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diabelosa · 3 years

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🔥 Infernal/Demonic Language HCs 🔥

Part 2: Celestial/Angelic Language HCs

What is Infernal? Basically the name that the fandom has given Obey Me's hypothetical Demonic Language. In game, one supposedly exists but we have a total of 2 (two) mentions of it. So far.

I will put the references to them + some other posts about it below the cut after the headcanons to keep this from getting too long. If anyone finds anything else feel free to let me know!!

The Actual HCs (minor spoilers for season 3)

🔥 Old Infernal (Pre-Great Celestial War) was very different than Modern Infernal (Post-GCW)

🔥 The Great Celestial War was after the creation of humankind in OM lore, and we also know that angels such as Belphegor and Lilith loved spending time with humans. It's possible that there were other angels who felt the same way

🔥 The means that a decent number of the angels likely picked up on human language (ignoring the possibility of them using magic to have an infinite lexicon)

🔥 Demons also were able to speak some human languages since it made it easier to possess and tempt humans. Sometimes they just spoke in Infernal to give people a good scare for fun

🔥 Biblically, 1/3 of the angels rebelled. Once fallen and thrown into an environment with a language they didn't speak, they began to use human language as a way to communicate with their new demon brethren

🔥 This ends up resulting in the eventual decline of Old Infernal, which is something Diavolo's father would have spoken, and the gradual shift to Modern Infernal

🔥 Hang on, but what about a Celestial Language? Well, the concept of Fallen Angels became big around 500 BC - 70 AD and Hebrew began to die out as a spoken language around (guess) 600 BC - 300 BC. This almost directly overlaps with concept of Fallen Angels so I'm going to ignore history put it in the context of OM lore

🔥 This could possibly mean that Hebrew was initially a language that was spoken in the Celestial Realm (plus Hebrew is often considered to be the first language or the language of God in biblical contexts)

🔥 So when Belphegor, Lilith, and the other angels visited the humans (or their father himself, depending on however you want too look at it), they passed on their own language in exchange for what was spoken, such as Semitic/Sumerian/Egyptian or whatever else could be found in the biblical regions

🔥 If demons actively visited humans, it is possible that they were able to pick up on this language as well (although I doubt they'd be really wanting to start speaking a Celestial tongue)

🔥 This could mean that Modern Infernal/Demonic language is based off an initial conglomeration of Semitic, Ancient/Koine Greek, Aramaic, etc. Hebrew would be another potential shared language but, like I said, not sure if the existing demons would be fully willing to adopt this into Infernal

🔥 The Greek script ended up becoming an official writing system for Modern Infernal, but the Old Infernal system is used for legal documentation (see below cut in Reference 3)

🔥 High ranking angels (Lucifer, Michael, etc.) learned Old Infernal before the GCW for communication purposes despite it being discouraged. This eventually allowed Diavolo to reach out the the Celestial Realm and begin his push for peace between the two realms. However, the masses did not have this knowledge, forcing the evolution into Modern Infernal

🔥 A variation of Hebrew is still the Official Celestial Realm language, particularly due to the fact that the angels who did learn other human languages were likely the ones who fell.

🔥 We've seen in game from the Angelic event that the Celestial Realm is big on keeping things very controlled. After the GCW, there was a huge transition to keep angels in line - this extended to limiting interactions with humans, which resulted in a stagnation of language through outside contact (not to say that there wasn't change in Celestial language, it was just much more limited)

🔥 So while Infernal was evolving, Celestial remained stagnant. Maybe in just more ways than language, y'know?

🔥 Simeon was originally one of the few who was taught Old Infernal, however that knowledge became obsolete with the change to Modern. Even the human languages that he once knew and that had influenced Modern had changed so much that they were not much help

🔥 Angels and Demons are able to learn languages more quickly than humans. When Simeon and Luke came to Devildom for the exchange program, this allowed them to transition much more easily.

In Game References to Language/Writing

Reference 1: Chapter 22-A

"But Ray, Luci's talking about a writing system, not a language."

TRUE. However, the two are usually pretty intertwined, and if anything you are more likely to find a language without writing vs the other way around. So to preface, I'm talking about spoken language, NOT written (although I'll touch on that in a bit.)

Reference 2: Chapter 45-11

Unfortunately, this means absolutely nothing. Below I have the closest possible matches as to what it could mean, but tldr its nonsense for the most part.

dann : "then" (German)

deldaim : ???

parastoka : "ordinary" (Finnish)

kyom : "why" (Hindi)

Since this is in quotation marks, I'm assuming that what Satan is saying here is how it would be pronounced/directly transcribed without any funny business (with the exclusion of "ai" as a dipthong)

I'm going to hold off on dissecting it further for reconstruction for now and will do a follow up post that goes more into detail.

Reference #3: His Highness Unwinds SSR Card

See that G R E E K?! I did a post on this a while ago when someone brought it to my attention and I went into it in a bit more detail here. But as a tldr; the devs just keysmashed some Greek letters.

Thanks to the Lucifer dialogue, we know that Devildom has their own form of writing, but not all languages have their own writing system. Languages like English, French, German, etc. use Latin script and Farsi, Arabic, Somali, etc. use Arabic script.

However, Lucifer does specify "human world" script... and Greek technically would fall under that. So this could possibly mean a few things:

1. The boring but most likely option: Devs just picked a random writing system and it happened to be Greek

2. Lucifer is under the assumption that the MC writes in a roman script (another boring one)

3. There are multiple writing systems, one of which is the original one that was used in Old Infernal and often used for legal purposes.

#im really hoping this is the updated one :( tumblr kept shitting out on me when i was trying to edit this #obey me #obey me headcanons #obey me shall we date #obey me luficer #obey me michael #infernal #obey me belphegor #obey me lilith #obey me diavolo #obey me simeon #omswd #obey me luke #obey me asmodeus #obey me leviathan

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lapis-yam · 3 years

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With that established, let's move on to the most open-ended question: why? Don't feel like you have to be concise or anything-the longer the better.

I'm certainly anything but concise.

I can't remember the exact moment I became interested in Judaism. It was more of a gradual buildup until I genuinely felt like I could not continue pursuing any of my other goals in life until I contacted a rabbi.

I believe I first became acutely interested in Judaism because I had been making an effort to be a better advocate for Jews. I was very active and vocal in my support of Jews and my contempt for antisemitism and vowing to fight it to the best of my ability and by any means necessary. My interest in being a better ally to Jewish people led me to learning more about Judaism as a culture and as a religion. I started studying Jewish beliefs, analysis of important Jewish texts (Torah, Talmud, etc.). The first value I found that I deeply resonated with was the importance of questioning. Questioning what your told, and even crazier, questioning G-d, was something I didn't think any religion allowed, let alone encouraged. But Judaism was different in that respect, and I deeply admired that. I thought that all/most religions (especially Abrahamic religions) were very rigid and encouraging of blind faith, something I've never been good at.

Then there was the emphasis Judaism/Jewish culture puts on learning. The idea that there's always something new to learn and your education is never truly finished was deeply appealing to me. I love learning, reading, analyzing, studying, annotating. I love it all, and knowing that no matter how much a learn, there's always a deeper understanding you can gain of the Torah, there's always an infamous rabbi you've never heard of before that you should learn about, there's so many holidays with their own traditions and stories and rituals, theres mountains and mountains and mountains of books to read to give you a deeper understanding of any topic you could think of. Every question I had, I was encouraged to seek out the answer on my own, no matter how small. Why do Jews sway back and forth while praying, why can't you turn lights on and off on Shabbat, why is Israel so important to Jews, what's [insert holiday] about, why is circumcision required for Jewish boys, why can't Jews eat pork, why was the Talmud written, when will Mashiach arrive, why, why, why, why? There was always a new question to be asked, something I didn't know the answer to, something I had never thought to ask had I not been encouraged to do so. I have never run out of questions, and I doubt I ever will.

Then there's the encouragement of disagreement. How common it is for Jews to argue honestly caught me off guard in the very beginning. But it soon became one of my favorite things about Judaism. There's always an argument going on. This ties back to the first two. Whenever I would ask a question, I would either be told to search for the answer on my own, or my rabbi would give me his answer. I learned very quickly that I was expected to disagree with him, to argue with him. Otherwise, had I truly understood his answer? This became apparent during Torah study as well. The first Torah study class I went to, the entire class we spent more arguing than actually reading Torah. I was very nervous to participate, bc at the time I could barely follow along, but being encouraged to ask questions, and then have to defend whatever my interpretation of the verse we were reading was, definitely strengthened by ability to comprehend Jewish texts, as well as strengthen my bonds with other Jews. Nothing was passive. I have to be active constantly. I have to argue, celebrate, learn to cook Jewish recipes, learn Hebrew, write, study, etc.

Judaism turned everything I knew about religion on its head. Everything I loved about religion, Judaism had. A monotheistic belief in one creator, a large well of material to learn from, a sense of community, thousands of years of tradition, a beautiful culture, a welcoming and nurturing environment. It was everything my "ideal religion" would have.

As my interest grew, I could not stop researching Jewish holidays, traditions, food, beliefs, ethics, etc. I literally could not stop thinking about my now burning desire to join this "peoplehood", for lack of a better word.

My reasons for wanting to convert were clear to me now. I felt a deep connection to the Jewish people, to Hashem, and to the teachings of the Torah. I wanted to do anything I could to be 100% part of this community.

When I started converting, I reached out to a Reform Temple. The reform movement is seen to be the most "progressive" Jewish movement, and also has a reputation for being the least strict and most "assimilated". I chose to start my conversion with the reform movement because I thought it was my only option. I'm a trans man and I genuinely didn't think I could find an Orthodox community that would be accepting of that fact. I found very quickly that the reform movement was not for me. I personally didn't feel it was as true to the Torah as I wanted. I wanted a community that accepted the word of the Torah and sought to follow it as much as possibly in the 21st century. I didn't feel that the reform movement did that. It seemed like they wanted to "modernize" Judaism, which I didn't like. Judaism is ancient and I wanted to be part of a movement that treated it as such, that respected its roots and tried to follow as closely as possible to the origins. Eventually, I found an organization that helped LGBT Jews and LGBT ppl looking to convert Orthodox find orthodox communities.

I find my views align far more with Orthodoxy and I feel much more "at home" in this movement than I did in reform.

That's pretty much it I think :) Obviously, feel free to ask any other questions you have. I didn't proofread this, so I might be a little unclear.

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girlactionfigure · 5 years

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1/ Hi. My twitter name is Gilead Ini, and my real name is Gilead Ini. My ethnicity is Jewish. My connection began at least around 1200 BC, when a Hebrew-speaking Israelite civilization emerged in the hills of the land of Israel. It continues unbroken until today. Here's how:

2/ That early civilization developed into Israelite, Hebrew, Jewish kingdoms. A bunch of foreign invaders came and went. But whenever they could, my ancestors stayed on their indigenous homeland—like when Babylonians exiled many Jews in 586 BC… and most actually stayed put!

3/ Just 50 years later, many of the exiles came back, when a Persian army took over and Cyrus allowed a Jewish return. The Persians ruled over a province named Yehud. (Note the name.)

4/ That story repeated throughout history. Alexander the Great came around 300 BC. He died, and we eventually fought off the Greek invaders—and won! To this very day, we still celebrate that holiday. To this day, we call it by a Hebrew word, Hannukah. Unbroken connection.

5/ In the process, we picked up some styles and ideas from the Greeks. But that's always how it is with foreign empires. So yes, today's Jews, the descendants of those I'm describing, don't wear the same clothes as their ancestor, a Hasmonean named Judah. (Note the name.)

6/ There were again Jewish independent kingdoms. One was led by a Jewish queen—my genetic, ethnic, and religious ancestor. Josephus wrote about her, but apparently he was kind of a misogynist, and blamed her, including her femaleness, for the next successful invasion, from Rome.

7/ Seems like it might have actually been the fault of her two sons, who couldn't get along. You know what they say: Two Jews, three opinions. Anyway, the Romans took over. This is a pretty well-known part of Jewish history on the land, with Jews named Jesus, Herod, and so on.

8/ Josephus, mentioned earlier, was among the indigenous Jews to revolt against the guys from Rome. He failed. Hey, we're hardly the only ones to lose to them. But we put up a pretty incredible fight. That's because our connection to the land, and its connection to our religion.

9/ The Romans carved a picture of our plundered artifacts, including the Jewish menorah, on an arch back in Rome. We, the Jews, also continued to carve and draw and craft images of the menorah throughout our history, in our homeland and in exile. An unbroken link.

10/ Here's one from around 2000 years ago in Israel's Galilee. Hundreds of years later, another on a mosaic in Jericho, now ruled by the Palestinian Authority. The Hebrew text says "Peace unto Israel." And we kept it with us abroad: See this ketubah from ≈1000 CE Mastaura. Etc.

11/ Some more menorahs. Pretty incredible. Unbroken link.

stayed put in and around Judea—note the name. Jews also lived other places, and led a revolt from elsewhere in the eastern Mediterranean. When things turned bad, a leader of the revolt fled back to Judea

13/ Then the indigenous Jews revolted *against* Rome again. We put up a hard fight, but lost. The colonial Roman army slaughtered us wholesale, and exiled and banned us from Jerusalem, and tried to erase Jewish history on the land (sound familiar?) by changing names.

14/ This period might have opened the book on our vibrant history in Europe. But it certainly didn't close the book on Jewish history in the land of Israel. Despite the slaughter and exile, we stayed on the land during and well after the remainder of Roman rule.

15/ After the revolt was crushed, my ancient relatives who remained in northern Israel wrote one of our Talmuds. Anther was written by my ancestors in Iraq, from where the Jewish sages wrote about Jerusalem. A lot.

16/ We were still there in around 600, when Jews in and near the land of Israel helped the Persians expel the Byzantines. That was good for the Jews. But then the Byzantines struck back and won. That was bad for the Jews. They massacred and expelled us. Somehow, many stayed.

17/ We were still there when and after a foreign army invaded from Arabia. An Arab geographer in Jerusalem wrote in the 900s that, in the city, “everywhere the Christians and the Jews have the upper hand.”

18/ On the other hand, the geographer said, Jews in the land tended to work unglamorous jobs as tanners, dyers and moneychangers. (Not many Jewish doctors back then. The profession was dominated by Christians.)

19/ It goes on and on like this. The Crusaders came to the land around 1000. We know from letters written by the Jewish community in Cairo that at the time the land was dotted with Jewish towns. Jews helped fight against the Crusaders. They lost, and were massacred.

20/ Even then, small numbers of Jews remained. Saladin came from Egypt, and things got better. Then things got worse. Then better. Then worse. And that’s the story as the Jewish population became a smaller and smaller percentage of the land, but still endured.

21/ Arabs who resettled one of the old Jewish towns in the Golan Heights named their new village "Yehudia," a reference to the Jews that they knew had previously lived there. Kind of like today we refer to a state in middle America "Kansas," a reference to the Kansa tribe.

22/ We returned from abroad when we could. like the Jewish who sailed from Spain to northern Israel to develop the Kabalah.

23/ Why sail the dangerous seas all the way to Israel? That unbroken link. They had always faced east toward Jerusalem as they prayed, about Jerusalem Hebrew, in Hebrew, the language of ancient Jerusalem.

24/ The most famous Jewish poet in medieval Spain, Yehuda Halevi, wrote, in Hebrew, about the land of Israel: "My heart is in the east, and I am at the edge of the West. So how can I taste what I eat, how can it give me any pleasure?"

25/ In the modern era, President Truman's envoy to displaced persons camps full of Jewish Holocaust survivors wrote back to the president that the Jews, the survivors, “want to be evacuated to Palestine now, just as other national groups are being repatriated to their homes.”

26/ In current polls, most Jews say their Judaism is related to "ancestry" and culture even than religion. Most American Jews feel that a thriving state of Israel is vital to the future of the Jewish people. Most British Jews say that Israel plays a role in their Jewish identity.

27/ It's where we're from. Arab Muslims would sometime refer to the Negev desert as Tih Bani Isra'il, after the wanderings of the children of Israel. The guy in the first post linked to above would deny our unbroken history, and say Jews today aren't related to Israelites. But…

28/ As geneticist Harry Osterer found, Ashkenazi, Sephardic, and Mizrachi Jews form a distinct genetic cluster, and their genes all show Middle-Eastern ancestry.

29/ Marcus Feldman, a leading geneticist at Stanford, noted that “If you take all of the careful genetic population analysis that has been done over the last 15 years… there’s no doubt about the common Middle Eastern origin.”

Gilead Ini

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pamphletstoinspire · 5 years

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Living By Faith: The 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (October 6th)

Our readings this week take up the theme of faith, both Israel’s faith under the old covenant and the faith to which we are called in the new. Jesus urges us not to despair even if we feel our faith is pitiful. God can work wonders using small material.

1. Our First Reading is a famous passage from Habbakuk:

Hab 1:2-3; 2:2-4

How long, O LORD? I cry for help but you do not listen! I cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not intervene. Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and clamorous discord. Then the LORD answered me and said: Write down the vision clearly upon the tablets, so that one can read it readily. For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfillment, and will not disappoint; if it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late. The rash one has no integrity; but the just one, because of his faith, shall live.

Like Jonah, the Book of Habakkuk is an anomaly among the Twelve Minor Prophets. The other ten relate oracles the various prophets delivered on behalf of the LORD to Israel and/or the nations. In Jonah and Habakkuk, however, the focus is largely on the spiritual struggle between the prophet and the LORD concerning the wisdom and righteousness of God’s providence over world history. Both Jonah and Habakkuk struggle with the justice of God’s ways. The Book of Jonah explores this question largely through narrative, whereas Habakkuk engages it through dialogue between the prophet and the LORD. Habakkuk resolves doubts about God’s justice by urging God’s people to live by faith in God’s promises, even if contemporary events seem contradictory or inexplicable. Habakkuk 2:4, which summarizes this message succinctly, is one of the most-quoted verses of the Old Testament in the New (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38-39) and has powerfully influenced Christian piety, prayer, and theology.

As is the case with so many of the Twelve, no biographical information is available for Habakkuk. The form of his name is unusual and its meaning uncertain. It may be a passive form derived from the Hebrew root h-b-q, “to embrace,” i.e. “one who is embraced.” The date of the book is likewise uncertain. At least Judah, if not Israel, still seems to be in existence as the prophet writes, so it must be before the exile (>597 BC). Beyond that, the mention of the “Chaldeans” (=Babylonians) as a rising threat in 1:6 (cf. Isa 39) is the best piece of evidence for dating. The prophet’s words indicate that people will be surprised to hear that Babylon will be the agent of God’s judgment (1:5-6). This would certainly not be the case in the early sixth century BC (c. 590s-580s) when Babylon was a dominant and feared world power, so Habakkuk should probably be placed sometime in the late eighth (late 700s) or (more likely) the seventh century (600s) BC, when Assyria was still dominant in the Levant but Babylon was growing in power (cf. Isa 39).

Habakkuk begins his book by complaining to the LORD: why does God seem to do nothing about the violence and injustice the prophet sees around him (1:2-4)? God replies that He is preparing the Babylonians to come and destroy the evildoers (1:5-11) and Habakkuk acknowledges this divine judgment (1:12). However, sending the Babylonians as executors of justice raises another theological problem: how can God judge wicked persons by others who are yet more wicked (1:13)? The prophet goes on to describe the wickedness of wealthy man who consumes others (1:14-16) and “slays the nations” (1:17), perhaps the King of Assyria or Babylon.

The LORD’s response to this second, more sharply-focused complaint from Habakkuk is much longer and more detailed (Hab 2:2-20). First, the LORD counsels the prophet and all the righteous to have patience, even if it seems like the oracles of God are slow in fulfillment (2:2-4). Secondly, the LORD pronounces five woes (vv. 6-8; 9-11; 12-14; 15-17; 18-20) on the “arrogant man” whose “greed is as wide as Sheol” and “gathers for himself all nations.” This may be simultaneously (1) a hyperbolic description of any wealthy oppressor, and (2) a specific description of the King of Babylon (or Assyria). The message of these woes is that the wickedness of the wicked man will come back on his head: those he oppresses will one day suddenly turn on him (2:7) and he will experience the destruction to which he subjugated others (vv. 8, 10, 17).

The Book of Habakkuk ends with a psalm composed by the prophet, which appears in its present context to be a response to the woes against the evildoer just pronounced by the LORD (2:6-20). This psalm, which bears a strong resemblance to Ps. 68 and others, recounts a theophany of the LORD in which he marches north to Israel from the south (the region around Sinai), accompanied by a violent storm and earthquake (1:3-12). Having arrived, he vindicates his “anointed” (v. 13, probably the Davidic King) by slaying the sea serpent that embodies evil (vv. 13b-15). This entire poetic composition, colored with mythological imagery, may be a figurative description of the Exodus, the conquest of the land, or one or more other of God’s great saving acts of his people in Israel’s history. Essentially, it is a mytho-poetic description of God’s power over the forces of evil as the divine warrior, which is manifested in various ways throughout history.

In response to his vision of God manifesting his power and justice, the prophet resolves to “wait quietly” for the day of judgment on those “who invade us” (v. 16) and to rejoice in the LORD even though there is, as yet, no sign of the consolations and blessing that God has promised for his people (vv. 17-19).

The Book of Habakkuk is of perennial theological and spiritual interest because it struggles with the ever-pertinent question of theodicy, the justice of God. If God is good and all-powerful, why do the wicked seem to prosper? Of course, many other biblical books, notably Job and the Psalms, also deal with this issue. The answer offered by the Book of Habakkuk is that God will, in the end, deliver justice to all. In the meantime, it is necessary for the righteous to exercise trust or faith in the goodness, justice, and promises of God. This practical advice is summed up well in Hab 2:4b: “The righteous shall live by his faith” (RSV). The word translated “faith” is ‘emunah, which is more precisely rendered “faithfulness,” “integrity” or “fidelity.” It derives from the same Hebrew root meaning “true” (‘-m-n) that gives us “Amen,” i.e. “so be it!” or “it is true!” St. Paul quotes Hab. 2:4 in Rom 1:17, but follows the Septuagint in rendering Heb. ‘emunah as Gk. pistis, “faith.” Although the Gk. pistis (“faith”) is not the exact equivalent of Heb. ‘emunah (“faithfulness”), it certainly is the case that the Book of Habakkuk, taken as a whole, counsels the follower of the LORD to exercise trust or faith in the present while he awaits the fulfillment of God’s promises in the future.

P. Our Responsorial Psalm is Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9:

R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD; let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us joyfully sing psalms to him. R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us bow down in worship; let us kneel before the LORD who made us. For he is our God, and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides. R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice: “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert, Where your fathers tempted me; they tested me though they had seen my works.” R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Psalm 95 is a very common responsorial, and also appears frequently in the Divine Office. The Psalm recalls the trials of faith that Israel underwent in the desert, while wandering forty years under Moses. Massah (“trial”) and Meribah (“contention”) are names of the location in Exod 17 where the people ran out of water, and lost their faith in God and his prophet Moses. The grumbled and complained, accusing God of intending evil for them. We can say that those two events became iconic examples of the loss of faith by God’s people, and they resulted in plagues in both instances. They become ensconced in Israel’s memory as counter-examples to the faith we should embrace and demonstrate toward God.

2. Our Second Reading is :2 Tm 1:6-8, 13-14 :

Beloved:

I remind you, to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of your testimony to our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for his sake; but bear your share of hardship for the gospel with the strength that comes from God.

Take as your norm the sound words that you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard this rich trust with the help of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

Unlike the Israelites in the desert, we have the tremendous “help of the Holy Spirit” in order to maintain the “faith and love” of Christ Jesus in our lives. Faith is contrary to a “spirit of cowardice,” but leads us to an attitude of “power, love, and self-control.” This reminds us of St. Josemaria’s teaching that Christians should have a kind of spiritual “superiority complex” when tackling the challenges of this world. Confidence should characterize the Christian; not self-confidence which the world urges, but what we might call “Christ-confidence” or “Spirit-confidence.” Knowing that “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me,” we should have this great confidence that God will provide a means for us to overcome the obstacles we face. No doubt this will mean we must share in the “hardship for the Gospel,” but we can rely on the “strength that comes from God” to persevere through it.

3. Our Gospel is Lk 17:5-10:

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord replied, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

I think many take this parable wrongly. Hearing that faith the size of a mustard seed would be sufficient to perform miracles, folks reason like this: “I can’t work miracles; therefore, my faith must not even be the size of a mustard seed! I must try real hard to muster up some faith the size of a mustard seed, because my faith is microscopic!”

However, I don’t think our Lord was trying to discourage us and tell us that our faith was insignificant. Rather, the purpose of our Lord’s words are consolation, not rebuke. The point he is making to the disciples is this: You don’t need much faith to be effective! Just give me a little bit of faith and I can do great things for you! Just as I took five loaves and two fish and fed 5,000, I can take a mustard seed of your faith and transplant a tree into the ocean.”

Our Lord’s words are meant to be an encouragement. You may only have a tiny amount of faith, but go ahead and step out on that faith anyway. You do not need huge faith already in order to begin serving the Lord. He will take what you have and do great things with it.

“Who among you would say to your servant who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? Would he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded? So should it be with you. When you have done all you have been commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants; we have done what we were obliged to do.’”

It’s not immediately apparent what the connection is between this saying of Jesus and the previous teaching on faith. Maybe it’s this: sometimes those who do great works of faith think they are doing God a favor. Jesus says in a different place, “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’” (Mt. 7:22) These are works of faith. However, to these individuals, Jesus responds, “Depart from me, for I never knew you, you evildoers.”

We don’t do God favors by serving him. Paul says, “If I have faith to remove mountians” — alluding to a version of our Lord’s teaching in Luke 7—“but have not love, I am nothing.” Great works of faith do not add to God’s glory. Nor does our holiness.

Jesus is reminding us here that we can’t actually put God in our debt, and that even a holy life is only “normal” for God to expect of us. After all, holiness is normal, it is sin and evil that is abnormal. Sin may be typical, but it is still abnormal. Mary was the first normal human being since Adam and Eve fell.

If we live a saintly life, in a sense it is nothing exceptional. All we’ve done is to be truly human, to fulfill the destiny for which we were created in the first place.

It makes me think of an anecdote a friend of mine shared with me this week. A construction crew was rebuilding a Carthusian monastery and came across the grave of a monk. Opening the casket, they found him incorrupt. Wondering what to do, they called the nearest Carthusian monastery, which was in another country. “What shall we do with the body?” they asked. “Bury him again”, came the reply. “But he’s incorrupt!” they protested. “All Carthusians are supposed to be holy,” came the answer, “this is not exceptional. Bury him again.”

This Sunday’s Gospel is calling on us not to pat ourselves on the back every time we turn away from temptation or do an act of mercy. It is only normal. Holiness should be ordinary.

From: https://www.pamphletstoinspire.com/

#27th sunday in ordinary time

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romancatholicreflections · 7 years

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25th August >> Daily Reflection on Today's First Reading (Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14-16, 22) for Roman Catholics on Friday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

Commentary on Ruth 1:1, 3-6, 14-16, 22 We move on today to a very different piece of Scripture, the short book of Ruth, which consists of just four chapters. (The only other biblical book bearing the name of a woman is Esther.) We will just have two readings from this lovely work which follows immediately on Judges. Introducing the book the Jerusalem Bible says in part: Although its action is placed in the period of the Judges (Ruth 1:1) the book does not form part of the deuteronomic corpus which runs from Joshua to the end of Kings… The main purpose of the book is to show (2:12), how trust in God is rewarded and how God’s goodness is not restricted by frontiers. That a woman of Moab should be privileged to become the great-grandmother of David gives a particular value to this narrative; nor is there any reason to doubt its historical foundation. – Jerusalem Bible The New International Version Study Bible makes this comment: The story is set in the time of the Judges, a time characterised in the book of Judges as a period of religious and moral degeneracy, national disunity and general foreign oppression. The book of Ruth reflects a temporary time of peace between Israel and Moab (contrast Judges 3:12-30). Like 1 Sam 1-2, it gives a series of intimate glimpses in the private lives of the members of an Israelite family. It also presents a delightful account of the remnant of true faith and piety in the period of the Judges, relieving an otherwise wholly dark picture of that era The book – and our reading today – tells the sad story of Elimelech, a man from Bethlehem in Judah. It was the days of the Judges and the area was hit by a famine. Because of this, he had to move to Moab with his wife, Naomi, and his two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. There they settled. Bethlehem lies south of Jerusalem while Moab was a tribal region on the east side of the Dead Sea and hence Gentile territory. The time of the Judges was probably from around 1380 BC to about 1050 BC. By setting such an edifying story in this period, the author calls to mind a time in Israel’s history noted for its apostasy, moral degradation and oppression. The famine mentioned here is not recorded in Judges. Bethlehem in Judah will be David’s hometown and, as descendants of David, Joseph and Mary will go to Bethlehem to be registered (cf. Luke 2:4). Bethlehem means the ‘house of bread’ but right now there is no bread there. The names are not those of real people and have been chosen mainly for their meaning. Emilech means ‘my God is king’, while Naomi is ‘my fair one’. The two sons, who die relatively young, are called Mahlon (‘sickness’) and Chilion (‘pining away’). Their two wives are called Orpah (‘she who turns away’) and Ruth (‘the beloved’). Naomi and Ruth are the two ‘lovely’ people in the story. It reminds one of the names given to the characters in John Bunyah’s Pilgrim’s Progress. Ruth, too, is one of the four women listed in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. The others are Tamar, Rahab and Bathsheba (Matt 1:3,5-6). After they moved to Moab, Elimelech died, leaving Naomi a widow with her two sons. This is the first blow. Each of her sons married local Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth, and the prospect of continuing the family line remained. The Moabites were descended from Moab, who was the son of a liaison between Lot and one of his daughters (Gen 19:36-37). (Both his daughters slept with him while he was too drunk to know what was happening.) Marriage with Moabite women was not forbidden to Hebrews, though no Moabite – or his sons to the 10th generation – was allowed to “enter the assembly of the Lord” (Deut 23:3). Then, after about 10 years, both the sons died. Naomi, a widow, was now left without her husband or her sons. Nor did her daughters-in-law have any sons to support them. Namoi’s emptiness is complete. She has neither husband nor sons. She has only two young daughters-in-law, both of them foreigners and both childless. It was a complete ‘kenosis’ or ‘emptying’. In those times, the lot of the widow could be a very sad one with no means of support and little chance of remarriage. All three women had become outsiders and rejects: of no more interest to their husband’s family and a disappointment to their own. Naomi then decided to leave the Plains of Moab and return to Bethlehem with her two daughters-in-law, having heard that God had visited his people and the famine was over. The ‘visit’ here is a way of expressing God’s blessing and favour on the place. It is just one point in the story where God’s control of events is recognised. Bethlehem, the house of bread, now has bread once more. There seems to be a mutual echoing between the famine in Bethlehem and the emptiness of Naomi and her daughters-in-law. The end of the famine foreshadows the end of the emptiness. So, together they all left the place and set out for Judah, Naomi’s homeland. However, on the way, she urged the two daughters-in-law to go back to their homeland. They had a better chance of finding husbands there than in Judah but they were reluctant to leave her. Then, with many tears, Orpah agreed to go back to her native place but Ruth insisted on staying with Naomi, one outsider offering to take care of another. While Orpah left reluctantly and only after the urging of Naomi, her departure highlights the loyalty and selfless devotion of Ruth to her desolate mother-in-law. Naomi still urged Ruth to go back with her sister to her own people and her gods. (The chief god of the Moabites was Chemosh.) But Ruth asked Naomi not to force her to leave or to prevent her staying with Naomi. She will accompany her mother-in-law into a future that shows no promise for either of them. She expresses her feelings beautifully, in poetic form: Wherever you go, I shall go, wherever you live, I shall live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. Whereas Orpah returns to Moab and its god Chemosh, Ruth chooses Yahweh’s territory and his people; in doing so she will have no other God but him. Ruth is now doubly an outsider: she does not belong to the family of Naomi’s husband and she is a Gentile Moabite who has left her native land. It is this loyalty to her husband’s mother, a loyalty that was not expected and which transcended tribal and religious boundaries, which is one of the qualities for which Ruth is admired as a specially good woman. Indeed, very much a person for our time. She also anticipates the Gospel teaching that, before God, there are no outsiders. And so, the author tells us, that was how Naomi returned home to Bethlehem with her daughter-in-law Ruth the Moabitess from the Plains of Moab. The author keeps reminding the reader that Ruth is a foreigner from a despised people. “They arrived in Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.” Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem just as the renewed fullness of the land is beginning to be harvested – an early hint that Naomi’s emptiness will be ended and she will be filled with joy again. Reference to the barley harvest also prepares the reader for the next major scene in the harvest fields. Harvesting grain in ancient Canaan took place in April and May (barley first, wheat a few weeks later). It involved the following steps: 1, cutting the ripened standing grain with hand sickles – usually done by men; 2, binding the grain into sheaves – usually done by women; 3, gleaning, i.e. gathering stalks of grain left behind; 4, transporting the sheaves to the threshing floor – often by donkey, sometimes by cart; 5, threshing, i.e. loosening the grain from the straw – usually done by the treading of cattle, but sometimes by toothed threshing sledges or the wheels of carts; 6, winnowing – done by tossing the grain into the air with winnowing forks so that the wind, which usually came up for a few hours in the afternoon, blew away the straw and chaff, leaving the grain at the winnower’s feet; 7, sifting the grain to remove any residual foreign matter; 8, bagging for transportation and storage. Threshing floors, where both threshing and winnowing occurred, were hard, smooth, open places, prepared on either rock or clay and carefully chosen for favourable exposure to the prevailing winds. They were usually on the east side – i.e., downwind – of the village. (NIV, edited) As mentioned, one of the special significances of this story for us is that Ruth is the great-grandmother of King David, who was from Bethlehem, and hence also an ancestor of Jesus and one of the four women mentioned by Matthew in the family tree of Jesus.

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smokeblooded-blog1 · 7 years

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REALLY LONG CHARACTER SURVEY. RULES. repost , don’t reblog ! tag 10 ! good luck ! TAGGED. i took it from myself bc i was bored TAGGING. spiritmiinded, soughtdawn, clandestinesque, spyblooded, starveincd, pastryblooded, and anyone else who wants to do it who hasnt already

BASICS.

FULL NAME : jean otus NICKNAME : the cigarette peddler / receiver depending on the translation, the cigaretter receiver jean AGE : thirty BIRTHDAY : unknown ETHNIC GROUP : white NATIONALITY : german (? subject to change) LANGUAGE / S : english, japanese, german SEXUAL ORIENTATION : bisexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION : biromantic RELATIONSHIP STATUS : verse dependent, canonically single HOME TOWN / AREA : born in the Bādon district of the country (at the beak of the bird) CURRENT HOME : he currently still lives in Bādon in a large apartment complex (he lives on the top floor, but only because he and his sister manage the building) PROFESSION : second in command at the ACCA inspections department

PHYSICAL.

SKIN : fair skin that is scarless for the most part, no acne or notable blemishes except for some small birthmarks of no particular shape on his lower back EYES: sky blue; the perfect blue color. they are often shaped in a tired, disinterested look of a poker face, but when smiling the softness is shown through them the most. more emotion can be seen through jean’s eyes than any other feature on him FACE : his face is rather long for the most part, not a baby face in any form, but it doesnt look scrawny or make him look sickly either. he has a longer nose as well that is more lengthy on the bridge than the point itself LIPS : arent particularly special. theyre not too thick, not too thin, and they are often in a straight line / resting. they dont get chapped often because he drinks enough to keep them hydrated and they are not bitten or chewed at in any form. when smiling, small dimples (barely noticiable) come on his cheeks COMPLEXION : isnt anything particularly special. its not like he keeps his skin flawless (he has no particular interest in that), but jean is one of the lucky ones who is blessed to not have much acne. he cleans his face in the shower / when its dirty, but with that taken out of the picture, jean doesnt participate in washing it to the excess. its just naturally free of acne and other blemishes. he doesnt get red faced either, nor does he (or would he) wear makeup to cover it up BLEMISHES : besides the small birthmarks on his lower back, he doesn’t have any SCARS : none TATTOOS : none HEIGHT : 177.5cm / 5′10″ WEIGHT : 72.57kg / 160lbs BUILD : has muscle, but nothing extraordinary. his strongest muscle point is in his wide / broad shoulders, but the rest of body just has lean muscle. he appears rather thin, so you wouldnt be able to tell he had much muscle unless stripping him down / seeing him shirtless / etc. he has a flat stomach, but there isnt much developed muscle through his stomach. the abs are there, but nothing noticable, really FEATURES : nothing particularly notable ALLERGIES : bee stings. there arent many bees in Bādon, but when jean travels to other districts he often has to bring medicine with him just in case he does get stung USUAL HAIR STYLE : golden hair with an undercut underneath a near-bowl hair style USUAL FACE LOOK : he typically is expressed with a poker face. jean doesnt smile often, or really show many other expressions for that matter, but all of his expressions are vibrant (but short lasting). his smile comes out a lot when hes drunk USUAL CLOTHING : typically hes seen wearing his ACCA uniform, with or without the jacket

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR / S : losing the people hes close to (i.e lotta and niino for the most part) ASPIRATION / S : completing his work every day, leaving ACCA somewhere down the line, finding niino (post ep8) POSITIVE TRAITS : adaptable, calm, candid, capable, compassion, determined, easygoing, empathetic, faithful, friendly (though it sometimes seems otherwise), honest, open-minded, punctual, etc NEGATIVE TRAITS : absent-minded, bored (sometimes), distracted, dull (before getting to know him), oblivious, etc MBTI : DEFENDER (ISFJ-A) ZODIAC : virgo (subject to change) TEMPEREMENT : phlegmatic SOUL TYPE / S : the helper ANIMALS : mouse VICE HABIT / S : SMOKING FAITH : christian (however, he is not very spiritual. religion does not matter much in his life, he just has his basic beliefs in the entity itself) GHOSTS ? : yes, but not a strong belief AFTERLIFE ? : yes REINCARNATION ? : probably not ALIENS ? : yeah he would POLITICAL ALIGNMENT : ACCA EDUCATION LEVEL : high school graduate

FAMILY.

FATHER : a poor man prior to managing an apartment complex (the one that was passed to jean and lotta after his death) that does not have much known about him. jean doesnt talk about him much because of his higher fondness towards his mother, but his father was not a particularly bad man. currently deceased from a train wreck MOTHER : a woman who was formerly the second princess of Dowa, but was removed from the royal roster for the sake of the country. she kept this to herself, even her husband and children when she met them / they were born, because she had faked her death to become a commoner on the streets. currently deceased from a train wreck SIBLINGS : lotta otus, approximately eighteen to twenty years old, is the younger sibling of jean. she has a striking resemblance to her mother, as jean notes, and currently lives with him in their shared apartment on the top floor. has a love for bread, pasteries, and just food in general really. she and jean are quite close to one another EXTENDED FAMILY : king falke II (jean’s grandfather, the current king in power), prince schwan (cousin), other royal family members NAME MEANING / S : jean’s first name in hebrew quite literally means “gift from God” while otus means “keen of hearing” in Greek HISTORICAL CONNECTION ? : historically speaking, jean is of a royal family bloodline. he does not know this for most of his life, nor does he care about it once he finds out that he is apart of it. he would have been the next king in line instead of schwan if not for his mother being removed off of the roster, but his bloodline is still all the more royal

FAVORITES.

BOOK : he hasnt read a book unrelated to work in some time, so he doesnt really have one MOVIE : see above 5 SONGS : jean listens to a lot of untitled instrumentals, mostly because it appeals to him. he will listen to other things on and off, but his favorite thing is typing in something along the lines of “relaxing music” in the search bar and clicking one of the 8 hour videos and just letting it play. he doesnt need to know the tracks, theyre good enough for him like this DEITY : speaking as hes christian, god / jesus obv HOLIDAY : christmas MONTH : he doesnt have one SEASON : spring. jean likes things to be mild and, despite how flimsy spring can be, he doesnt mind it too much. he likes when its not too hot, not too cold, but doesnt like it to be as chilled and rainy as it can be in fall. spring brings about rain as well, but not nearly as often as fall does, so this is a higher preference for him PLACE : at the bar / anywhere with niino, at home / anywhere with lotta, a bakery, the roof of the apartment complex WEATHER : he likes sun, but he doesnt like when its too hot. it has to be like, mild, because if its too hot then its uncomfortable for him. he likes when its breezy as well but, like previously said, not too much. just enough so that it isnt chilly SOUND : niino / lotta’s laugh, a gentle breeze blowing, rain SCENT / S : strawberry, cigarette smoke, baking bread, faint cologne scents (i e: a specific brand that niino wears), warm food cooking TASTE / S : strawberries, tobacco, bread (specifically tough bread) FEEL / S : the cigarette between his fingers, people he trusts rubbing his back, people he trusts petting his hair, silk ANIMAL / S : cats NUMBER : he doesnt have one COLORS : blue

EXTRA.

TALENTS : figuring out when someone is lying to him (for the most part), investigating BAD AT : getting close to people, expressing his emotions in a way that isnt just deadpan / poker faced, cooking, holding his liquor, dealing with social events (he isnt anxious, he just doesnt like being at them that much) TURN ONS : body worship (receiving), care, confidence, dirty talk, minimal marks, praise, soft biting (more to be added most likely) TURN OFFS : being too rough (he likes it softer, more making love-esque), having to beg too much, too much teasing (a little is okay) (more to be added most likely) HOBBIES : drinking with niino, smoking (is this considered a hobby? idk), listening to music, going to bakeries TROPES : “Royal blood”, “Smoking is cool”, etc QUOTES : “I never noticed I had an observer you’d assigned to me. But he isn’t a straightforward guy.” (to Grossular, about Niino) || “I smell tobbaco on you.” || “I try not to think of my subordinates as exceptional. After all, doubting them is my job.” (to Eider)

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 : if you could write your character your way in their own movie , what would it be called , what style would it be filmed in , and what would it be about ? A1 : what does ??????? this question even mean asldkfj Q2 : what would their soundtrack / score sound like ? A2 : itd probably be a lot of soft music. nothing super upbeat like pop and nothing like rock either. itd be maybe soft indie music, instrumentals, stuff like that Q3 : why did you start writing this character ? A3 : you know, i honestly wasnt going to write any muse from this fandom? i figured the rp part of it would be dead after i couldnt find anyone after some time, but a few of my friends got wound up with the show after i talked about it so much and after they decided to make blogs, i made the decision to join them. even though i dont get that many interactions and this blog is still extremely new, i love being on jean. hes a really good character and im glad my friends convinced me to write him Q4 : what first attracted you to this character ? A4 : honestly, it didnt come immediately. i never disliked jean, but i thought he was rather plain at first, which is to be understandable when you know how he is. i didnt think there was anything striking about him at all and i was more attracted to niino (i still am attracted to / love niino). that said, jean started to come to live more as the anime progressed and i found that hes really just a sweet bean and is VERY cute and i love him so so much. i think it was episode 3 when he was blushing / being precious and adorable while drunk that really got me getting gay for him Q5 : describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse. A5 : definitely the fact that he smokes. i dont hate people because they smoke, but i have an extreme aversion to smoking due to the fact that i not only have asthma and its very bad for me to be around, but because of the fact that it smells awful Q6 : what do you have in common with your muse ? A6 : mmm, i think we’re similar in the fact that we’re pretty introverted and / or reserved and we like being away from social events and such Q7 : how does your muse feel about you ? A7 : i hope he likes me. i love him so Q8 : what characters does your muse have interesting interactions with ? A8 : honestly ? all of the interactions on my blog so far are great. my niino spyblooded and i already have like a kajillion threads and he loves their niino so so much <3. clandestinesque and i have an interesting thread and im not quite sure where we’re going to go with it but ive enjoyed it so far !!. spiritmiinded / astrallance and i also have good interactions too. we had great ones when i was still on keith too and im super happy that im still writing with them over here :’) Q9 : what gives you inspiration to write your muse ? A9 : i dont really get inspiration, im just kinda here, writing because i enjoy it lmfao Q10 : how long did this take you to complete ? A10 : idk exactly but 2-3 hours probably ? longer than it took me to complete keiths i know that

#✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* { to his ashes (about) }#yall this meme is so long and detailed its not even funny asdlkfj

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ambassador3092-blog · 7 years

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ENTERING INTO THE TRUE REST

The below passages that we will visit TODAY are meant to bring awareness to every believer that TODAY IS THE DAY OF SALVATION AND ITS THE DAY THE LORD HAS MADE AND WE ARE CALLED TO REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT. For many this concept has been made aware to our mind but has failed to transform the heart. In no way am I condemning anyone in particular but the fact remains, we are all able to live in the Fathers TRUE REST day after day

! Let me take a moment to explain before we dive into the text found in HEBREWS 3.

When we fail to live in TODAY we will find ourselves getting pulled down by the undercurrent of our past failures and victories. When the people we are associating with constantly brings up our past to malign our name we must recognize that this is a spirit that is working through the individual. Remembering this truth will help us navigate through the offense so that we respond in love not hate. When the FOCUS is on TODAY we can better manage our responses to things that will come our way knowing that GODS MERCIES ARE NEW EACH DAY!!! This is great news because it frees us from condemnation which is what the enemy loves to throw into the believers thoughts. When we start out each day knowing that the only one who can throw me into hell has already forgiven and forgot about my sin it brings a refreshing that should set us on the right path for the day. Remember when Jesus sent out the disciples two by two? They were called to leave their bag, purse and sandals showing us that the power they had been given by God was enough. When they came back they were amazed that the demons were subject to them, teaching us that no power of darkness can overthrow the believer that is found in Gods rest and peace. Remember the focus is on LIVING IN TODAY AND IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT. JESUS response is what we need to get in our spirit, DON’T BE GLAD THAT THE SPIRITS ARE SUBJECT TO YOU BE GLAD YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN THE LAMBS BOOK OF LIFE. This revelation will help keep us humble as we begin to live in the Lords rest each and every day. We will see in the text in Hebrews that we are not to recieve any glory for living in the power and authority of God, that all POWER and GLORY is found in our Heavenly Father. PRIDE is one of the greatest oppositions that hold the believer back from moving from anxiety to rest.

HEBREWS 3

1And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God anda are partners with those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s messenger and High Priest. 2For he was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses served faithfully when he was entrusted with God’s entirec house.

WE BELONG TO GOD AND ARE PARTNERS WITH THOSE WHO HAVE GONE BEFORE US AND ARE NOW IN HEAVEN.

WE HAVE TO BE FAITHFUL TO GOD FIRST NOT MAN IN ORDER TO ENTER GODS TRUE REST.

3But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a house deserves more praise than the house itself. 4For every house has a builder, but the one who built everything is God.

JESUS NEEDS TO BE OUR PRIORITY

DONT PRAISE PEOPLE AND THE WORKS OF OUR HANDS

PRAISE GOD WHO BUILT EVERYTHING

Until we come into agreement with the TRINITY we may have works but they will be dead works because we put more emphasis on what we can do instead of what God can do. We can easily fall into the trap of glorifying people, places and things and when this occurs we will find that what we praise becomes the barrier that keeps us from entering into Gods holy rest.

5Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. 6But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.

HERE IS A CONDITION, IF WE KEEP OUR COURAGE AND REMAIN CONFIDENT IN OUR HOPE IN CHRIST WE WILL STAY A PART OF GODS HOUSE.

CHRIST IS IN CHARGE AND WHEN WE RENOUNCE HIS AUTHORITY WE GET SUCKED BACK INTO A LIFE OF NO PEACE.

KEEP OUR COURAGE/REMAIN CONFIDENT IN OUR HOPE IN CHRIST

Take courage is the word we read in Joshua 1:9 about the thought process of the LEADER GOD USED TO TAKE THE CHILDREN INTO THE PLACE OF PROMISE.

SATAN TRYS TO DESTROY OUR COURAGE WITH UNBELIEF/SATAN USES OUR PAST FAILURES TO PAINT A NEGATIVE PICTURE OF JESUS WHICH LEADS US TO DOUBT JESUS ABILITY TO BRING US INTO REST/WITHOUT HOPE WE ARE SURE TO QUIT SO THE ENEMY WORKS OVERTIME TO GET US IN A DEFEATED MINDSET.

7That is why the Holy Spirit says, “Today when you hear his voice, 8 don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested me in the wilderness.

REBELION IS THE SIN OF WITCHCRAFT/THIS IS A HEART ISSUE THAT MUST BE REMOVED BY PLACING TRUST IN THE LORD AND SPENDING TIME WITH HIM/ITS IN HIS PRESENCE WE FIND HEALING

WE HARDEN OUR HEARTS TOWARDS THE LORD WHEN HE SPEAKS TO US AND WE CHOOSE TO IGNORE HIM.

WHO ARE WE TO TEST GOD FOR HE MADE US WE DID NOT MAKE OURSELVES.

9There your ancestors tested and tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years.10So I was angry with them, and I said, ‘Their hearts always turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’

WITHOUT REPENTANCE NO ONE WILL ENTER INTO GODS PEACE.

WHEN WE SIT BACK AND WATCH GOD WORKING IN OUR LIVES AND REFUSE TO ALLOW HIM TO CHANGE OUR HEARTS IT LEADS TO DEATH

ITS A HEART ISSUE WHEN WE FAIL TO ENTER INTO GODS REST, STOP BLAMING GOD FOR WHERE YOUR AT ITS OUR CHOICE TO LIVE IN FREEDOM

11So in my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”

THIS IS AN OT EXAMPLE OF GODS ANGER. AS WE FILTER THIS THROUGH THE CROSS WE FIND BC OF JESUS WE HAVE ACCESS TO ENTER BACK INTO HIS REST.

THIS REVELATION HINGES ON THE APPLICATION OF THE TRUTH THAT WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN.

12Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters.f Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. 14For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.

ITS UP TO US TO CHECK OUR HEART AND APPLY WHAT THE LORD HAS SO FREELY MADE US AWARE TO.

REMEMBER JESUS SAID ONLY BELIEVE AND YOU WILL BE SAVED AND THIS ISNT A ONE TIME OCCURRENCE. ITS DAILY LIVING IN THE MOMENT AND KEEPING OUR HEART SET ON THE TRUTH OF GODS WORD

WARNING EACH OTHER DAILY IS KEY TO ENTERING INTO THE REST THAT GOD HAS INTENDED FOR EACH BELIEVER.

WHEN WE GET OUT OF FELLOWSHIP WITH THE BODY OF CHRIST WE ARE SUBJECT TO BELIEVING THE LIE RATHER THAN THE TRUTH.

FAITHFUL TO THE END IS KEY FOR THE WORD SAYS HE WHO ENDURES TILL THE END WILL BE SAVED. THE TIMES OF LIVING IN RELIGION ARE OVER AND WE MUST ASK THE LORD TO REMOVE OUR HEART OF STONE AND TRADE IT IN FOR THE PROMISE.....A HEART OF FLESH!!!!!

15Remember what it says: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled.”

REJECTING THE TRUTH THAT GOD HAS SPOKEN CONCERNING YOU DOES CAUSE YOUR HEART TO BECOME CALLOUS LEADING TO REBELLION.

DONT WORRY ABOUT YESTERDAY OR TOMORROW BUT LIVE IN TODAY AND LET GOD BREAK OFF EVERY CHAIN OF UNBELIEF.

16And who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt? 17And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? 18And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? 19So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.

UNBELIEF LEADS TO DISOBEDIENCE

THE PEOPLE WHO ARE CALLED TO LEAD US OUT OF THE OLD AND INTO THE NEW TEND TO BE THE PEOPLE THAT GET THE BRUNT OF OUR ANGER.

STOP BEING MAD AT PEOPLE AND FOCUSING YOUR ENERGY ON NEGATIVITY. LIVE FOR TODAY AND KEEP YOUR AFFECTIONS FOCUSED ON CHRIST AND YOU WILL FIND THE PEACE THAT YOU SO DESPERATELY DESIRE

LET me recap what we have just read and studied. Let us never forget that we have no ability to enter in Gods rest if we forget or are not reminded of all his benefits. What the enemy focuses in on is how good the old days were and how life was so much easier when we were living under bondage. For did not the Israelites remind one another of their former days in bondage and how good those days were. Negativity will always throw us out of peace and into confusion. When we begin to glorify the places that the Lord redeemed us from we set ourselves up for a fall. We cannot expect to glorify sin and reject Gods blessing and think we will walk in his power and might. Unless we come into agreement with the Lord in every aspect of our lives we will continue to have the wrong perspective leading us away from our destiny which is found only in relationship with God. Since Jesus only did what he saw and heard his Father doing he was able to bring the forces of the Kingdom of God in the earthly realm. When we walk daily in response to what the Lord is doing we will find our position in God can not be replaced by any momentary pleasure that this world would promise to give us. We are called to be just like Jesus in this life and to walk in signs and wonders and release the Kingdom of God in the earth. Those that are failing to experience his transforming power in their life need to humble themselves before God and really get serious about all that he has given us access to. When we allow the distractions of what is going around us to determine how we will live we will never live the abundant life that God has promised us. We are in a season of turning off the worldly distractions and redirecting our hearts back to the Lord so he can soften our hearts and get us believing we were made to reign and rule here on earth.

The harvest is great but the laborers are few............

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