Word for Life in Love— Scripture Meditations By Stephen Brown
Psalms 58:8 (ESV Strong's)
Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,
like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
When we see the light of God, we enter His life and become children of that light.
It is not so with the wicked. Like a stillborn child, they remain in the darkness of the womb of man. Their end is the miry pit where they have made their bed.
Unless we are reborn, we are stillborn.
Exodus 33:21-23 (ESV Strong's)
21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
Jesus is the rock of our salvation that allows us to stand in the presence of the Lord. He is the strong right arm of the Lord who covers us with His mercy and righteousness. Jesus is the exact image of God and there will come a time when we see Him face to face.
The Father is beyond creation, but is one with the Son and Spirit. We become one with Him.
Mark 11:17 (ESV Strong's)
And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
This house of God is comprised of our spirits joined in the unity of the Holy Spirit. We are one with God. It is an assembly of the body of Christ. In a building or by a stream, where two or more are gathered defines the body of Christ which is the church and the house of God. It is the worship and life of God made possible by His Spirit shared in the hearts of the redeemed.
Prayer is the doorway of participation and communion in His house.
It is built with the foundation of our flesh and fashioned by the Spirit into the image of Christ, who is God.
Psalms 25:4-5 (NASB Strong's)
4 Make me know Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.
5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
For You I wait all the day.
Jesus said He is the way. He is the Spirit who leads the way. He is the salvation which lies at the end of our journey.
Psalms 24:1-2 (ESV Strong's)
A Psalm of David.1 The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,
2 for he has founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
Man is the earth which is revealed from the waters of mankind. The Lord is the light which makes the earth visible and establishes its boundaries.
The fullness of our Father is pleased to dwell in His children, the children of light.
Colossians 1:24-26 (ESV Strong's)
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.
The word of God was revealed in the flesh to the world in the birth of Christ Jesus. The mystery hidden for ages is seen by those who have received the light of God. As children of the light, the Spirit of His life is embodied within us as we become the body of Christ.
We are joined as one with Him, just as a man and wife become one in marriage. We are the bride of Christ.
Psalms 57:1 (NASB Strong's)
For the choir director; set to Al-tashheth. A Mikhtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave.
Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me,
For my soul takes refuge in You;
And in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge
Until destruction passes by.
The Holy Spirit hovers over the darkness of mankind until one by one we cry out to Him. He then descends into the heart and life of the one who calls on His name.
It is there we find refuge in the shadow of His wings and the comfort of His presence.
Colossians 1:21-23 (ESV Strong's)
21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
He has performed the work that allows for the reconciliation of heaven and earth to the life of God. What remains is the reconciliation of each man and woman who would receive this wonderful gift.
Those who do are betrothed to Christ as His bride, awaiting His return. The marriage will take place when He comes to rest on earth in His kingdom.
Psalms 19:1-5 (NASB Strong's)
For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
1 The heavens are telling of the glory of God;
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
2 Day to day pours forth speech,
And night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words;
Their voice is not heard.
4 Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their utterances to the end of the world.
In them He has placed a tent for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber;
It rejoices as a strong man to run his course.
The word of God is Christ Jesus who is the glory of God. He is the bridegroom of the bride of Christ and is the strong man who has overcome the world.
He tabernacled with us bringing the light of God into the flesh of man. His word reaches the depths of the earth which is the heart of man and allows us to transcend the end of the world, overcoming that darkness to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Colossians 1:9-10 (ESV Strong's)
9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
Paul describes one who breathes the air of heaven in addition to air of the earth. This is the breath of abundant life with the increasing knowledge of God. It is the presence and work of the Holy Spirit.
Genesis 5:1-3 (NASB Strong's)
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. 2 He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.
3 When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
Adam was created in the image of God. He lost that image and was clothed in the flesh of mankind because of his disobedience. His son Seth was not born in the likeness of God, but in the likeness of the being Adam had become, according to his new image as man.
Christ would enable us to be made in the image of God, that is Jesus. We are reborn in the Spirit and made alive to God.
Colossians 1:2 (NIV)
To God’s holy people in Colossae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father.
Faith in Christ brings us into His body which makes us holy, or set apart in this world. He has expanded our life into the kingdom of heaven, which makes us in the world but not of the world. We are holy like Jesus because we are like Him. His righteousness has become ours.
Psalms 16:5-6 (ESV Strong's)
5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
We have chosen the body of Christ as our inheritance. It is the union of heaven and earth in the presence of the Lord, which is the fullness of creation.
Judges 13:17-18 (ESV Strong's)
17 And Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?” 18 And the angel of the Lord said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”
The angel of the Lord is the preincarnate Christ. His name is Wonderful. We will share His name if we persevere to the end. We will be there where He is. (Isaiah 9:6, Rev 2:17, Rev 3:5, Rev 3:12)
Psalms 33:4 (ESV Strong's)
For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
The Hebrew word translated as “upright” means level and straight. It is through His word that we are able to make a straight way in the wilderness for the Lord. The wilderness where the work of the Lord is done is in the heart of man.
It is faith that allows this work to be done. It draws and powers us in our walk with Him.
Philippians 3:12-15 (ESV Strong's)
Straining Toward the Goal
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
The mature believer is characterized by joyful expectation of the promise of Christ. Paul doesn’t just believe, but acts on that belief. It is a journey between what lies behind to what lies ahead. Letting go is part of the going.
The prize is the fulfillment of our destiny.
Philippians 3:12-15 (ESV Strong's)
Straining Toward the Goal
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
The mature believer is characterized by joyful expectation of the promise of Christ. Paul doesn’t just believe, but acts on that belief. It is a journey between what lies behind to what lies ahead. Letting go is part of the going.
The prize is the fulfillment of our destiny.
Philippians 2:5-8 (ESV Strong's)
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
He emptied Himself to become a son of man. Then humbled Himself in obedience and the fullness of God was pleased to dwell with Him.
Jesus was born with the spirit of a man and received the Holy Spirit to be the first man made in the image of God. We who follow Him in receiving His Spirit will be like Him- a son of God.
Rise And Shine
For we are the light of the world
The Holy Spirit is in and with us
We walk on this earth in the body of Christ
Until we are transformed into the image of God
Hebrews 1:10-12 (ESV Strong's)
10 And,
“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment,
12 like a robe you will roll them up,
like a garment they will be changed.
But you are the same,
and your years will have no end.”
Creation is the garment God has chosen to clothe His infinite life in the finite. This allows Him to experience and know the finite and to fill it with the fullness of His being. This is where He will rest when His work of creation is done.
This is the light of creation whom we know as Christ Jesus. He took the garment of finite man and raised that finite body of man into a new creation. One that becomes immortal when joined with the light of God.
We will exchange a mortal garment for one that is immortal. The elements of our earth will be fused together with the light of heaven by the power and presence of His Holy Spirit.
Man is not the meaning of creation. Man is not the purpose of creation. We are part of what God is doing and His companion. He has chosen us who have answered His call for the wedding feast to His life and rest.
Revelation 3:5 (NASB Strong's)
He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
In essence, we live in our own world even as we share this one earth. This is the world we must overcome to see God. We have to get past ourselves to reach Him.
Philippians 1:21 (NASB Strong's)
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Dying to self means the life of Christ. The second death then has no hold over us. We go from one glory to another.
Philippians 1:6 (NASB Strong's)
For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
He is the beginning and the end. He will rest when His work is done.
Ephesians 1:3 (ESV Strong's)
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
In Christ we receive every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, for the fullness of God is pleased to dwell in Him and in us. Heaven is the home of light and Jesus brings that light into the world.
We have been blessed with the blessing of heaven’s life in earthly places, that is the flesh of man. Mankind is unique in that the fullness of heaven and earth can reside in each one of us. Even the angels long to experience this wonder and gift.
