Word for Life in Love— Scripture Meditations By Stephen Brown
Psalms 31:24 (ESV Strong's)
Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
all you who wait for the Lord!
Be strong and courageous in the inner self. This is where the spiritual battle takes place and is the setting of our wilderness journey with the Lord. Our strength comes from Him. It is more than enough.
We wait on the Lord because it is in Him we hope. It is in Him we live.
Matthew 25:19-21 (ESV Strong's)
19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
In the Old Testament, the oldest son receives a double portion from his father.
In the New Testament, the good and faithful servants double what is given them by the Lord. They are first given the life of man, then eat from the tree of life. The faithful are set over much regardless of what they began with. We arrive at the same destination in the end. Our portion is the Lord.
Revelation 3:21 (ESV Strong's)
The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Romans 3:1-2
1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
God chose the Jews to bring the oracles of God into the world. Through them would come the light of the world in the man Jesus Christ. He would rise from the grave and ascend as the Morning Star of a new day.
We choose Jesus to receive that light and become the light of the world. The oracles of God have become the life and light of God in the kingdom of heaven within our hearts.
Romans 8:28-30 ESV
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
The purpose of God for mankind is to be conformed to the image of His Son. He predestined the way for this to take place. That way is His Son. Jesus calls all to come. Those who do are justified, then glorified to become among the many brothers of Christ.
Matthew 23:9 (ESV Strong's)
And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
Abraham is the father of many peoples on the earth. That genealogy flows from the blood of man.
The Lord is the Father of one people who are one in Spirit in the kingdom of heaven. That genealogy flows from the blood of Jesus.
Happiness can only be found within a man.
This is manifest in the spirit and mind.
True happiness can only be found when Jesus makes His home in us.
This is manifest when the Holy Spirit is united with the spirit of a man.
This is the kingdom of heaven and our true home. Blessed is the one who finds it.
Hebrews 13:8-9 (ESV Strong's)
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.
He is the light of the world that never changes. The word of God has been spoken and is speaking. The message is the same because He is the truth and the truth does not change.
Bask in His light and stay in His word. Do not let the world encroach on your freedom and purity that are in Christ. Rest in Him.
Diverse and strange teachings are the food of the world, which differ from the bread of life which comes from heaven. What is on your plate does make a difference.
Luke 1:46-49 (ESV Strong's)
Mary's Song of Praise: The Magnificat
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
Mary’s song of praise can and should be sung by everyone who has received the Spirit. In time, that which is conceived in each of us will be revealed as sons of God, and made in His image.
The story of the birth of Christ is not just something that happened long ago and in a time removed from us. It is happening now and to each of us personally. This is a time to remember the birth of Jesus and to remember the ongoing rebirth that is underway in each of us.
Acts 28:27 ESV
For this people's heart has grown dull,
and with their ears they can barely hear,
and their eyes they have closed;
lest they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart
and turn, and I would heal them.’
Hearing and seeing are only the first steps in following Christ. The crowds that came and were fed in the wilderness saw and heard the word of Christ, but did not understand it. Even His disciples missed it. When faith is added to the hearing and seeing, it becomes the salvation of God.
Understanding takes place in the mind and heart of a man. We reason with the mind and accept it with the heart. We accept and understand the word when it seeps into the core of our being and is reflected in our lives.
The true hearing, seeing, and understanding is the gift of the Holy Spirit who brings us into the truth of God. Through Him we find the comfort and healing of Christ.
True understanding will result in a turning away from self and toward Him. We must decrease as He increases in our life. In turning to Him, we begin a transformation into the mind and nature of Christ.
Acts 24:14-15 ESV
14 But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, 15 having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust.
The Way is not just a belief, but a journey of transformation. It is the narrow road that leads to everlasting life.
Matthew 5:11-12 ESV
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The world cannot comprehend the light. Those in darkness fear and ridicule what they do not understand.
Our inheritance as children of the light are the blessings of heaven. He gives to us freely and in abundance. As such we are truly blessed, now and in the days to come.
Matthew 5:10 ESV
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
The only righteousness before God is Jesus. If one is persecuted for righteousness’ sake, it is because they are in Jesus. If they are in Jesus, they are in the kingdom of heaven. Those in the kingdom of heaven are truly blessed.
When does God begin to make man in His image?
When He takes our image as the Son of Man.
When He begins to transform the sons of men into the sons of God.
We enter the body of Christ.
We enter the life of Christ.
We become like Him.
This happens at just the right time, at the beginning and the end. He is the beginning and the end.
Matthew 5:9 ESV
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
The peacemakers have made peace with God. When we make peace with God we are able to walk and abide with Him. One of the fruits of the Spirit is peace.
We shall be called the sons of God because that is what we have become. We have taken His Name.
Matthew 5:8 ESV
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
We are washed clean and reborn from above through the Holy Spirit to become a son of God. We become virgins in Christ. We experience the virgin conception of a child of God in the same way Mary experienced the virgin conception of the Son of Man. It comes through the Holy Spirit. Jesus enters the flesh and life of man and we enter the Spirit and life of God. We become holy as sons of our Father in heaven.
The baptism of repentance washes us clean on the outside- our flesh.
This is our coming to Him.
The baptism of the Holy Spirit washes us clean on the inside- our spirits.
This is His coming to us.
We have been purified by His love and our love for Him in return. While His love is perfect, ours is not. We are on our way to perfection through the living and abiding in His word, and His word is perfected in us. It will not return empty and void.
1 Peter 1:22-23 ESV
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
2 Corinthians 11:2
For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
Matthew 1:23
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us).
Luke 1:34-35
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
Titus 2:11-14
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
James 4:8
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Matthew 5:7 ESV
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
We do not receive the mercy of God by being merciful. We can do nothing to earn salvation from God. It is the fruit of the Spirit who begins to work in our lives to transform our nature into His. This is something we seek in our thirst for the righteousness of Christ. Having received the mercy and grace of Jesus, we are to live in the mercy and grace of His life. True mercy comes from above.
We can love because we are loved by Him.
We can forgive because we are forgiven by Him.
We can be merciful because we have received mercy from Him. We can be compassionate with others because He is compassionate with us.
We are to do unto others as we want done for ourselves. Jesus shows the way.
We are imperfect in all things spiritual because we are made of the clay of the natural man. There is a transformation underway that begins when we are made alive in Christ. He enters our life and we begin to surrender that life to Him.
In the end we will be like Him, spiritually and bodily.
Matthew 5:6 ESV
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Jesus supplies the bread of heaven and the living waters of life to all who enter the body of Christ. In doing so we put on the righteousness of Christ. The more we receive and understand, the more we desire to be filled and have our thirst satisfied.
He is the bread of life and the fountain of living waters which have no end.
Matthew 14:20-21
And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Matthew 14:20-21
And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
1 Peter 2:6
For it stands in Scripture:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a cornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
Matthew 5:5 ESV
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
The meek are those who have humbled themselves at the feet of Christ and placed their trust in Him as the Lord in their life.
Those who overcome the world will reign on the earth.
Revelation 5:10
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
Revelation 3:21
The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Matthew 5:4 ESV
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Mourning leads to repentance. Repentance opens the door to the kingdom of heaven. All who repent will receive the Holy Spirit who is our Comforter/Helper sent by Christ.
We are blessed even now with His presence.
John 16:5-7
5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
John 14:15-17
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Matthew 5:1-3 ESV
The Sermon on the Mount
Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
The Beatitudes
And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Is it necessary to view being poor in spirit as something unachievable by man? Consider instead that is the only the poor in spirit who can come to Christ and enter the kingdom of heaven. Only someone poor in spirit can repent to make way for Christ. A spirit filled with pride and self will not find the way.
Colossians 1:13-14
13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit means we have put Him first. We have turned over the throne of our lives for Christ to take our place. We have to become poor in spirit in order to partake in the riches of His Spirit.
He left His throne behind to make a way for us to His throne. If we allow Him to sit on our throne and show us the way through our wilderness journey, He will allow us to join Him on His throne in heaven.
We are blessed even now with His presence, for He tabernacles with us.
John 14:18
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
Revelation 3:21
The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
Matthew 7:12 ESV
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Romans 13:9-10 ESV
9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Those in the body of Christ share in that one body. We are united with Christ and each other by the one Spirit. What we do to or for another, we do to ourselves and to Jesus.
Romans 15:8-9 ESV
8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.”
God made an everlasting covenant with Abraham which will never end. The promised land belongs to his descendants who are the people of the earth and who have received promises from the everlasting God. Like Adam before them, they are taken from the dust of the earth to work and tend to the Garden. They will serve as the gates to the New Jerusalem and leaves of healing for the nations. Their kingdom with Christ is the kingdom on the earth which is the throne of David.
The Gentiles have received a covenant of mercy and God is their inheritance. We have received the Holy Spirit and have become the body of Christ. The body of Christ is open to all, Jew and Gentile alike, and there is no distinction between them. Those who answer His enter the kingdom of heaven in which the throne of the Father and Son is found. Those chosen for His Bride will join the Son on His throne with the Father. They are the ones who persevere and overcome the world.
When the Bride of Christ descends from heaven, the thrones become one.
Revelation 3:21-22 ESV
21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
Romans 8:24-25 ESV
For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
This hope is our faith in Jesus. By our faith in Him we are saved. Through our faith in Him, we will be perfected. This perfection will be revealed to all.
The assurance of our hope lies in the presence of the Holy Spirit who is the seal of this great promise. It is the mark of God on the body of Christ, the mark of life.
Romans 8:18-23 ESV
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Something is happening. Creation awaits the new creation. The new creation is underway as the children of light take shape in the womb of the old creation. We are conceived by the Holy Spirit and will be revealed at the coming of Jesus who is the beginning and end of all creation.
Romans 2:14 ESV
For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law.
The nature of the Gentiles which allows them to do what the law requires is the nature of Christ. He alone fulfills the law. This is manifest in the body of Christ through His Spirit. The law is the word of Christ. He fulfills the purpose of God from the beginning. He said His word would not return empty.
God so loved the world that He brought His love into the world.
Romans 13:9-10
9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Isaiah 55:10-11
10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
Job 38:22-23 ESV
“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?
In the book of Job we see another reference to the end times. What is the time of trouble other than the time of Jacob’s trouble? Hailstorm will fall during the great tribulation. We see the same theme in what some say is the earliest book in Scripture and in its last book. There is one light that shines in the darkness of man and it is the word of God who is Jesus Christ.
Revelation 8:7
The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
Revelation 11:19
Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
Revelation 16:21
And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.
Acts 17:26-28 ESV
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.’
He gives us life that we might find His life that we might join Him in our life with His.
He brings our spirits to life, helps us as we move from our darkness into His light,
until we are living as one in Him in life everlasting.
He is not far from us because in Him we live. This applies even to the one who rejects the Lord. If a cup of clay rejects the idea of a potter, it has no meaning or impact on the reality of cup and potter. The same is true of the reality of man and God.
He has crossed the impossible expanse between Himself and man and shows us the way to make that journey. He will make journey with each of us and lead the way.
2 Corinthians 1:12 ESV
For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.
Our conscience enables us us decide between right and wrong. We can do this because of our knowledge of good and evil. The forbidden fruit has opened our eyes that we might be able to see the grace of God. Our conscience is a witness of that knowledge made possible through the disobedience of one man. Grace is made possible through the obedience of another man.
Through the knowledge of good and evil, we can now choose the fruit from the tree of life. Now we can make an informed decision in choosing Him.
Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis 1:31 - 2:2
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
The finished creation is the combining of heaven and earth in the image of man made into the image of God.
This takes place in the body of Christ.
He is the radiance of God wrapped in our flesh.
The light of the word spoken into our darkness.
John 14:23
Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Our home on earth is an amalgamation of time and place filtered through our experience and memory. It is an artifact of our mind and is thereby unique to us.
Our heavenly home is the reality of God who makes His home in us.
Ephesians 1:7-10
7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Colossians 2:9
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
Jesus is the meeting point of heaven and earth, and in Him they are joined as one. The divine takes the shape of a son of man, as The Son of Man. He is the first and beginning of the new creation known as the body of Christ. We become the dwelling place of the Lord. A suitable companion will rise from here.
Colossians 1:16-17 ESV
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Creation includes heaven and earth. God existed before His throne in heaven was established.
God was invisible to man until He took the shape of a man. The light of the world made Him visible in the man named Jesus.
His creation is composed of the visible and invisible. The waters below and the waters above. Of heaven and earth. Of spirit and flesh. Of light and darkness. The light makes all things visible.
There is an expanse between them.
Colossians 1:15 ESV
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
The only begotten.
Not born from below and reborn from above.
The beginning of a new creation.
Born in the latter days of creation, yet the firstborn of all creation.
In the sixth day and final day before God rests.
When we are made in the image of God, we become like Christ.
We enter the body of Christ, just as He entered our flesh.
That is where we become one with Him. He wraps His life in our flesh and we receive His life in our own.
Jesus is living because God is living. He brings the life of God to us.
The light of the world makes the Father visible in His face. We can behold His face as we gaze into a mirror and witness our transformation into His image.
We cannot be made in His image until He was born in our image.
