Matthew 6:33 - Bible Study

I felt pressed by the Holy Spirit this morning to study this scripture for Matthew 6:33. What I'm finding is that we think that we have the teachings of Yeshua (Jesus), but a lot of it has been intentionally changed to keep the majority in darkness. 

It is very likely that Matthew 6:33 is one of those scriptures. But, more importantly, from today, I'm beginning to think that any Bible or Bible commentary that you might find will still fall short if you do not know the original languages.

At first, I did not find anything interesting. I could not find anything in the Hebrew and Greek Lexicon. I couldn't even find the resource page I used to access all the time from Scripturetext.com; thank you Google. But, then I visited http://www.peshitta.org/ and http://aramaicnewtestament.org/gospel/matthew_6.htm. I tried the Google translator tool since no translation was offered on the second website. The results are very interesting...

Peshitta Aramaic/English Interlinear New Testament: not therefore be anxious about tomorrow for tomorrow will be added these (things) and all and His righteousness of God the kingdom all these things require you.

Direct Greek Translation: and first seek ye the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things were added unto you (Oddly enough, there were no alternate translations for "were added").

Was it an error in translation, as is common with the Google translator tool, or has something been lost in translation or intentionally changed by translators? I'm having trouble deciding. Do your study Bibles ever question the translations? In your daily devotional, you should.

Because the second translation is more exciting I wanted so share it. In light of who God is, the current faith training I have been going through, I believe that the translators must have thought that they needed to correct the tense in the sentence. But, they lost the original meaning. 

Don't toil. Lilies don't toil. God has taken care of everything that you need already. He cares more for you than flowers.  

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God At Work

I think I've already written about this book God @ Work (God at Work), but I am feeling the message again, so I have to write about it. I just started an empowerment coaching practice. I'm a king in the marketplace. My focus is on making sure God's resources are funneled into the desires of His heart. And, I am very concerned with the state of church (business as usual).

You see, I was just badgered by my father, who is a pastor of a Church of God in Christ fellowship about not attending church services, but I find them to be very self-serving. I mean Jesus went to the synagogue to teach people, but we have His Spirit to guide us in all truth.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
John 16: 13

There is a good reason why my generation is irreverent. Why exactly do we gather on Sunday? Where is the offering collected on Sundays/weekdays going to? Is this the model that Jesus provided?

Yeah, so I'm content not to go anywhere until the Spirit of God leads me to go. I'm up for serving the homeless, visiting the sick, building shelters, holding deformed babies, taking food to widows and sending money to orphans. But, don't ask me to go to "family game night" at church.

Jesus came to serve, not to be served. There's so much that we've twisted. Do the greatest in the church serve the least? NO! There's ushers for that or some ritualistic footwashing service which means next to nothing. God despises our heartless rituals!

I didn't mean to get on a rant, but Jesus came and showed us how it's done. And, then our big egos/thirst for significance or power caused us to corrupt and complicate things. Can I get a witness?

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The 40 Day Soul Fast

So, yesterday I started the 40 day Soul Fast with Cindy Trimm, and I have to say I'm impressed that she is selling the solution and indirectly selling the tools to get better results. I got the app rather than the book and the physical journal (or is is electronic?).

The website is http://www.soulfast.com

Check it out. It's pretty cool how she's considering how people consume content today. So, she's offering the traditional book form and the e-book, it looks like. I just wanted to share this quote that was in the journal today cause it spoke to me.

“The way to be truly happy is to be truly human, and the way to be truly human is to be truly godly.” --J. J. Packer

Dr. Trimm is on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin from what I noticed. I'm not following her tweets or subscribed to her Facebook, but I just wanted to point out how she's aligning herself with new technology. It's exciting. And, I'm excited to be participating in the 40 Day Soul Fast.

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A Study of Romans 8:6

So, today the Spirit led to to study Romans 8 and Revelations 8. As I was reading through these passages again, I saw Romans 8:6 needed further study. This is what I found.

for the mind of the flesh is death, and the mind of the Spirit -- life and peace;
(Romans 8:6, YLT)

φρονημα noun - nominative singular neuter
phronema fron'-ay-mah: (mental) inclination or purpose -- (be, be carnally, be spiritually) mind(-ed).

Can you see it? Is our purpose in whatever we do to feed ourselves or to be faithful to our loving God. Are we self-serving (fleshly-minded) or God-serving (Spiritually-minded). IT struck me how this Word had not done its perfect work in my life. There are so many places in which I am experiencing death, because my appetite is foremost. I have not even considered God or His will!

Oh, I was blind but now I see.

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Matthew 22:39

This was interesting. God woke me up way early and I could just sense that there was something that He wanted to tell me so I asked, "What is it Lord?" "What do you want me to do?" Then He told me to love my neighbor as myself. This prompted me to pull up some online tools on the subject and to my surprise I found out that when Jesus was talking about it in Matthew 22:39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself. What I found out by reading some commentaries is that it is understood in Jewish tradition that if you break one part of the law you are guilty of it all, and the part that I was ignorant of, when Jesus said 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. and then followed with "and the second is like it" <-- That Phrase Means It Is Equally As Great As The First. I always thought it meant that it was second in importance, but after reading the commentaries I understood differently. It is defined best in Greek as "corresponding to a thing" or the first thing mentioned.

The last thing I found and I remember reading in Extravagant Worship by Darlene Zschech is that there is no first and last law in the Jewish custom. They are all held the same so it is to be understood that these two mentioned are tied together with a cause and effect relationship. Out of loving God the way that you should you will love your neighbor as you are loved.

God was showing me more than that. He was showing that we should love everyone like He loves us. I was thinking impossible. Then I was thinking wow, that would actually make like a lot easier. He treats us with unconditional love. That's difficult to find. This lesson was so important I had to blog about it immediately.

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