First Daily Post!
Disclaimer: To understand the Lord's spiritual truth, you must be born from above by his Holy Spirit. Be sure you've submitted yourself to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and receive this gift from the Lord, lest you add knowledge with no power and are held eternally accountable.
Good evening and こにちわ to those of you reading this post, I'd like to welcome you to my daily posts! In these posts I'll share what I'm learning, maybe how my day went, some nice pictures, or perhaps a story, all for your edification. I want to start today by talking about some new addition ideas I have for the website, and some thoughts I had while working at my main job.
New addition ideas
So, I was pondering what could be some interesting topics to study, to review, and to share with you all in God's word last night, and I came up with some ideas for some different series we could add to brick-by-brick.
The first, is a vocabulary series called Bible Vocabulary, and I'd be covering one word from the scriptures in each post, going over it's context, it's meaning in Greek or Hebrew, how to use it rightly, and how Satan's culture uses it wrongly. I think this would be really important to review for myself, and for those reading, because definitions are something that Satan and man love to twist and pervert to fit certain proclivities of the flesh. I want to get to the root of each word, and identify what the true meaning is according to the Truth, so that way we can rightly divide the scriptures!
“And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” (Luke 4:4, KJV)
The second, a series called Doctrine Review, which would focus on all of the teachings in the New Testament, what we're commanded to obey, and its application to my own life. Christ made the way of eternal life for those who obey (Hebrews 5:9) and sound doctrine saves us. It's important to identify each doctrine, and test our lives to see if we're properly conformed to God's word in all things.
“Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” (1 Timothy 4:16, KJV)
Finally, a series called Lies2Light where I take the knowledge I've been gaining in Bible Vocabulary and Doctrine Review to apply it in action, testing different belief systems, religions, situations, conversations, etc. to the solid truth. We can sharpen our swords together, then practice using them on false ways, exposing them for God's glory!
“And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.” (Ephesians 5:11, KJV)
Reflection
Throughout my process of learning Japanese, I gained some insight into this brick by brick method of understanding. Little pieces here and there make the whole, and a beautiful puzzle is always made of little pieces that fit together. Take the writing system of Kanji for example. I'm learning my first few Kanji at the moment, and wow it's difficult! But if you break down the Kanji into building blocks, learn a piece, add to that piece, add to that piece, you can eventually understand a difficult character.
That's what Kanji looks like (picture credit: japan-guide.com).
Once you have a solid understanding of what the Kanji character looks like, you won't be fooled by an added line or dash. Know the truth, and you won't be fooled by lies.
Some thoughts at work
While I was doing some assembly work (hey, we just talked about little pieces making a whole), I was pondering some topical studies I might be taking a closer look at soon.
What is a spirit?
This is why understanding the words is so important, because this was a completely foggy concept to me in my lost state. Having bounced around from false teacher to false teacher, I picked up all sorts of twistings of this concept. While the word of God doesn't give fine detail about what a spirit is, we can take what's there and understand the simple truth. For now, I wanted to share the definition of spirit in the New Testament for you to ponder.
"spirit"
pneuma
pnyoo'-mah
From G4154; a current of air, that is, breath (blast) or a breeze; by analogy or figuratively a spirit, that is, (human) the rational soul, (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, daemon, or (divine) God, Christ’s spirit, the Holy spirit: - ghost, life, spirit (-ual, -ually), mind. Compare G5590.
That word "disposition" hit me hard, and some lights came on. While the newer dictionaries provide a really shallow definition, the Websters 1868 dictionary provides a well-rounded one.
"Natural fitness or tendency. The refrangibility of the rays of light is their disposition to be refracted. So we say, a disposition in plants to grow in a direction upwards; a disposition in bodies to putrefaction."
Also this...
"Inclination; propensity; the temper or frame of mind, as directed to particular objects. We speak of the disposition of a person to undertake a particular work; the dispositions of men towards each other; a disposition friendly to any design."
Ponder what the "disposition" of someone would be, having been given the Spirit(pneuma) of Christ by the Lord. More to come!
Fear of your boss, fear of your Creator
If you have every worked a job, work instructions are given usually day 1, and you're expected to adhere to those work instructions day 1. Those instructions are usually given for your safety, for productivity, and they're instructions the employer has deemed worthy for their employees. Your boss, or supervisor, is charged to uphold those instructions and make sure the employees under him are abiding by those instructions. If an employee decides to leave off the work orders and do his own thing, his employment usually ends soon after. However, if an employee is dedicated to the job and follows the rules given from day 1, the boss will keep him around as a faithful employee.
The Lord, in Greek...
"Lord"
kurios
koo'-ree-os
From κῦρος kuros (supremacy); supreme in authority, that is, (as noun) controller; by implication Mr. (as a respectful title): - God, Lord, master, Sir.
...expects you to abide by his instructions as a child of God (talking to saints). If you continue on, faithful and committed to the covenant you're in with the Lord, he'll give you grace to continue on serving him and bearing much fruit. However, if you decide in your heart to go your own way, you'll be thrown into the fire with all who work iniquity. Just something to ponder. Everyone who wants to keep their job abides by the job instructions. Yet, most who claim to be Christian today don't abide by their job instructions.
“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46, KJV)
Closing Reflections
I want to praise God, that in a week, I learned how to pronounce and remember all of the Japanese Hiragana, which are basic syllables of Japanese usually taught to little children. But, with this knowledge, I can type out words like こにちわ(Ko-ni-chi-wa) which is a basic greeting! Brick-by-brick :)
This is all of the Hiragana (picture credit: japan-guide.com)
I'm still plugging away at my two jobs, but I'm encountering some van (my house) problems this week. I'll be having a shop take a look at it, as well as a coworker (Lord-willing), who went to school to be a mechanic but his conscience kept him from doing shop work. I've been looking around at the market for van upgrades just in case. Right now I have a 2006 Dodge Caravan, which is almost 20 years old, but it's been holding fast for the time I've had it! The Lord will open doors in whatever direction, and I'm totally ready for it. God's will be done!
I pray you're all striving to enter in to God's kingdom. Keep holding fast out there.
Goodbye for now! さようなら
Translate that with the Hiragana picture above, it means goodbye :)