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*3-45-54-65

What do those numbers mean? No, they’re not part of the lottery! Let’s start backwards...

*...65: Does your family share birthdays?

In our family, we have more than one member sharing the same birth date. Before my mother died, she, her aunt, my sister, and our daughter all shared the same January 23rd birthday. Our son shares his September 24th birthday with one of my nieces. My brother-in-law shares his September 25th birthday with his daughter, another niece.

I don’t get to share my birthday with anyone in the family. So today, it is my birthday!


*...54: This is a very special and eternal number: it is my spiritual birthday, which occurred when I was eleven years old in July of 1957 at Billy Graham’s crusade in New York City.

The other day when I opened one of the devotionals I read, Days of Heaven on Earth by A. B. Simpson, I turned right to July 5th, not once but three days in a row! I guess I needed the reassurance. The Lord blessed me with the opening scripture...

“A garden enclosed...” (Song of Solomon 4:12 NKJV) The New Living Translation puts it this way, “You are my private garden, my treasure, my bride, a secluded spring, a hidden fountain.”

What a special blessing as a birthday present from the Lord! The Husbandman ploughed the soil of my heart, broke up the dirt clumps of self, removed the stones of obstruction, ripped out the roots of cares and woes, and planted His seed of eternity in my soul!

In return for all He’s done, may my life produce the delectable fruit and the fragrant blossoms acceptable to the Gardener of my life.

One day, I received an ad in the mail, one of those perfume samples that you pull the flap back to get a whiff of the scent. This one tickled my funny bone, for on the flap was written, “Open for Eternity”!

It brought to mind several images, but then I thought, how appropriate, to have the sweet scent of Eternity upon me, for “As far as God is concerned there is a sweet, wholesome fragrance in our lives. It is the fragrance of Christ within us.” (2 Cor. 2:15 TLB)

May I be that sweet aroma in His nostrils!

*...45: This is another special one, though not today: July 15th is my, er, our 45th wedding anniversary.

After the ups and downs throughout the years, they are long forgotten, for the road is now smoothed out before us and each day grows sweeter and more precious.

Thank you, dear, for all these years!


*...3: And last: this blog is three years old. I want to thank each and every follower, subscriber, and reader for their continued encouragement and support. Each of you is prayed for and appreciated. Your comments make my day!

I thought it fitting that I celebrate these special occasions with a giveaway...

***$50 gift card***

Let me know you would like to be entered by leaving a comment on any blog post or the comment box in the left sidebar, and also on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Just be sure you mention the giveaway. It closes July 31st.

My prayer for you: “May the Lord continually bless you with heaven’s blessings as well as with human joys.” (Ps. 128:5 TLB)

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,the evidence of things not being seen.”(Heb. 11:1 Received Greek Text)
Do you ever take apart a verse by its Greek or Hebrew definitions? I love doing this. Brings such a deeper and broader meaning to the verse. This one is very interesting. Let’s see...

Now faith...

Faith is always now, in the present tense; we can’t have faith for yesterday. We can have expectant faith for tomorrow but our faith does not work in the future, except when we get there. It works right here and now. Except in one case: we have faith for our eternal home in heaven with the Lord.

However, that is not the meaning of the word now used in the above verse. It does not mean at this moment of time, though many good sermons have been based on that premise. It is a conjunction or connecting word between two thoughts, joining terms for repeated emphasis.

It means but, moreover, moreover also, even, and, also, and also, or but rather. It would be more appropriate to say, “Moreover faith is…” or “And also faith is…”

So, what is faith moreover or and also? The preceding verses in Hebrews 10:35-39 tell us not to cast away our confidence, that patience and endurance in doing the will of God receives what is promised, that the just shall live by faith, and not to draw back in timidity or unbelief to ruin, destruction, or loss.

...is the substance...

The Greek word for substance means support, setting under, assurance, confidence, essence, person, a guarantee of reality, substantial quality or nature of a person, substructure or foundation, and is firm and has actual existence or real being.

This word is used in Hebrews 1:3 of Jesus as the “express image of His essence” (RGT), the image, character, or exact copy, as the actual reality or personification of God.

...of things hoped for...

The word for things hoped for means to expect, confide, trust, or confident expectation.

...the evidence...

Evidence also means that by which invisible things are tested or proved, conviction, proof, or test, as convincing proof.

...of things...

Pragma is the word for this use of the word things, which also means an object, business, matter, work, that which is an accomplished fact or is being accomplished, that which exists, and so on. From this, we get our English word pragmatic, which one definition means the testing of concepts to determine their validity by the practicality of their results.

...not being seen.

That which is not beheld with the eyes. The whole invisible, spiritual world.

Therefore, defined, we might reword this verse to say, “Moreover, faith guarantees reality to what is expected, as an accomplished fact, the confident anticipation of matters being accomplished, the validity being produced as visible proof of the invisible.”

So, moreover faith is...

* maintaining our confidence...rewarded
* continuing patience and endurance in doing the will of God
* what the just live by
* and not drawing back in timidity or unbelief to ruin, destruction, or loss.

And the result? We receive the reward of God’s promises.

“Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe,” so said St. Augustine. And Martin Luther said, “Faith is permitting ourselves to be seized by the things we do not see.”

If “God...Who...speaks of the non-existent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed,” (Rom. 4:17b), then do we permit ourselves to be seized by the non-existent things that we cannot yet see? Don’t we usually want to see the evidence first and then we’ll believe? What would happen in our lives if we actually lived in faith to see what we believe?

Wouldn’t we see God’s promises substantiated, as the fulfillment of the things we hope for, making them present realities to us?

~~Oh, Lord, give me the faith to live expectantly in the unseen that I may see its rewards!

Oh, precious readers, may your faith explode with visible results out of the unseen!

Heart murmurs…

* are extra heart sounds caused by turbulent blood flow, sufficient enough to produce an audible noise, ranging from very faint to very loud.
* are due to functions and activities of life or of living matter (physiologic conditions) outside the heart.
* are a treatable and preventable condition. If not serious, medication will improve the condition. If more serious, surgery may be in order.

But what if it is spiritual rather than physical? What then are those heart sounds, from faint to loud, due to conditions outside the heart?

Israel had this heart problem. What was it? Murmuring and complaining. And God was grieved and disgusted with this whiny bunch.

God once said to Moses and Aaron, “How long will this evil congregation murmur against Me? I have heard the complaints the Israelites murmur against Me.” (Num. 14:27 Amp)

What were the outside conditions that caused their murmuring? They deplored their situation. Israel “grew impatient along the way, and they began to murmur against God and Moses. ‘Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die here in the wilderness?’ they complained. ‘There is nothing to eat here and nothing to drink. And we hate this wretched manna!’” (Num. 21:4-5 NLT)

David said that “they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in His promise. They murmured in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the LORD.” (Ps. 106:24-25 ESV)

The results of too much whine? The book of Numbers should be a red-flag warning to all of us. Because of their murmuring and complaining, God implemented numerous forms of punishment, among them…

1) fire
2) plagues
3) fiery serpents
4) death for the entire congregation except for Joshua, Caleb, and those under the age of twenty.

God chastised Israel, saying to them, “Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness of [mind and] heart [in gratitude] for the abundance of all [with which He had blessed you], therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord shall send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and in want of all things.” (Deut. 28:47-48a Amp)

That was the Old Testament, you say. But has God changed?

The English translation of The Received Greek Text says in 1 Corinthians 10:9-11a, as Paul exhorts, “Neither overtempt Christ, as some of them tempted, and perished by serpents. Neither should you murmur, as also some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer. And all these things happened to those as examples, and it was written for our warning.”

All these things happened as object lessons for us, to warn us against whining, complaining, and not being grateful because of life’s adverse circumstances, that we might not receive God’s discipline. He may use different methods today, but His righteous anger has not changed.

Is a murmuring heart a treatable and preventable condition? Yes! To maintain spiritual health, we replace the whining that destroys the proper functioning of the heart with the remedy of praise and thanksgiving. However, if we do not work on our heart condition, God certainly will, using His own special type of surgery.

If Proverbs tells us, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (Prov. 4:23 NLT), and Jesus said, “Whatever is in the heart overflows into speech” (Luke 6:45 TLB), then we need to heed those words, for “He who guards his mouth keeps his life.” (Prov. 13:3 Amp)

All Israel had to do was step through the portal of thanksgiving, but their murmuring, disobedience, and impatience slammed the gate shut, barricading the entrance to God’s promise. For forty years, they lived next door to that land of milk and honey, but most of them never lived to set foot on it.

The wilderness takes its victims while they are yet wandering in their complaints. To live in the Land of Promise, you must step out of the wilderness of murmuring.

Does your heart pour out too much whine or pulsate with praise and thanksgiving?

~~Lord, my prayer is this, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (Ps. 19:14 NLT)~~

Measure defined means a unit or standard of measurement; the extent, dimensions, quantity, of something; any standard of comparison, estimation, or judgment; and so on. Some of the synonyms are model, example, scope, portion, scale, test, pattern, and gauge.

So, how do you measure a woman?

*by how tall she is?
*by the size of her brain?
*by the size of her gloves?
*by the size of her shoes?

Well, yes and no. We, as Christians, usually use Proverbs 31 as the standard against which a woman (or wife) is measured; her worth being far above rubies, so it says.

But how do you measure that?

*By the love for her in the eyes of her family and friends, you can measure how tall she is.
*By the scope of her thoughts, words, and prayers, you can measure the size of her brain.
*By the extent of her giving and doing for others, you can measure the size of her gloves.
*By where and how she walks, you can measure the size of her shoes.

I guess if we went by that, a valuable woman would then be very tall, have a very large head, and have large hands and feet. Well, I know that sounds silly. But not if you apply it spiritually.

I love this quote, “The measure of a woman’s character is not what she gets from her ancestors, but what she leaves her descendents.” ~ unknown

So, how large am I, spiritually that is? How do I measure up to all this? How do I leave my daughter and my sons those values and character that I desire them to have? How do I make my husband and family proud of me and not bring shame to them? How am I an example to others?

To be and do all that is necessary, my life must mirror one pattern, one example, one standard…Jesus!

Other than the character traits of Proverbs 31, Paul listed several other traits in his letter to Titus, “The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things - that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.” (Titus 2:3-5 NKJV)

All this, plus grace, strength, and faith, was passed on to me by my mother and my grandmother…so what am I leaving to my children? How do they see me? How do others see me? How am I being measured?

What are you passing on to your children? How do others measure you?

What tests your spiritual endurance?

*finances?
*lack of a job?
*no insurance?
*death of a child?
*home foreclosure?
*your spouse’s affair?
*death of someone else?
*a child with an addiction?
*a husband hooked on porn?
*persecution from a loved one?
*the twisted knife in your back from your best friend?

On occasion, many of these strike all at once causing chaos to overwhelm us. Our eyes spill over with the tears of heartache. Discouragement sets in.

David wrote, “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise Him again - my Savior and my God!” (Ps. 42:5 NLT)

Who comes to mind as a biblical victor, a spiritual endurer? James wrote, “For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We give great honor to those who endure under suffering. For instance, you know about Job, a man of great endurance. You can see how the Lord was kind to him at the end, for the Lord is full of tenderness and mercy.” James 5:10-11 NLT)

Paul wrote to the Romans, “For whatever was thus written in former days was written for our instruction, that by [our steadfast and patient] endurance and the encouragement [drawn] from the Scriptures we might hold fast to and cherish hope.” (Rom. 15:4 Amp)

I love reading the faith chapter, Hebrews 11. Listed are the names of all those who persevered from Abel to Enoch, Noah, and Abraham…by faith, by faith, by faith. They are those who held to the backside of the cross, having the faith to see what was yet to be. They had no anchor of hope in Christ as we do.

The writer of Hebrews said of Abraham, “And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.” (Heb. 6:15 NKJV) From the beginning of God’s promise of his son Isaac to Abraham until the time of fulfillment was about twenty five years. Then, Abraham’s faith was tested to the max. When he obeyed to the point of nearly sacrificing his own son, a Ram in the thicket was provided.

He endured. The all endured!

Our faith walk should be like Abraham’s, for he knew God kept His promises, “He drew strength from his faith, and, while giving the glory to God, remained absolutely convinced that God was able to implement His own promise.” (Rom. 4:21 Phillips)

Paul also said of Abraham, “No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God.” (Rom. 4:20 Amp) His words of praise strengthened his faith, connecting Him to God’s power.

And what of Paul? Didn’t he endure horrendous afflictions?

He said, “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going. These bodies of ours are constantly facing death just as Jesus did; so it is clear to all that it is only the living Christ within [who keeps us safe]. Yes, we live under constant danger to our lives because we serve the Lord, but this gives us constant opportunities to show forth the power of Jesus Christ within our dying bodies.” (2 Cor. 4:8-11TLB)

What is your attitude as you endure your trials? Do you hide in the cellar of doubt and worry or hang out in the attic of praise and gratitude? Do you give up or rest in the power of God? Are you a spiritual victim or victor?

Does Jesus say to you, as He did to Peter when he began to be overwhelmed by the waves, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (Matt. 14:31b NKJV) Or does He say to you as He did to the woman that came to Him on behalf of her demon-possessed daughter, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire”? (Matt. 15:28 NKJV)

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.” (Heb. 12:1-2a NKJV)

As you look to the Lord in your time of trouble, may He complete and perfect your faith that you may be a spiritual victor.

“And He changes the times and the seasons.”

(Dan. 2:21 NKJV)

This time of year, the heat and humidity of the summer season is, hopefully, becoming a welcomed memory and cool breezes and the beauty of the reds, golds, and oranges of fall begin to emerge. Don’t we all love it when the seasons change?

But what about our lives? Do we accept the seasons of spiritual change prompted by the circumstances in our lives? Do we see any beauty emerge from the myriad trials and afflictions that assault us? If “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven” (Eccl. 3:1 NIV), how do we view the changes?

Where can the most beautiful vistas be viewed? From atop the summit of the tallest mountain, after the most strenuous climb.

Which valleys have the richest, green velvet pastures with the fullest spikes of wildflower colors? Those that have withstood the greatest drenching rains.

What forests produce the most prolific new growth? Those that have suffered the hot, searing flames of destruction.

Which diamonds sparkle the most brilliantly? Those that have felt the cleaving of the jeweler’s sharp chisel and the friction of the polishing wheel.

An old Chinese proverb says, “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.”

Just as all of nature suffers contrary conditions in order to be expanded, improved, or strengthened, so, too, do we. Difficulties and trials will always be a part of our lives. We cannot separate ourselves from them. And if we ponder it closely, we realize we will not grow as Christians if trials do not come to test and enlarge us that our greater beauty might emerge.

If we try to wiggle out of these times, we force premature deliverance, frustrating God’s plan. It is like prying open a cocoon before the caterpillar has finished its metamorphosis into a butterfly. Forcing open the cocoon too soon will render the caterpillar deformed for the rest of its short lifespan.

When we manipulate the hands of the clock to align with our own agenda, we destroy the beauty that God desires to emerge from His timing. Through our own efforts to “help” God out with our deliverance, do we come out of our cocoon of circumstance too early and spiritually deformed in some way? Or do we wait for the revealed transformation by God’s hand?

Is our cocoon of circumstance not intended, as for the butterfly, to deepen our richest colors and give us wings of flight, beautifying our character for a new season in life, all which we may not have had before the trial? While in that cocoon of circumstance, we “are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory.” (2 Cor. 3:18 NIV)

God knows the worth, the power, and the beauty hidden deep within our hearts and only that which is contrary to our comfort releases the precious qualities within us. As Paul said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Rom 8:18 NKJV)

God will work out all our circumstances for our benefit, from one spiritual season to the next, when we fully commit them and ourselves to Him, His Word, and His timing.

After experiencing a cocoon of contrary circumstance, are you able to say as David, “My troubles turned out all for the best”? (Ps. 119:71 Msg)

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” (Rom. 8:28 NLT)

From one season to the next…“being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” (2 Cor. 3:18 NKJV)

Jesus said, “I am the Vine; you are the branches…However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do nothing” (John 15:5 AMP).

If you couldn’t find him, you looked in the garden. If he wasn’t there digging in the dirt, then my father was in his greenhouse sticking lifeless limbs and plants into his special soil mixture. In its own time, each plant came back to life in my father’s greenhouse.

Paul said, “Let your roots grow down into Him and draw up nourishment from Him,” (Colossians 2:7a TLB). When we allow the sucker branches of circumstances to sap our strength, the weeds of worries to weaken our faith roots, and the vermin of busy schedules to eat away at our relationship with the Lord, how much nourishment do our spiritual roots draw up?

One who does not keep his roots firmly planted in the special soil of God’s Presence and His Word will remain a Lifeless branch, separated from the Vine. Only when each soul-branch is “nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine” (1 Tim. 4:6 NKJV) will it come back to Life in the Father’s house. Then, “Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God.” (Ps. 92:13 NKJV).

PRAYER: Father, as our roots of faith grow deep within Your Son, “like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots,” (Jer. 17:8a NKJV), we draw up the spiritual nourishment necessary to bring eternal life into all we say and do. Help us to stay firmly planted in Your truths, that our roots may be holy. Amen.