draw near by the Way I have chosen.”      ...

  Food, Sustenance John 4:34  “ Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. ” Ephesians 3:16  “ That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; ” Sustenance : food and drink regarded as a source of strength; nourishment      What sustains you?   Surely physical food is consumed and the waste is deposited .   An endless cycle we engage in till our bodies rest.   All to imbibe and break down chemicals as needed for the continuance of our existence.   “You will not surely die.”   No they didn’t, but they did.   God knows the inner man, the spiritual man is more critical.   Meat and drink only enrich so much.   “Skin for skin.   All that a man has will he give for his life.”   Yes, Job’s outer body went through hell.   His person was touched, but what of his spirit? ...

  Moses’ Stretch Exodus 7: 10  “ And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did so as the  Lord  had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent. 11  Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. 12  For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods . ” James 1:3  “ Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. ”      Maybe this time, the trying of Moses’ faith tempted the panic button.   Imagine standing before the ruler of the known world and hitting a speed bump.   Sure, Aaron could talk circles around Moses, but he did not have an answer for this one.   Blindsided, they saw Paroah’s magicians perform the same sign.      “Stick to snake?   Big deal Moses...

  God And Humor Psalms 50:10 “ For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.”      Cattle upon a thousand hills?   How about a thousand cattle upon one hill?   Now that would be the picture!   God in the beef feedlot business.   Eagerly out there on a Sunday, breaking the Christian Sabbath, with a skid loader pushing poop in a pile while the cattle look on.   Would Jesus run the tractor, filling the bunks with feed or would the Holy Spirit somehow take the wheel?   Who would negotiate with the DNR about the pit and the recent accidental release into a nearby stream?   At price-per-head on sell versus buying price, would He break even or making a killing?   Could He get a resurrected Moses to do the books?   We know he liked to write.      These are issues God would have to consider if He got into the consolidated ranching business.   I mean, who would ...

  Ok Matthew 6:33  “ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ”      Not “okee-doe-kee.”   It the response before God when we stop fighting.   When we stop fidgeting and squirming in our seats.   To simply relax and agree when the understanding enlightens our mind again.   We can…       Rest.   He calls us to comfort.   He welcomes us with His peace.   We approach Him with our burdens, but we must loose them before entering His court.   What is His counsel?   We have travelled over the desert of our wasteland to inquire in His presence.   He does not turn us away.      To Solomon, the Queen of Sheba journeyed from afar.   She heard that wisdom lie in the heart of Israel.   She had to witness it for herself.   Her entourage of spices and riches told of her wanting.   She s...

  Faith In Time Isaiah 64:4  “ For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. ”      To wait for the Lord is faith.   First, we have confidence in His character.   Then we discipline ourselves not to sacrifice to the urgent.   “God will because He said He would.”   Rest comes when we sit on His promises.   Even standing takes effort so we sit.      What is the use in jumping the gun?   What drives us to pull the trigger prematurely?   Anxiety, with its root in fear, pulls in control to form the lariat.   Tossing it wildly, we hope to reign in what we cannot control.   Off balance, we fall again from the saddle eating a mouth of dirt as we hear the enemy riding away laughing.      Another failure?   Only if we do not learn. ...

  Let Bygones Be Bygones Philippians 3; 13  ‘ Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind , and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. ’ Galatians 5: 19  Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20  Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21  Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. ”      Wow!   Now that’s a laundry list.   If we are true with ourselves, we stand disqualified to enter into a great Kingdom.   But let’s investigate the matter more deeply.     ...