Quiet Corner

[Nuclear Boy]

Waiting for TS to Tiobanned.

Then resurrected 3 days later...

 

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How To Exercise The Power Of Messiah

When I was a little child, I watched my mother exercise with Jack LaLanne. He was a fitness expert on television who taught many women to exercise, in their homes, while their little children watched and wondered what was happening. Luke 10:19 says, "I have given you authority..." The word authority in Greek is 'exousia'. Exousia sounds similar to the word 'exercise' because the word authority is linked to the word 'exercise'. The Lord gives you the power and authority of exousia, but it's only good if you exercise it. There is no difference between someone who has authority and doesn't use it and someone who has no authority. So start using your exousia; start moving in it, walking in it, and living in your authority. Take authority over sin, over that bad habit, over the enemy's works and schemes. Stand up and exercise the authority God gave you. If you hold back, you'll live a Clark Kent life. But if you exercise your exousia, then you'll live a super life in Messiah. So exercise your exousia, and you'll see the power of God become real in your life

Luke 10:19
Today, exercise your authority in Messiah over all things - the world, the flesh, and the devil

 

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The Bible was written on three continents.

Asia.
Africa.
Europe.

In three languages.

Hebrew.
Aramaic.
Greek.

By more than 40 different men:

Shepherds.
Kings.
Prophets.
Fishermen.
A tax collector.
A doctor.
A tentmaker.

Written in palaces and prisons.
In deserts and cities.
In freedom and in exile.

Across roughly 1,500 years.

66 books.
One continuous story:

Creation.
Fall.
Redemption.
Yeshua.

Most of these writers never met.
No committee planned it.
No human editor stitched it together.

Now look at this image.

It visualizes tens of thousands of cross-references throughout the Bible. Every arc connects one passage of Scripture to another - sometimes written hundreds of years apart.

Genesis connects to the Prophets.
The Prophets connect to the Gospels.
The Gospels connect to the Epistles.
And it all comes together in Revelation.

The Bible opens with the Tree of Life in Genesis and closes with the Tree of Life in Revelation.

Different writers.
Different centuries.
Different cultures.

Yet one voice.

How?

Because behind the human hands was a divine Author.

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…”
2 Timothy 3:16 (NKJV)

Men held the pens.

But God wrote the story.

 

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Living As The Mattanah

Earlier this month, I shared with you about the Mattan - Now another realm to the mystery - a similar form of the word - Mattanah speaks of the sacrifice that was given to God, not by command but freely. Messiah, Himself was the Mattanah, the gift that was given freely. In Messiah, God didn't just give something He had. According to John 10:18, He gave Himself freely. In the same way, Romans 12:1 tells you to present your body as a living sacrifice. Your life is to be a living mattanah - a freely given gift to God. Make your life a gift by becoming a freely giving person; give what you have, but most of all, give yourself. Live your life as if your life were a gift. Live as if you were God's gift to the world - because in Messiah, that's what you are to be. All your blessings come to you because of Him. He gave Himself as a gift to you. Go and do likewise - until your life becomes a mattanah for God

1 Peter 4:10
Today, live your life as a gift from God and to God - make your life a mattanah

 

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The Prophet, The Prostitute, And The Greater Love

God told Hosea to marry a prostitute. He did, and she ended up leaving him. Then God told Hosea, "Go again and love a woman who's loved by her husband." That's a paradox because he's her husband. If, as her husband, he already loves her, how can God tell him to love her? Ephesians says, "Husbands love your wives as Messiah loved the church." It also says, "Wives submit to your husbands as unto the Lord." It doesn't say love as you would love, or submit as you want to submit. It says love as Messiah loves, and submit as you would to Messiah. That's the key: Hosea loved this woman as a husband would love, but by faith, he loved her again just as God loves Israel, His people and all people. The next time you say, "I can't love that person," remember that God didn't ask you to love as you love, but to love as He loves. The love of the Lord is beyond feeling. Love with a love that doesn't come from you, but, through you from the love of Him who loves - because that's who He is: Love

Ephesians 5 24-26
Today, make it your aim to love others not as you love - but as God loves

 

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Bugsy Siegel And The Holy Gamblers​

I don't picture gangsters as being Jewish. But Benjamin Siegel, or 'Bugsy Siegel', was a Jewish gangster from NY. He got the idea to invest massive amounts of underworld money into building a gambling casino in the barren desert of Las Vegas. It failed, and his underworld investors had him killed because of it. But in the process, Bugsy Siegel opened the way for the multibillion-dollar gambling industry of Las Vegas. That kind of gambling destroys lives. But, there is a type of gambling that's Biblical and Jewish. When you step out in faith and follow righteousness no matter the odds, you are taking a holy risk. The Bible is filled with Jewish gamblers - Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, Peter, and Paul. Abraham gambled on a Promised Land, Moses gambled on a burning bush, Jeremiah gambled on the Word of the LORD, Peter gambled on Messiah's power to keep him above the water, and Paul gambled on the Gospel. They gambled everything on God. As a believer, you have to take risks and go against the world's odds. Put everything on God. For every gamble on God, is actually the only sure bet

2 Corinthians 5:7
Take a holy risk today. Step out in faith, obey His Word, and do something for God that you don't normally do

 

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One Life: Under God​

This nation was founded on the precepts of the Bible. Public education was instituted to teach children to read the Bible. Yet, in 1980 the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to post the Ten Commandments in public schools. When the highest court in the land strikes down the Ten Commandments in public places, it is declaring that there's no absolute standard the government must answer to, and no higher authority to which one must stand accountable. Nations that recognize nothing higher than themselves end up descending the path of dehumanization. The Soviet Union declared, 'there was no God and nothing higher than the state.' And so with no accountability, the Soviet Union murdered millions of its citizens. China and North Korea continue to murder their citizens. The United States has murdered millions of babies through abortion. When there's no accountability to God, the state or its leaders become gods. Therefore, believers must be examples of those who recognize the reality of God, who revere His Word and honor His truth. Everyone will answer to Him one day, but His people answer to Him now

Psalm 33:8
Today, live as one who is truly under God. Don't just do what you want - but do what He wants, in all things - one life: under God

 

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The Power Of Going​

If you were on a plane and you ask the person next to you, "Where are you going?" and they said, "Oh, I'm just on the plane so I can leave," it wouldn't make any sense. It's never primarily about leaving, but about going. The second book of the Bible is called Exodus. The name comes from the exit of the Hebrews from Egypt. But the Hebrews weren't just leaving - they were going somewhere - to the Promised Land. The best way to leave sin, the old ways, and the old life is to be going somewhere better - going to God. Set godly goals. Leave what is old by moving to the new, and what is ungodly by seeking that which is godly. The best way to get your thinking off of something wrong is to get your thinking on what's right. If you're focusing on what you have to leave then you're facing backwards. Focus on where you need to go: a life of righteousness, holiness, godliness, and purity focused on Him. Every child of God needs an exodus, but the only way you can make an exodus is by heading to the Promised Land

Colossians 3:2
What do you have to leave? Focus now on seeking, moving to, and going to its opposite - set your heart on the Promised Land and you'll leave your Egypt

 

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Jesus taking Peter, James, and John up a high mountain where He is transfigured, His clothes becoming radiantly white. In Jewish theology, this spectacular event is heavily saturated with Old Testament patterns. Rather than a random magic trick, the Transfiguration is structurally designed to show that Jesus is the New Moses and the physical embodiment of the Shekinah Glory of God. When Moses encountered God, his face reflected the divine light like a mirror. In Mark 9:2–3, Jesus is transfigured, but the light does not shine onto Him from an outside source; instead, His clothes and being shine from the inside out. Jesus isn't just reflecting God's glory like Moses—He is the source of the glory

 

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Messiah Or The Perisphere​

In Luke's account of Mary and Martha, Messiah is the guest, Mary is sitting at His feet, and Martha is distracted. The Greek word translated as distracted perispao, can also be rendered as "pulled all over the place." Martha is being pulled all over the place, missing the main issue: Messiah is right there in front of her. Within the word perispao, you can also see the root "peri," from which we get the word peripheral. When you lose Messiah as your center, you get caught up in the peripheral, the side issues, distracted, pulled all over the place: pulled on the internet, pulled by world news, pulled by emotions, by entertainment; distracted by every problem and issue but Him. That is what the enemy wants of you. But God wants you centered. You need to break away from the peripheral issues and get back to the number one issue, which is Messiah. Don't be scattered and distracted. Get focused on Messiah, who is right in front of you. For then, your life will become centered and focused, and you won't be pulled all over the place

Luke 10:41~42
Today, take account of your life and identify where you've been getting distracted. Then prune those things away and commit to sitting at His feet.

 

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The Offering Of The Oath​

In Genesis 22, at the end of Abraham's test in which he offered up his son Isaac, something amazing happened. God told him, "By Myself, I have sworn." When someone swears, they swear against something, putting what they've sworn upon up for collateral. God was swearing by His own life, His might, and His power. He was offering up His own life as collateral. In this oath is the mystery of the crucifixion - to fulfill the oath, God would offer up His own life. And the place on which He swore that oath was Mt. Moriah, which would become Calvary, the place where He would offer up His life. It was in that place that God demonstrated His love for you, and there your life was saved. And thus, the love of God, for you, is backed by the Word and oath of God; God is swearing by His own love for you. That's how much He loves you, by His own life offered up for you - there is no greater love. God's love for you and all His promises are so great they're backed up by God's own life offered up according to His amazing oath.

Genesis 22:16~17
Today, meditate on the greatness and goodness of God who gave His own life in love for you and live a life worthy of that love

 

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Plato, Aristotle, And Messiah​

The word philosophy comes from two Greek words: Philo - love, and Sophia - truth. A philosopher is supposed to be a lover of truth. As philosophers go - Socrates disagreed with the Sophists. Plato, Socrates' student, developed a different philosophy than his teacher. Plato's disciple, Aristotle, eventually disagreed with him. The Neo-Platonists disagreed with Aristotle. The philosophers of the Medieval Ages disagreed with the Platonists. Then came Hegel, who disagreed with Aristotle, and Nietzsche, who disagreed with Hegel and so on. They all had different ideas they thought were the truth. After thousands of years of philosophy, man, by his own reasoning, has concluded nothing at all. Man can't come up with the truth. Pilate asked Messiah, "What is truth?" Truth comes down from heaven, and you must receive it. Messiah is the truth. So don't try to figure everything out with your own reasoning. Messiah and His Word remain the same. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." So set yourself on becoming a true philosopher, a true lover of Him who is the truth.

Colossians 2:8
Today, take some time to be in the Scriptures - find a word and get into loving it and rejoicing over the truth in it

 

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Elul, Teshuvah, And The Return​

Elul is the Hebrew month, before the Feast of Trumpets, dedicated to teshuvah. Teshuvah means both return and repentance. Elul is the time given for the Jewish people to return to the Lord in repentance. Prophetically, the Feast of Trumpets speaks of heralding the return of Messiah at the end of the age. So Elul is linked to the end of the age. The last days are the days of teshuvah - of return and repentance. In 1948, the Jewish people returned to their homeland. In 1967, they returned to Jerusalem. And now we're witnessing the beginning of the spiritual teshuvah, the return to God, as more and more Jewish people are coming to Yeshua, Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. But it's also time for believers to return. To return to what? In the beginning of the Book of Acts, believers were on fire for the Gospel. They were joined to their Jewish roots, focused on Messiah, moving in the Spirit, and living radically against the flow of the world. As end-time believers, we're to return to the model of the first believers. It's time to return to our first calling - the Book of Acts for these are the days of teshuvah.

Malachi 3:7
Pray for the return of the Jewish people, the return of America, and the return of the Church - live as in the Book of Acts

 

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The Law Of Physics & The Resurrection​

The law of physics says, for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. If a ball is thrown down, the energy of the ball's descent produces the energy of the ball's coming back up. The same law exists in the spiritual realm. A cosmic fall produces a cosmic bounce. Messiah descended from heaven to earth, from the highest place to the lowest. It was the greatest descent. The force of that descent, Messiah's death, must produce an opposite and equal reaction; meaning, an ascent, a rising - the resurrection. In this is the secret of victory for your life. The power to rise, to do good, to repent, and to do everything you need to do comes from the power of Messiah's death and resurrection. The power to rise comes from the force, the energy of His rising. It's not about trying to do or be good. Everything good you'll ever do will come from the power of the resurrection. Start living and doing all things by the power of the resurrection, the power of His rising - Rise up in the cosmic bounce!

Philippians 3:10
Today, seek to live and do all things by His power, the power of the resurrection

 

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The Cosmic Gardener​

Adam first appeared in this world as a gardener. He was placed by God in the garden to bring forth life from the garden. Then came the fall. Man was expelled from the garden. He lost the garden and his place as the gardener. When Messiah first appeared after the resurrection, Miriam, Mary, took Him to be a gardener. Messiah in His first appearance after rising, in His breaking of the curse and the fall, and the vanquishing of sin, appeared as a gardener outside The Garden Tomb. What is the mystery here? A gardener is one who brings life. God is the One who brings life. Sin brings death. When Messiah ended sin, He brought life again. So God is the Gardener who now brings new life that we might be "born again." And if you're born again, then you are also a gardener. You have a new purpose in this world - to bring life in every situation. Bring life to your family, home, workplace, town, and your world. Spread the Gospel and bring life, because you too are now God's gardener.

Romans 5:17
Live today as a gardener - seek to sow the seeds of life, the Word and His love into every situation

 

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The Elvis Principle Of Church History​

Later in Elvis Presley's life, after his concerts were over, his fans didn't want to leave. So the loudspeaker would announce, "Elvis has left the building." In other words, get out of here, Elvis is gone. This can be used as a metaphor for much of Church history. God births a new work, then man builds an organization, a denomination, a cathedral, a chapel - but it often ends up that Messiah has left the building. So many churches today have an outward structure - but Messiah is gone - and not just churches - but individuals. If you've become so busy with the things of God but without the presence and heart of God, then you've forgotten your first love - Messiah has left the building. Is your love for God less than it was in earlier days? If so, don't let it become like an empty cathedral. Put everything else aside and seek Him again. Center your life on Him and the glory will return. Because life without His presence is as meaningless as an Elvis concert from which Elvis has left the building

Revelation 2:4-5
Today, take account of any area in which you may have lost your first love - put busyness aside and come back to your first love.

 

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The Food Of God​

The priests were the ones chosen to serve God, dwell in His presence, and offer daily sacrifices. But in order to live a sacrificial life for God, they had to partake of the daily sacrifices of God. The sacrifices became their food. So in the spiritual realm, if you're going to do works of holiness, you have to receive the food of holiness. In order to do the works of love, you must first receive the food of love. If you're going to live for Messiah, you must first partake of Messiah. Messiah said, "This is my body, partake of it." So don't just live for Him; live on Him, from Him, and by Him. He has to become your sustenance, your bread, and what you live on daily. Partake of Him, His Word, and His presence. And as you partake, the bread of His presence is going to give you the spiritual energy to put away sin and fulfill your calling. Make the One who is the Bread of Life your daily Bread. You are called to be a holy priest, and the priest must partake of the holy food of the sacrifice.

Acts 17:28
Today, before you do anything for Messiah, take the time to partake of Messiah. Whatever you need to do, first, partake of Him.

 

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The Awful Truth Of Our Improved Parenthood​

Today, it seems popular to disparage the ways of the past: families, marriages, fathers, and mothers of the past. We pride ourselves that we are wiser parents, we're doing a better job. But studies show that the time parents spend with their children in America since 1960 has decreased by 40% or higher. A recent survey of 2000 parents showed that on weekdays parents average about 3 hours on social media and around 17 minutes of quality time with their children. Parents are putting other things above their children: careers, money, and even social media. Parenthood is not just a role; it's a ministry. Godly parenthood is a choice, and it's a vocation more important than any corporate career. In a culture that puts itself and gain above family, we have to consciously choose to put family above self and gain. Treasure your family. Invest your time and life in them. God is our Father, and He invested His life in us. He is not the God of money. He's the God of life, and we are His children. Therefore, as people of life, let's do likewise.

Ephesians 6:4
Today, look at your priorities- where you're investing time. Then put your time in what will be the most important in the end

 

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The Delight Of The Lord​

Psalm 37:4 says : "Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart." Believers often focus on the second part. But, it doesn't say, "Delight yourself in the Lord so He will give you the desires of your heart." Delighting yourself in the Lord is not a means to an end - it is the end. Delight yourself in Him because He is the ultimate desire of your heart. He's the One for whom your soul longs. Don't let your heart get so misdirected that you don't realize it anymore. He is the only thing you need. If you start delighting in Him and keep delighting in Him, then you'll find out that He was what your heart desired from the beginning and that in delighting in Him, you just found the desire of your heart. Therefore, it is "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the greatest desire of your heart", which is Him. The greatest gift He gives is Himself, and that is the delight that your soul longs for and needs to know.

Psalm 84:2
Today, take up this crucial practice - take real time to delight yourself in the Lord.