Word for Life in Love— Scripture Meditations By Stephen Brown
Genesis 2:4 (ESV Strong's)
These are the generations
of the heavens and the earth when they were created,
in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
The generations of the earth differ from the generations of the heavens and earth. The breath of God is the difference.
Judges 2:10 (ESV Strong's)
And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
What one generation forgets, the next generation does not know. Pass it on.
Ephesians 5:1-2 (ESV Strong's)
1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. 2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
To genuinely and sincerely imitate God as His beloved children, we must love. This means receiving His love, which is the word of creation, and being that love.
When we “put on Christ”, we become His beloved children. We imitate Christ as we begin our transformation into the image of God.
This takes place as we give ourselves to God and those around us, sacrificing self to others for Him. That love is one and the same, the image of God.
Ephesians 4:13 (ESV Strong's)
until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
When we receive the word, we begin being made in the image of God who is Christ. This is the work of the Holy Spirit who forms the Bride of Christ.
This is the seed that falls on good earth and takes root and flourishes with the fruit of the Spirit.
Isaiah 45:7 (ESV Strong's)
I form light and create darkness,
I make well-being and create calamity,
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
He tells us this in the first verse of Genesis when He “created heaven and earth.” When He entered the flesh of mankind, He was the light of the world who revealed the darkness of man. The light of heaven reveals the absence of light in man.
All things work to the good for those who love the Lord, for He will reward those who overcome the world; who separate from the darkness and come into His light.
He is the Lord and is doing these things. He knows His plans for us, and they are for our good and His glory.
Galatians 6:17 (ESV Strong's)
From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
Anyone who has died to Christ bears the mark of the Lord. We are circumcised in the heart by the Holy Spirit.
Our Father is God.
We have received the seed of His Spirit and life into the earth of our body.
Our genealogy can be traced back to one. We have but one Father who is in heaven.
The one from the beginning has become our beginning.
Adam was a son of God before he fell, no longer in the image of God, but clothed in animal skins, regulated to the life and death of a creature of the earth.
Jesus is the Son of God that raises all who will follow as sons of God, making us in His image and lifting us into the life of Christ in the kingdom of heaven.
This is our end seen from the beginning.
This is our birthright and destiny.
It is written before it happens.
Joshua 23:15-16 (ESV Strong's)
15 But just as all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the Lord your God has given you, 16 if you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”
Everything the Lord says is as good as a promise because His word is true and endures. He promises good things and bad things, depending on our choices.
We are saved by Christ. We are to live, or work out, our salvation with fear and trembling. The Holy Spirit leads us, but we must follow. May we always remember the wonderful gift of His life and act accordingly.
The word of God originates from God and is God.
The creative impulse is given breath and a word comes forth.
The word is spoken through the breath of God, the Holy Spirit.
The word enters the darkness of man and becomes flesh.
That flesh is raised in the form of the light of heaven into a new creation, Christ Jesus.
Those who get the word meet Him there.
Mark 10:15 (ESV Strong's)
Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
We must become as a child to inherit the kingdom of heaven. Innocent as were Adam and Eve before the fall.
To have your sins washed out away by Jesus is to enter the Garden of Eden, the kingdom of heaven, and the very Paradise of God. It is the same destination that was predestined for those who follow Him and overcome the world.
For those who desire to find their way to the Garden, He is the way, the truth, and the life.
Psalms 52:9 (ESV Strong's)
I will thank you forever,
because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
in the presence of the godly.
We have taken the name of the Lord for our own as we wait to receive it as overcomers upon the return of Jesus.
5 He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” 8 And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.
The old covenant taught the children of God to fear Him. To obey Him because He a mighty and fearful God.
Jesus says to “Rise, and have no fear.” Love casts out all fear, for it is the greatest thing and the power of God.
Galatians 6:17 (ESV Strong's)
From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
Anyone who has died to Christ bears the mark of the Lord. We are circumcised in the heart by the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 6:15 (ESV Strong's)
15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
This new creation is man made in the image of God. The one who puts on Christ brings into union heaven and earth, making us one with the Lord.
16 For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
The sacrifice that pleases the Lord is not what we do, but who we are.
By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
The Hebrew words for heavens and earth in the first verse of Genesis have the letter “hey” added to precede the words. This letter represents the breath of God.
The heavens and earth came into being by the word of God. This is Christ who is the Spirit. All things are made through Him and for Him.
Isaac was blind.
Israel was lame
Jesus came so the blind could see and the lame could walk. First to the house of Israel, then the gentiles.
Joshua 3:17 (ESV Strong's)
Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.
The water parted for the Israelites to leave Egypt and parted as they entered the promised land.
The water remains parted until all pass over. So it is for us.
Galatians 5:5-6 (ESV Strong's)
5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
We live by the righteousness of Christ. It is by our faith in Him we receive the Spirit of His life. This faith is expressed in the receiving and giving of His love, the word spoken into our lives.
Galatians 4:1-7
I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
We are born enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. This is the state of the natural man because that is the nature of the world.
The law is a mirror that allows us to begin to see ourselves in the natural state of mankind. That can be seen as the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Our eyes are opened and we see our imperfection, our nakedness.
We can only find perfection when the Spirit of the Son of God has come into our hearts, changing us from a child of man to a child of God. As such, we are heirs to the blessings of heaven.
