ROMANS 2:28-29 - A CIRCUMCISED HEART by Susie Hale

A Circumcised Heart

I cannot follow my moral compass.

I cannot rely on religion or creeds,

Being born of a certain nation or race,

Or submitting to ritualistic deeds.

It is impossible to obey God’s law completely,

Never committing sin nor omitting good.

In my flesh, by my will, I cannot attain

To all of the rules I know that I should.

Only a circumcised heart can change me,

Only a spirit made new by the Lord.

Giving my life completely to Jesus

Is what will enable me to obey His word.

His blood has covered my many failures.

He gave His life to pay for my sins.

Accepting His precious gift of forgiveness

Frees me to live a life pleasing to Him.

“A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly,

nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.

No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly;

and circumcision is circumcision of the heart,

by the Spirit, not by the written code.

Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.”

Romans 2:28-29

circumcision – pĕritōmē – the rite, the condition, or the people. From pĕritĕmnō – to cut around, i.e. to circumcise. (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible)

            In order to live a life pleasing to God I had to undergo heart surgery. God had to cut around my heart to remove the hardness, to extract my heart of stone in order to give me a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 11:25). He did this by drawing me to himself and giving me the faith in Christ needed to save me.  When I surrendered my life to the control of the Lord, his Holy Spirit moved into the renewed heart he had created. As I daily allow the Spirit control of my life, I am able to accomplish the tasks God lays on my heart. True service is not willing myself to obey certain rules and regulations. It is, rather, a complete surrender of my will to God. It is a moment by moment choice to seek God’s best in every decision, every action, every breath of my life. As I choose to know more of the Lord through his Word, worship, and prayer, I am more aware of the ways he desires to work in and through me. As I learn to pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17), bringing everything to him, and as I seek first the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33), then the good works for which he created me will follow.

            Father, keep my heart soft and pliable for your use. Cut away any hardness that would keep me from you.

HEBREWS 11:11-12 - VIRTUALLY DEAD MAN FATHERS CHILD

Hebrews 11:11-12 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

By trusting, he received potency to father a child, even when he was past the age for it, as was Sarah herself; because he regarded the One who had made the promise as trustworthy. Therefore, this one man, who was virtually dead, fathered descendants

as numerous as the stars in the sky,
and as countless as the grains of the sand on the seashore.

Abraham made it into the Hall of Faith found in Hebrews chapter eleven. I love the bluntness of the Hebrews account, calling Abraham “virtually dead.” God began telling Abraham he would father a great nation when He called him to leave his home at seventy-five years old. The Lord clarified that it would be a child fathered by Abraham rather than adopted, so Abraham fathered Ishmael by Sarah’s handmaid at eighty-six. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when the Lord made it clear that he would father a child through Sarah, and she was well past menopause at eighty-nine! During that conversation with the Lord, Abraham literally rolled on the floor laughing! He believed God but kept trying to give the Lord a little assistance. However, what the New Testament records is that “by trusting” or in other translations, “by faith,” Abraham was given the ability to father a son, and Sarah was given the strength to carry one in her previously barren womb. Abraham was one hundred and Sarah was ninety when Isaac (laughter) was born. Do the math. Abraham faithfully continued to follow God twenty-five more years after the initial promise that He would make him into a great nation! Have you been waiting on the Lord to move in a specific area of your life? Does it seem like He is dragging His feet in answering your prayer or giving you the desires of your heart? Keep trusting. Keep waiting. Keep obeying. He will cause you to rejoice (laugh) in His time. 

2 CORINTHIANS 12:9 - ASK ME ABOUT MY THORN

ASK ME ABOUT MY THORN

By Susan R. Slade, Precious Jewels Ministries

2 Corinthians 12:9 (VOICE) “. . . and finally He said to me, “My grace is enough to cover and sustain you. My power is made perfect in weakness.” So ask me about my thorn, inquire about my weaknesses, and I will gladly go on and on—I would rather stake my claim in these and have the power of the Anointed One at home within me.”

People say, "I can't, I can't," when they should say, "Lord, You know how I can; and You will make it so in and through me." Following is only a portion of my resumé of weaknesses, my thorns in the flesh:

• ·        Apnea which leaves me gasping for breath and foggy in the mornings
• ·        Amputation of both legs above knee – phantom pain
• ·        Bed-found unless two people are available to put me in my chariot
• ·        CP affecting all four limbs – limited use of one hand/arm
• ·        Digestive problems
• ·        Extreme startle reflex
• ·        Incontinence
• ·        Hyper nerve sensitivity (pulling off band-aids is excruciating)
• ·        Legally blind without my glasses
• ·        One kidney due to removal of the other

God is not limited by the limitations of my earth-suit. He overcomes my limitations, my challenges when I am obedient in abandoned pursuit of His will, pleasure, and joy. I step out in faith despite the fact that I have no feet. How do I do this, you might ask? I walk decision by decision in agreement with the Lord. God has called me to be His megaphone through both spoken and written testimony to His grace and for His glory. I can’t do this, but He can and does as I am submitted and committed to His purposes in my life.

Your weaknesses are an opportunity for God to show up and show Himself powerful. Do not use your thorns as an excuse. Do not deem someone God calls useful to be useless. Your obedience may be the very thing that leads another person to see the rose of God’s grace blooming in splendor among your thorns. 

GENESIS 1:27 POEM BY SUSIE HALE

Created in the image of God,

And formed by His own hand,

Man was brought forth from dust,

The covering of the land.

God saw Adam needed a helper

for the image was not complete.

The animals were not a perfect fit,

So, the Lord caused Adam to sleep.

From one of man’s ribs God fashioned

In His own likeness, another being,

A softer, gentler version of human,

And Adam declared after seeing,

“This is now bone of my bones,

And flesh of my flesh,” and was pleased.

Adam called God’s creation woman

And eventually named her Eve.

Together, they were made in God’s image,

And were created to walk with Him.

But it wasn’t long ‘til they disobeyed

And into the world entered sin.

But long before God created the world,

He had a magnificent, sovereign plan

That eventually Eve’s Descendant

Would be sacrificed to save man.

Of Jesus, it would be written,

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory”

Christ is the alpha and omega,

The beginning and end of the story!

CHRISTMAS BEGINS WITH CREATION

We do realize Christmas is still several weeks away, but since we are beginning at the beginning with Adam as the first of SIXTEEN MEN OF CHRISTMAS, we need to start now in order to get to the birth of Jesus by sometime in December. We hope you will join us here and at www.biblestudy-pjm.blogspot.com over the next few weeks as we look into men whose lives intertwine with what we know at the Christmas story.

REVELATION 3:19-20 - CORRECTION—CONFIRMATION OF LOVE

CORRECTION—CONFIRMATION OF LOVE

by Susan R. Slade

REVELATION 3:19-20

As many as I love⁵³⁶⁸, I rebuke¹⁶⁵¹ and chasten³⁸¹¹: 

be zealous therefore, and repent. 

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:

if any man hear my voice, and open the door, 

I will come in to him,

and will sup with him, and he with me.

These verses are within the message to the church at Laodicea, the ones who were spiritually tepid, neither apathetically cold nor passionately hot. Surprisingly, the word used for love in this passage is philĕō, a friendly, sibling affection, rather than the broader agapaō²⁵ which is a moral choice to love. To rebuke is to make someone aware of their faults; and to chasten is to discipline, teach, or punish. Jesus says that He points out the sin of those He loves, those who are His friends, and takes measures to correct them. The Lord’s intent in showing us our sin (conviction) is to show us that we need to make an “about face” away from sin and make a bee-line toward Jesus (repentance). Once we realize how far we are from Him, we will see that we need to trust His accomplished work on the cross and throw open the door for Him to walk through and take control of our lives. The Lord Jesus says he will sup (dine) with the one who invites Him in. This is more than just sharing a chicken fried steak and some sweet tea. This note from The Complete Jewish Study Bible explains what the Lord is truly saying:

In Jewish culture meal sharing includes table fellowship, affection, intimacy and mutual confidence. In short, Yeshua is promising to be intimately and truly present with anyone who genuinely asks him.

Notice that Jesus is not judging His friends when He rebukes them. Because He loves them, He is not willing to leave them in the sin that separates them from relationship with Him. One of the hardest things to do is to lovingly confront a friend who has strayed from the way Jesus would have them to go. However, it is one of the most loving things we can do on behalf of the familyship because it is for the sake of fellowship with the Lord and His fellowship with His bride. Sin impedes every kind of intimacy both with the Lord Jesus and within the Messianic community, all those who have trusted Jesus for salvation. Accountability is crucial to growth, and intimacy flourishes among those who love enough to gently rebuke each other.

The fruit of the Spirit is love. Genuine love cares enough to confront rather than bury that which separates a friend from the intense loving relationship with Jesus that restores vitality to life. When someone rebukes you, do you bristle? Remind yourself that they may be doing this most difficult task out of affection and for your protection. Their hope is to restore your intimacy with Jesus and deepen your friendship with them.  

GENESIS 22:2 - FIRST USE OF "LOVE"

FIRST USE OF "LOVE"

The first mention of love in the Bible occurs in the passage concerning Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Isaac. This is a foreshadowing or “type” of the heavenly Father’s sacrifice of His only begotten Son Jesus.

We are not told that Adam loved his wife or that Noah loved his children, although it could be argued that this unstated love was demonstrated. We are not even told that Sarah loved Abraham. It is fitting that the first mention of love in the Bible is a father’s love for his son. We begin to understand some basic concepts about love: 1) Abraham loved his son as a father should, 2) Obedience to God supersedes human love, 3) God loved Abraham and provided the ram to replace Isaac, 4) God loves humans enough to sacrifice His beloved Son, Jesus, 5) As God’s children we are to emulate His sacrificial love.

The first fruit of the Spirit is love. Loving as the Father has loved us. Self-sacrificing love for God and for people. This kind of love can only be cultivated in you if the Holy Spirit is flowing through you. Because Father God willingly offered His Son on the cross, those who believe are the beneficiaries of this tremendously selfless gift of love. Once we come to accept and embrace the love of God our Father, we are filled with His Holy Spirit who enables us to increasingly love others as Jesus first loved us.

Have you experienced the Father’s love? If you have, are you searching out ways to share this love God so graciously bestowed upon you with those within the sphere of your influence? Jesus freely gave His love. Freely give love to others.

TITUS 3:8 - LET THE RIVER OF GOD'S SPIRIT FLOW

LET THE RIVER OF GOD’S SPIRT FLOW

By Susie Hale & Susan Slade, PJM

What had Paul just said? He had explained that we are saved by God’s grace and mercy, not by works. He had made it clear that our regeneration, our new birth, is a gift from God that we could never earn or deserve. It was unmerited favor from a loving, gracious Father, with the emphasis being on UNMERITED. Now he goes on to explain exactly where works do fit in because they are a part of our experience with Jesus. Good deeds are the result and the evidence of our salvation and subsequent sanctification (growing to be more like Christ). When we trusted Jesus, His Holy Spirit came into us to live in us. The Holy Spirit of God will generate love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control within us that will overflow through us to others (Galatians 5:22-23 NASB).

Paul wrote that good deeds are intrinsically good but good for the community as well. When we do something that benefits someone other than ourselves, we bring glory to God. The impact our good deeds have on the family of God and on the community around us is secondary to the fact that we honor the Lord by obeying Him and doing good in His name. The Lord Jesus taught that ministering to others is, in fact, ministering to Him personally: “For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?” (Matthew 25:35-37).

However, working in the community gives us many opportunities to share the love of God and present the gospel message to people desperately in need of hearing it. True ministry is doing all those things Jesus listed in Matthew 25 in His name. Sometimes the most effective way to share Jesus is to meet a person’s true needs in His name. This opens the door to share what they need most of all—a life completely changed by the grace of God. Therefore, if you belong to Jesus, if you have trusted Him to redeem you from your sin, if His Holy Spirit lives in you, then LET THE RIVER FLOW (John 7:38). The Holy Spirit is not a pool meant to water only the one who holds Him. The Spirit is meant to flow through you and onto all who know you via your words and deeds. May His works through you be “valuable to the community.”  

Titus 3:4-6 - REGENERATION

REGENERATION

By Susie Hale, PJM

Regeneration, new birth, born again

Words that describe our salvation.

Our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ,

Stepped down to visit His creation.

We did not deserve His mercy.

Our works did not merit attention.

Our own righteousness was repugnant.

Sin held us in endless detention.

But Jesus, God’s Kindness and Love incarnate,

Graciously purchased our redemption.

Our freedom could only be bought by His blood.

There is no other way of exemption

From the sentence of death each of us bore.

No mortal person is holy, sinners without exception.

But when we trust in Jesus, our Passover Lamb,

We are guaranteed a Heavenly reception. 

TITUS 2:11-14 - LIFT UP YOUR EYES

Lift Up Your Eyes

By Susie Hale, PJM

The Grace of God came down to earth in the form of a tiny, human baby. Jesus walked on this earth for thirty-three years, the perfect example of how to live a holy life. Though tempted in all ways as each of us is (Hebrews 4:15), He denied Himself completely and was obedient to the Father, even to the point of sacrificing Himself as our perfect Passover Lamb (Philippians 2:8). He mentored His followers who then wrote the New Testament so that we would know how to be saved and to live godly lives even while on this fallen earth. He paid the price of His life to redeem us from the chains of sin. Then He sent His Holy Spirit to live in each person who believes and trusts in Him. That Holy Spirit works in and through us to purify us, to make us more and more like Jesus (Romans 8:29, Ephesians 5:26-27). We, the church, are His bride, and Jesus is preparing a home for us in His Father’s house (John 14:2-3). Therefore, we should live in awe-filled expectation of the day when Jesus will return in glory. We will be caught up in the clouds with Him and be changed, perfected, to be His spotless, glorious bride (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

All that to ask the question: Are you looking for that glorious hope? Are you looking expectantly for Christ to return? Or are you looking down at all the cares of this world surrounding you? There is a Norman Rockwell painting of St. Thomas Cathedral in New York City. The people walking by are all looking down (literally and figuratively). They look worried, stressed, or depressed. Meanwhile one of the church workers is posting the week’s scripture above the door. It reads, “Lift Up Thine Eyes”.  Sometimes, even believers behave like the people in that painting. We get so wrapped up in our own daily struggles that we fail to look up. Jesus IS coming back. Jesus WILL reign. Jesus IS preparing our forever home. Many biblical signs of His return have already come to pass or are in the process of being fulfilled. LIFT UP YOUR EYES! Luke 21:28 “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”

TITUS 2:3 - A WORD TO THE WISE AGED WOMEN

A WORD TO THE WISE AGED WOMEN

Dear women, who are spiritually mature,

Secure in a faith that will ever endure,

Younger women are counting on you

To teach them the things God would have them to do.

They need to see consistent holiness,

That Jesus has come in and cleaned any mess.

They need to see godly attitudes and deeds,

Behavior that plants the Gospel’s seeds.

They should never hear slander from your lips.

You need to guard your tongue lest gossip slips.

Young women need examples of sobriety,

For substance abuse is the norm in society.

Women who have walked a bit longer with God,

Who in Jesus footsteps strived to trod,

Must disciple young women and try to teach

The next generation toward godliness to reach. 

TITUS 2:1-2 - A WORD TO THE WISE AGED MEN

A WORD TO THE WISE AGED MEN

Older men, many young believers look up to you.

They examine your lives to see what they should do.

Are you allowing the Holy Spirit to direct your way?

Are you seeking to follow Jesus each day?

Those who are younger, newer in Christ

Need to see you are serious about your life.

Their eyes are on you more than you realize.

They are watching what things you prioritize.

They need to see you exercise self-control,

That the Spirit guides you, not in part but the whole.

Younger ones need to see you exercise trust,

Reliance on the Lord is an absolute must.

As you set the example for younger men,

They need to see you show love again and again.

Love for your family, for brothers and sisters in Christ,

And love for Lord Jesus, the source of your life.

Demonstrate patience with those who are new

Remembering the times someone did that for you.

Awareness that you’re being watched always,

Should bring you humbly to your knees to pray.

Begin each day asking God for the power

To live as His son each and every hour.

Spend time in His word seeking His face

And He will guide your feet as you run this race. 

TITUS 1:4 - TRENDING NOW: GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE

TRENDING NOW:

GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE

What greeting do you use when you meet a longtime friend or write a letter to a loved one? Do you say, “Hi! How are you?” to which they reply the obligatory, “Fine. How are you?” Paul greeted the believers to whom he wrote by pronouncing “Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour.” You may be thinking that Paul could officially say that to Titus because he was an Apostle and writing scripture. However, can we not confidently say that God bestows grace, mercy, and peace on all who trust in Jesus? Paul desired that his children in the faith understand the grace, the unmerited favor, of God more and more as they grew in their knowledge of Jesus. He asked God to extend mercy to them whenever they fell short of His holiness, as we all do at times. He reminded them of the peace, the wholeness, the contentment that was theirs through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

I wonder what would happen if we began greeting other Christians in this manner? I think it would feel really weird at first, but perhaps it would encourage someone to rest in the fact that he or she is a child of God. Perhaps we would be encouraged to truly minister these gifts from God in our daily dealings with others. In our correspondence—okay, let’s be real—in our emails, tweets, and Facebook posts, perhaps we could remind each other of the grace, mercy, and peace that is ours through the Lord Jesus Christ. I am going to try it! Perhaps if you try it, too, we can start a trend.