09-08-2007, 12:18 PM
Good morning all ... :hibye::friends:
How lovely to share my morning coffee this morning with my beautiful spiritual family! :drinking::happyheart:
The text for today is taken from Amos 3:8 ...
''The Sovereign Lord Jehovah himself has spoken! Who will not prophesy?''
Watchtower comments ...
''Jehovah inspired his servants in Bible times to record many prophecies, which allows us to know in advance what Jehovah has purposed to do. ''The first things--here they have come, but new things I am telling out,'' Jehovah declares. ''Before they begin to spring up, I cause you people to hear them.'' (Isa. 42:9) How privileged God's people are! The prophet Amos assures us: ''the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will not do a thing unless he has revealed his confidential matter to his servants the prophets.'' This advance knowledge brought with it responsibility. Notice the powerful illustration that Amos next uses: ''There is a lion that has roared! Who will not be afraid?'' (Amos 3:7,8) Just as a lion's roar provokes an immediate reaction from both man and beast in the vicinity, so such prophets as Amos promptly gave voice to Jehovah's declarations.'' w/6/1/06 4,5
My thoughts ... :giverose:
In the holy Scriptures we have many prophesies don't we ... prophesies that were delivered by men but were not OF men ... but rather men spoke or wrote because they were INSPIRED OF GOD to do so ...
2Pet. 1:21 ...
21 For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.
One way we know is this that ALL the prophesies that were spoken by men of God CAME TRUE ... to the smallest and minutest detail ... just thinking about all the prophesies that were spoken about our Lord and Savior for example and that all came true and give us confidence that the Scriptures are indeed so very important and life-saving for us to look into ... that they help guide us in the way to come to know our heavenly Father and his Son ... and that they have the hope and knowledge of our everlasting future within their pages ...
That being said however, I am pausing to think about the importance of 'prophesy' and the 'reason' for it ...
Does our God expect us to have 'blind faith' or 'blind obedience' ...?
While it is true that the definition of 'faith' as brought out in Heb. 11:1 ...
11 Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld.
seems to indicate that 'faith then might be 'blind' because of it saying 'realities though not beheld' ... is this really so I am asking myself this morning ... :confused::thinking: :scratchhead:
Throughout our Biblical history and even through history itself we see an amazing number of individuals who had FAITH that there was better things to come ... that God indeed was real ... that he was interested in mankind in the now and in the future ... and that this faith gave them STRENGTH to BELIEVE in this with all their hearts and allowed them to be able to survive seemingly insurmountable obstacles and to endure things that couldn't be fixed at this time ...
What I also find interesting though is that while verse 1 of Hebrews 11 gives the definition verse 2 says something very interesting as well IMHO that is ... :giverose:
2 For by means of this the men of old times had witness borne to them.
In looking at other Bible translations it reads this way ...
(ALT) For by this the elders received approval.
(BBE) For by it our fathers had God's approval.
(DRB) For by this the ancients obtained a testimony.
(ESV) For by it the people of old received their commendation.
So, it was because of these individuals' unshakable faith in God and what he spoke of that these men and women were able to hold to a life course and belief that gained them a 'good report' in the eyes of Him who bless this in immeasurable ways ... and by which we can draw strength today to know that if other imperfect could have this kind of faith then so can we as well! :cheer:
But now back to 'prophesying' ... ;)
One of the things IMHO that enabled these ones to have this faith was KNOWING about certain prophets and their prophesies and that they came TRUE ... there WAS 'visible proofs' to back up these prophesies so that people were not just listening 'blindly' to something someone said ... (a FALSE prophet for example) but rather there was 'something' that gave the prophet CREDENCE in some way ...
IMHO I think this may be necessary so that 'we' ... mankind ... will NOT BE MISLED by the 'false prophets' that Jesus said would arise in our time and even throughout history ... for one purpose in gaining a following after themselves ... and ultimately to 'hurt' people and their spirituality instead of speaking true words of God ...
Thus, I think that when TRUE PROPHESYING occurs in OUR day ... there will be PROOFS to show that these ones are SPEAKING WORDS OF GOD ... not mere words or ideas of MEN ... and that these words are TRUE and INSPIRED just as they were in the past times ... times which were written for us an EXAMPLE and WARNING for what to look for ...
Thus, when Joel 2:28,29 is fulfilled there will be no doubt as to those who do such things will be speaking words of truth and light to bring people to God and Christ ...
28 “And after that it must occur that I shall pour out my spirit on every sort of flesh, and YOUR sons and YOUR daughters will certainly prophesy. As for YOUR old men, dreams they will dream. As for YOUR young men, visions they will see. 29 And even on the menservants and on the maidservants in those days I shall pour out my spirit.
Whatever this future time will bring forth ... it will be IMHO a wonderful time of strengthening OUR OWN FAITH ... and that of helping to cause others to HAVE FAITH ... and will be very helpful in making us be able to 'stand firm and endure to the end' ...!!:thumbsup::cheer::heartbeat:
Just some ramblings ... hopefully correct ones ...:love:
Luv to all ... enjoy this beautiful day in bringing praise to our God and perhaps spreading a seed or two or three ... :happyheart: :rose:
BR :sheepy: :bouncyhearts:
How lovely to share my morning coffee this morning with my beautiful spiritual family! :drinking::happyheart:
The text for today is taken from Amos 3:8 ...
''The Sovereign Lord Jehovah himself has spoken! Who will not prophesy?''
Watchtower comments ...
''Jehovah inspired his servants in Bible times to record many prophecies, which allows us to know in advance what Jehovah has purposed to do. ''The first things--here they have come, but new things I am telling out,'' Jehovah declares. ''Before they begin to spring up, I cause you people to hear them.'' (Isa. 42:9) How privileged God's people are! The prophet Amos assures us: ''the Sovereign Lord Jehovah will not do a thing unless he has revealed his confidential matter to his servants the prophets.'' This advance knowledge brought with it responsibility. Notice the powerful illustration that Amos next uses: ''There is a lion that has roared! Who will not be afraid?'' (Amos 3:7,8) Just as a lion's roar provokes an immediate reaction from both man and beast in the vicinity, so such prophets as Amos promptly gave voice to Jehovah's declarations.'' w/6/1/06 4,5
My thoughts ... :giverose:
In the holy Scriptures we have many prophesies don't we ... prophesies that were delivered by men but were not OF men ... but rather men spoke or wrote because they were INSPIRED OF GOD to do so ...
2Pet. 1:21 ...
21 For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.
One way we know is this that ALL the prophesies that were spoken by men of God CAME TRUE ... to the smallest and minutest detail ... just thinking about all the prophesies that were spoken about our Lord and Savior for example and that all came true and give us confidence that the Scriptures are indeed so very important and life-saving for us to look into ... that they help guide us in the way to come to know our heavenly Father and his Son ... and that they have the hope and knowledge of our everlasting future within their pages ...
That being said however, I am pausing to think about the importance of 'prophesy' and the 'reason' for it ...
Does our God expect us to have 'blind faith' or 'blind obedience' ...?
While it is true that the definition of 'faith' as brought out in Heb. 11:1 ...
11 Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld.
seems to indicate that 'faith then might be 'blind' because of it saying 'realities though not beheld' ... is this really so I am asking myself this morning ... :confused::thinking: :scratchhead:
Throughout our Biblical history and even through history itself we see an amazing number of individuals who had FAITH that there was better things to come ... that God indeed was real ... that he was interested in mankind in the now and in the future ... and that this faith gave them STRENGTH to BELIEVE in this with all their hearts and allowed them to be able to survive seemingly insurmountable obstacles and to endure things that couldn't be fixed at this time ...
What I also find interesting though is that while verse 1 of Hebrews 11 gives the definition verse 2 says something very interesting as well IMHO that is ... :giverose:
2 For by means of this the men of old times had witness borne to them.
In looking at other Bible translations it reads this way ...
(ALT) For by this the elders received approval.
(BBE) For by it our fathers had God's approval.
(DRB) For by this the ancients obtained a testimony.
(ESV) For by it the people of old received their commendation.
So, it was because of these individuals' unshakable faith in God and what he spoke of that these men and women were able to hold to a life course and belief that gained them a 'good report' in the eyes of Him who bless this in immeasurable ways ... and by which we can draw strength today to know that if other imperfect could have this kind of faith then so can we as well! :cheer:
But now back to 'prophesying' ... ;)
One of the things IMHO that enabled these ones to have this faith was KNOWING about certain prophets and their prophesies and that they came TRUE ... there WAS 'visible proofs' to back up these prophesies so that people were not just listening 'blindly' to something someone said ... (a FALSE prophet for example) but rather there was 'something' that gave the prophet CREDENCE in some way ...
IMHO I think this may be necessary so that 'we' ... mankind ... will NOT BE MISLED by the 'false prophets' that Jesus said would arise in our time and even throughout history ... for one purpose in gaining a following after themselves ... and ultimately to 'hurt' people and their spirituality instead of speaking true words of God ...
Thus, I think that when TRUE PROPHESYING occurs in OUR day ... there will be PROOFS to show that these ones are SPEAKING WORDS OF GOD ... not mere words or ideas of MEN ... and that these words are TRUE and INSPIRED just as they were in the past times ... times which were written for us an EXAMPLE and WARNING for what to look for ...
Thus, when Joel 2:28,29 is fulfilled there will be no doubt as to those who do such things will be speaking words of truth and light to bring people to God and Christ ...
28 “And after that it must occur that I shall pour out my spirit on every sort of flesh, and YOUR sons and YOUR daughters will certainly prophesy. As for YOUR old men, dreams they will dream. As for YOUR young men, visions they will see. 29 And even on the menservants and on the maidservants in those days I shall pour out my spirit.
Whatever this future time will bring forth ... it will be IMHO a wonderful time of strengthening OUR OWN FAITH ... and that of helping to cause others to HAVE FAITH ... and will be very helpful in making us be able to 'stand firm and endure to the end' ...!!:thumbsup::cheer::heartbeat:
Just some ramblings ... hopefully correct ones ...:love:
Luv to all ... enjoy this beautiful day in bringing praise to our God and perhaps spreading a seed or two or three ... :happyheart: :rose:
BR :sheepy: :bouncyhearts: