A Wait of Faith

By Rick Renner

Friend, I’ll tell you the truth: There are some things that I’ve been believing for more than thirty years without seeing clear results. I particularly remember a time when I was 17 years old, sitting in a service, and suddenly, it was like heaven opened, and God began to download information into my brain. He began to speak to me about my life and to prophesy concerning my future. I had to borrow a piece of paper and something to write with from the person beside me so that I could record the precious things God said to me on that day. Some of those things have come to pass, and some of them are still to come, but they still burn in my heart, and I fully believe that they will come!

In the Book of Hebrews, Paul was writing to a group of people who had been believing for the fulfillment of their faith for 20 years or more. That is a long time to wait, and it is therefore an example that we need to recognize. Sometimes, you only see part of the manifestation of your God-given dreams, those things that God has spoken to you alone, and it takes a while before you see the promise come to pass in its entirety.

During the time of waiting, we must understand that waiting alone doesn’t bring us anything, but waiting and believing is a combination that will bring us the full manifestation of our dreams. Of course, it’s much easier to say that than to actually do it. The Book of Proverbs tells us that something happens in our hearts when we have to wait for a long period of time: When our hope is put off, our hearts grow very sad (Proverbs 13:12).

The fact is, we are just not very good at waiting. What often happens is that God says something to us, and we are initially excited and eager for the fulfillment of that promise, so we start proclaiming, professing, and looking out for it. Over the years, we keep waiting and waiting, and it seems like nothing’s happening. Another year passes, and we’ve told our spouses and probably our friends, but what we’re believing for is still nowhere in sight. That is very often the moment when a spirit of discouragement comes against us, and when I talk about a spirit of discouragement, I’m not just talking about an attitude. No, I’m talking about a real spirit sent from the enemy who comes to speak to us to discourage us.

The enemy begins whispering to us, “Why should you believe? You’ve waited. You’ve walked in holiness. You’ve gone to church. You’ve done what God required. Don’t you think that this is a fantasy? Maybe you misunderstood God. Maybe you just think God promised you something. Maybe it was just your imagination. If you would give up this dream, then you could finally move on with your life, but as long as you keep waiting, you’re stuck. Better to get rid of this dream and move on.”

Friend, have you ever had these thoughts before? I am sure all of us have. They come from a real spiritual entity that comes to us, especially when we’re weak and tired. I want you to remember when Jesus was led into the wilderness for 40 days after He was baptized in the River Jordan. The devil waited to begin his assault against the Lord until Jesus was physically and probably emotionally weak. When He’d been without food for 40 days, Satan began speaking to Jesus, tempting and testing Him, because that’s when Jesus would have been an easy target. Likewise, the believers in Hebrews had been waiting for 20 to 25 years, and they were extremely tired. They were at the point of giving up, rationalizing to themselves, “Maybe this isn’t what God promised. Maybe we misunderstood.” Their minds were probably being influenced by spirits, but they thought it was just coming from their own minds, and they didn’t know to fight back.

The devil is so seductive in the way that he speaks to us, and sometimes, we need a good wife or husband just to look at us and say, “That is the devil talking to you.” We need a good friend who will say, “That is the devil speaking. Those are lies.” God is not like human beings who will lie or change their minds, so whatever He said to you back then is what He is still saying to you today. What He promised He would do is what He will do, even if you’re tired at the moment.

This is why we need to listen to the command of Hebrews 10:35:

“Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.”

That word “confidence” in Greek is the word parrésia (παρρησία), which means boldness, and this word always has to do with people who are bold in their speech. The apostle Paul said, “We also believe, and therefore speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13), because faith is simply not quiet, not ever! It is always speaking! What you believe in your heart comes out of your mouth, and this particular word “confidence” used in Hebrews 10:35 describes somebody who is so bold about what they believe that they are publicly proclaiming and declaring it.

But this verse says, “Don’t cast away your bold declaration,” and it lets us know that the believers were about to throw that powerful, loud faith away. That exact phrase “cast away”  is only used in one other place in the New Testament. It’s used in Mark 10, where the Bible tells us about a blind man named Bartimaeus who was sitting by the road. As he was sitting there, he had some kind of a blanket wrapped around his leg, and the Bible wouldn’t tell us that if it was unimportant. It’s painting a picture for us. This was a blind and sick man wrapped up in this blanket. When he heard that Jesus was passing by, Bartimaeus started screaming for Him to have mercy, and as the crowds tried to quiet him, he only screamed louder.

Eventually, Jesus did call him over, and then we see that phrase, “cast away.” As Bartimaeus arose to get to Jesus, he couldn’t get up because of the blanket that was wrapped around his legs, so he grabbed it and threw it out of the way. That blanket was stopping him from getting up and moving forward, so he had to get that blanket off him! He grabbed it, and he threw it out of the way, almost as if he was saying, “Get this thing off me! It’s stopping me, so get it away from me!” He cast it off himself.

Returning to Hebrews 10:35, we see the exact same phrase for “cast off,” but in this case, it is casting off a good thing. These believers were thinking, “How long am I going to sit here? My other friends have jobs and careers. They’re making money, but where am I? I’m in the same place I’ve been for 20 years. Why in the world did I think I had a word from God? Think of all the opportunities I’ve passed in my life, jobs I could have had, places I could have gone, but I said, ‘No’ because I had this word from the Lord. I am so tired of this.” They are tempted to say, “Forget it. I don’t need this dream. I don’t need this promise.” Their temptation was to take their faith and throw it away, casting it from them like it was in the way.

They were tempted to forget the words they received from the Lord and the promises they stood on for so long, and this is very often what happens to people. When they wait for a long time and get caught in a tired moment, the enemy seizes his opportunity and begins to say, “It’s never going to happen. If you just forget this word, at least you can move forward in life.” That’s the moment when people lose the battle of faith, and that’s precisely why we need to have people around us who can say, “You can do this. You are so gifted. Your dream is going to come to pass.” We all need somebody that will build us up and support us in a difficult moment.

Your Reward is Coming!

Now, look at what the rest of verse 35 says:

“…which hath great recompense of reward.”

Do you know what the Greek says? The Greek literally says, “payday is coming.” It says, “Don’t cast off your bold declaration, because payday is on its way,” and what a wonderful payday it is. It’s when you wake up one day, and your healing is in your body. It’s when you wake up one day, and you find out that you just got the promotion you’ve been believing for. That is the payday just around the corner, waiting for you if you just refuse to give up. In the very next verse, we’re told, “For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” (Hebrews 10:36). This verse says that after you’ve done the will of God, you will receive the promise.

Now I want to tell you something you may not want to hear, but it’s the truth. God’s will isn’t just about you receiving your healing or getting blessed; part of it is about you being changed. All of us have characters that need adjustment and correction, and if God gave us everything without requiring our faith and endurance, we would be unchanged people. We would be unthankful people, because we would just expect everything to happen, and we probably would end up being very self-consumed people.

Waiting requires our faith, the crucifixion of the flesh, and the transformation of our mind. God will bless us, and He will answer us, but we must participate in the transformation of our souls, and patience puts us in a position for that change. Sometimes, if God were to give our reward right away, we would just lose it because we weren’t ready to know what to do with it yet, and He does not want that for us. So in the waiting period, we need to say, “Lord, change me. Is there something in me that is hindering the manifestation of my promise? Change me and transform me. Let your Word change the way that I think so I can receive your promise and keep it once it comes.” That is part of the will of God while we wait.

Who is the Great Restrainer?

by Rick Renner

In 2 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul addressed End-time events, including the Rapture of the Church. It is amazing to me that Paul addressed End-time events with the Thessalonians, because he was with them for only a short period of time. Clearly, he must have believed that understanding of these events was important enough to include in the foundational teachings he shared with those new believers. Today, some Christians think this subject is not important, but if Paul found the End Times and the Rapture important enough that he used part of his short time with the Thessalonian believers to establish these truths in them, then surely, we should treat these topics with importance as well.

Today, I want to take time to discuss an important figure of the end times: the Antichrist.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:7, Paul talks about someone who will restrain the Antichrist, saying, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” The word “only” here is the Greek word meaning alone, only, or no one else, and the word “now” is the Greek word that means now, just now, at this moment, or in the immediate present. The meaning of these two words explicitly tells us that there is only one restraining force at this very moment that is holding back the mystery of iniquity from being fully activated on the earth, only one thing stopping the Antichrist from being revealed and taking control of everything.

Paul used the word “let” in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 to describe the action of this restraining force. This old English word, “let” or “letteth,” is translated from the same Greek word we find in verse 6 of this passage, though it is there translated “withholdeth,” and it means to hold down, to hold back, to prevent, to suppress, to restrain, or to hinder. In both cases, the word depicts the restraining force that is stalling and postponing this evil End-time leader and the unprecedented wickedness that will accompany him.

In this chapter, Paul indicates that this restrainer has been doing this job for some time, but he also indicates that it “will let” — in other words, it will continue to be a restraining force in the foreseeable future. This means that this restraining force was active at the time Paul was writing, and it will continue to be active all the way to the end of the age. Paul declares that there has been and will continue to be a supernatural restrainer holding back and preventing the forces of evil from fully taking control.

Paul states that due to the work of the restrainer, the Antichrist will not be revealed “…until he [the restrainer] be taken out of the way.” The word “until” is the Greek word which means until that precise moment, and the words “be taken” describe a surprising event or something that happens suddenly or unexpectedly and totally takes one off guard. Together, these words show that the restrainer will disappear or be removed, and that disappearance will be abrupt.

In short, Paul is saying that a day will come when the hindering force that has continuously delayed the worldwide domination of evil and lawlessness will be removed from the earth. It will be as though this force is suddenly lifted out of the middle of everything, and at that moment, the evil forces that have long been suppressed will no longer be held back. They will be free, and their wicked plans, purposes, and desires will be abruptly energized. These events will come quickly and with no hesitation once the restrainer is out of the picture.

Paul indicates that whoever or whatever this restrainer is, its presence can currently be found in the midst of everything, in every facet of society, and only when it is removed, “…then shall that Wicked be revealed… (2 Thessalonians 2:8). The word “then” is a translation of the Greek word which means at that precise moment, and it describes the things that will immediately take place once the restrainer has disappeared. The moment that this great restraining force disappears is the precise moment when the curtain that has concealed the Antichrist will be pulled back, and he will be revealed to the world.

Putting all these images together, the Renner Interpretive Version (RIV) of 2 Thessalonians 2:7 reads as follows:

These secretive, surreptitious dark events have been covertly in the making for a long time, yet the world at large doesn’t realize that a secret plan is being executed right under their own noses. The only thing that has kept this plan from being already consummated is the restraining force that has been holding it all back until now. But one day this force will be removed from the picture — and when that happens, these iniquitous events will quickly transpire. The removal of this restraining force will signal the moment when the Lawless One will finally make his grand appearance to the world.

Paul was very clear on this fact: the manifestation of the Antichrist and every dark thing that he will bring to the world will only become known after the restrainer has been removed from the scene. As long as this restraining force is still present on the earth, it will be used by God to “withholdeth” (2 Thessalonians 2:6), or hold back, the appearance of the Antichrist and the full onslaught of evil that will accompany him at the end of the age.

Who Could It Be?

With all this discussion of it, it is only natural to ask who or what this restraining force is that is right now holding back the manifestation of the Antichrist. Throughout history, there have been many opinions about who or what the great restrainer is. I won’t take time here to discuss all of the common and mainstream schools of thought regarding the subject, but if you are interested, you can order a copy of my book, The Rapture, The Antichrist and the Tribulation, where I am able to go into much greater detail about it.

Of all the possibilities that have ever been presented, there is only one that logically fits the identity of the great restrainer that is currently holding back the advent of the Antichrist and the evil that will accompany him. The indication that the great restrainer is currently involved in every facet of society gives us a huge clue, because out of all the mainstream theories, there is only one of which this is true: the Church. There are believers in the business world, the athletic world, the arts, education, the government, the medical field, and in every sphere of life, all over the world.

We know that there will be apostasy in Church at the end of the age, but there will also be those who are spiritually vibrant and vigorous. That remnant of spiritually alive believers who have endured and still live at the time of the Lord’s coming — their very presence — will be a restraining force in the earth to hold back the onslaught of evil that will be finally released once the Church is raptured.

The Church is riddled with defects, but it is nonetheless the Body of Christ in the earth, and that means it holds the power of God. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said, “…I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Jesus Himself is saying that the collective Church can prevail even against the gates of Hell, and as long as that power is on the earth, it will be a force that holds back, suppresses, and hinders the onslaught of evil, but when the Church is removed to Heaven in the twinkling of an eye, the evil forces that are being held at bay will suddenly surge forward into the world.

We need to be prepared, friends. Right now, as the collective Church, we are acting as the great restrainer of the Antichrist, the Lawless one, and all the evil that will come with his manifestation, and we must stay spiritually alive so that we can continue to restrain him right up until the moment that God calls us directly to Him.

The Third Person

by Rick Renner

I was born into a Christian family, and I am so thankful for the church where I was raised because they understood what it meant to be the church. We did not just go to church — we were the church. From a young age, these values were instilled in me. My mother would lie by my side every night when I would go to sleep and speak to me about eternity so that, even at the age of four, I was already beginning to comprehend my need to give my life to Christ.

One day, our church had a revival meeting. Back in those days, a revival was a week-long series of meetings where a guest speaker would preach, usually about the second coming, Christians who had backslid, and Hell. One of the nights that he was preaching about Hell, his preaching was so vivid that I nearly felt the flames of Hell on my feet below me. It gripped me, and because my mother had prepared my heart, I understood that if I died in my sin, I would go to Hell. After a week of revival meetings, the pastor gave an altar call at the end of the service. I found myself slipping out of my pew and walking down to the front where I took the hand of my beloved pastor. He asked me, “Ricky, why have you come forward?” I looked at my parents and then at my pastor and said, “Brother  , I’ve come to give my heart to Jesus.” That morning, I made a public profession of faith and gave my heart to Christ, and that very night, I was baptized in water. That began my life of service to Jesus.

Discovering the Holy Spirit

In the church where I was raised, we were firm believers in the written Word of God, the Bible. Our pastor had a fervent love for the Word of God and for the lost, and my views on the church, beliefs about our responsibility to fulfill the Great Commission, and love for the Word of God are all rooted in that church. I am so grateful to have been blessed with such a strong church community as a child, but when it came to the Holy Spirit, we did not know much. We understood that the Holy Spirit convicted us of sin, regenerated us in our new birth, and empowered us to share Christ with others, and we understood that the Fruit of the Spirit was to be produced in our lives, but when it came to the supernatural working of the Holy Spirit — particularly the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the present day movement — we didn’t believe. We were doctrinally cessationists; we believed that at the end of the apostolic age, when the apostles died, the gifts of the Spirit had ceased. In fact, if anybody claimed to have had a pentecostal or charismatic experience, we laughed at them. We thought they had bad doctrine and it was just a figment of their imagination, because we knew there was no such thing as current day gifts of the Holy Spirit. We relegated the ministry of the Holy Spirit primarily to the conviction of sin and support in witnessing — that was all that we allowed Him to do!

By the time I was twelve, I began to think that there had to be more than just those things, so I opened my Bible to 1 Corinthians 12-14, and I saw how much territory in the New Testament is allocated to the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I began to think, There has to be more to this than what I’ve been told. I became hungry.

One day, I went to see my aunt, who was a Pentecostal. We kept her at a distance because we thought that she was doctrinally confused, but I needed different kinds of answers than my church could give me. When I walked into her house, she was listening to a reel to reel tape of Kenneth Hagin. I did not know who that was, but all of a sudden, he began to give a message in tongues! That was the first time I had ever heard tongues. About that time, my aunt came walking through the kitchen door and saw me standing in her living room, paralyzed, in a state of shock because I was listening to somebody speaking in tongues. Her eyes were huge because she thought she was probably going to get in trouble with my parents, but hearing him speak in tongues did not scare me. In fact, I wanted to know more.

I began to come see my aunt every single day after school, bringing my Bible to talk about the Holy Spirit. She began to walk me through the scriptures and teach me about the infilling and baptism in the Holy Spirit. One by one, she answered all the doctrinal arguments that I had heard against the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the month of January, 1974, I came to her house one day, and I got on my knees and said, “Today is my day. I want to be baptized in the Holy Spirit.” She laid her hands on me, and I was filled with the Holy Spirit! It was a glorious experience, and it began my search to understand Him even better.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

Though I had been filled with the Holy Spirit, I still had a lifetime to learn about Him, and I studied with every means available to me. Eventually, I was led to John 14:16, where Jesus elaborates about the ministry of the Holy Spirit:

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;”

Two words in this verse are very important. “Another” is the Greek word allos (άλλος). There were two possible words that could have been used. The first is the word heteras (έτερος), which means another of a completely different kind. If Jesus had used this word, it would have meant, “The Father will give you another comforter, but He will be completely different; you will not be accustomed to this completely new experience.” That would have been very alarming, but Jesus used the word allos, which means another of the very same kind or identical in every way. It was the equivalent of saying, “When the Holy Spirit comes, it’s going to be like I’m still with you; what I would do is exactly what He will do.” The Holy Spirit brings us the reality of Jesus!

The word He uses for “Comforter” is the Greek parakletos (παράκλητος). This is a legal term which describes a lawyer, someone who argues on your behalf. It comes from a combination of two words, the first being para (παρά), which describes a parallel relationship. This tells us that when the Holy Spirit is with us. Not only is He a resident in us, but He is alongside us like a partner everywhere we go. This word describes a very close intimate relationship, like my marriage to Denise. The second part of the word, kaleo (καλέω), means to call. Just like you or I have a calling from God, the Holy Spirit has a calling to be alongside you. He knows His job — His task, His number-one assignment — is to be alongside you. The Holy Spirit is actively working in our life, speaking to us. He is telling us to bravely march into battle because He is with us. He is legally with us, on our team.

When we look at all of John chapters 14 through 16, we learn how important it is that the Holy Spirit is so dedicated to us, because He is too important to our lives to live without. In John 14:26, Jesus says, “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” This verse tells us that the Holy Spirit acts as a teacher to us, and if we submit to His authority, He will educate us and remind us about everything that Jesus said. However, just like Jewish students had to submit to their Rabbis, the Holy Spirit requires our submission so that we can receive His teaching. The Holy Spirit knows best, and submission to Him has a real power because then He can direct you perfectly in every area of your life. Chapter 16, verse 13 tells us that He is also the Spirit of truth, which means that we can trust Him not to mislead or misguide us, so we really have no excuse not to follow His teachings!

In John 15:26-27, Jesus also says, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” From these verses, we learn about two things that take place when we surrender to the Holy Spirit. Number one, He gives us a firsthand testimony of Jesus. When I was filled with the Holy Spirit, I got to know Jesus better than ever before because the Holy Spirit loves to talk and talk and talk about Him, so we just can’t help but hear when He is inside of us. Number two, The Holy Spirit works through us to testify to others. The Holy Spirit is working today, not just to convict us of sin, but to live in us, to teach and guide us, to bring the words of Christ back to our memory when we need them and bring us closer to Jesus Himself, and with all that, we can lead others to Him as well.

It is important to note that this Comforter and Teacher that I have been telling you about is a living person. In John chapters 14 through 16, Jesus uses a personal pronoun 18 times in reference to the Holy Spirit. This is not a word used for a lifeless object or energy but a living individual, a person with a will and personality of His own! In these chapters, Jesus never once refers to the Holy Spirit as an anointing, a feeling, or an emotion. The Holy Spirit is not a mysterious force that just floats around in your life. He has a personality, an assignment, and a desire to work in and through you! He is your friend, teacher, and comforter. That is what He was called by God to do.

Promises in Poetry

by Rick Renner

Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” meaning that if we make it our priority to follow God, we have nothing to worry about, because He will take care of everything. This is the powerful promise that we find everywhere in the Bible, but perhaps the most beloved version of it is Psalm 23. This poem gives us one of the most influential biblical images in the church, but I want to help you understand today that Psalm 23 is not just an encouraging poem — it is a covenantal promise of supernatural provision, protection, and peace.

Verse 1: Our Shepherd

In verse 1, David declares, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

This image of God as our shepherd is seen all throughout the Bible, and even Jesus identifies Himself as a shepherd in John 10:11:

“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.”

So why did David and Jesus choose a shepherd for this image? There are many kinds of caretakers, but the role of a shepherd would have been a familiar one to both David and Jesus’ audiences, as would many of its implications. If you have ever worked with sheep, you might know that they are often slow to learn, stubborn, and defenseless. Do those traits sound familiar? They should, because they are traits that have defined all of us at some point in our lives. Sheep would be totally and completely lost without the leadership of their shepherd, much like we are without our Good Shepherd, so by using this imagery, Jesus affirms His divine role in guiding and caring for His people, and David recognized this role all the way back in the Old Testament.

David’s use of the personal pronoun “my” in this verse also helps to give us a clearer picture of this relationship. The Lord is not just a shepherd or even the shepherd; He is my shepherd. This pronoun emphasizes David’s intimate relationship with the Lord, meaning God is not just an impersonal shepherd. He is not distant but present and personal. How wonderful it is that our God wants to intimately take care of us!

Verse 2: Protection and Peace

The next verse says, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.”

Think about this image for a moment. If you feel comfortable enough to lie down or relax, you are probably in a state where you are free from fear, torment, panic, or hunger. Sheep are known for being stubborn because. His presence puts an end to fear so the sheep can lie down.

Going back to John 10:11, Jesus says that the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. The word “life” here is the Greek word psuché (ψυχή), and it refers to the mind, the will, and the emotions. It’s where we get the word “psychology.” The use of this Greek word tells us that Jesus gives and gives and gives from every part of Himself. He gives His mind, His will, and His emotions for our care and our protection. This is such a high level of commitment that He is talking about, that He is totally involved in watching over us. His whole life is committed to His sheep, and that means the entire flock. That means you! He leads, He guards, and He protects, so you do not have to be tormented over anything anymore.

When the second half of the verse says “he leadeth me beside the still waters,” there is another important promise in there. These waters are still because they represent peace and serenity — God’s supernatural peace.

Jesus talks about peace in John 14:1:

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”

The word “troubled” is the Greek word tarassó (ταράσσω), a well known and often used Greek word which means to be shaken, troubled, disquieted, unsettled, or perplexed. It depicts a state of anxiety or grieving. The person described with tarassó is one who feels inwardly shaken, unsettled, confused, and upset. Jesus is literally saying, “Don’t let your heart be shaken and upset.”

He says later in verse 27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Let’s look at this peace that Jesus is promising us. It is the Greek word eiréné (εἰρήνη), which is used all over the New Testament to describe the peace of God, and my friends, this word is so powerful. In ancient times, it was used to depict the cessation of conflict and war. This word says that it is time for the conflict and fighting to stop. It is a time of rebuilding and reconstruction now that the war has ceased, a time of prosperity. The rule of order has come in the place of chaos. Eiréné depicts an inner stability that results in the ability to conduct oneself peacefully even in the midst of circumstances that would normally be traumatic or upsetting. It is the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew word shalom, which expresses an idea of wholeness, completeness, or tranquility in the soul that is unaffected by outward circumstances or pressures. This is the peace He promises!

Even better than that, when Jesus says, “I leave with you,” the word “leave” is the Greek word aphiémi (ἀφίημι), meaning to permanently release. Jesus has permanently released peace to us, never to be taken back, so don’t let your heart be troubled, and don’t be gripped by fear or dread that produces cowardice. The Lord is your Shepherd, and He leads you to still waters. Just like Jesus said, Psalm 23:2 is God’s supernatural promise of protection and peace. So lie down in green pastures because the Shepherd is watching over you!

Verse 3: Restoration and Leading

In the next verse of Psalm 23, David declares, “He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

In this verse, we find the promise of healing and restoration. It tells us that Jesus brings us back, repairs us, and restores what we lost, just like the promise of Jeremiah 30:17:

“For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord;
because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.”

When we look into the life of our Lord, we see that Jesus specializes in restoration. In Luke 19:10, Jesus said, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” That word “lost” is from the Greek apollumi (ἀπόλλυμι), meaning ruined, wasted, trashed, devastated, or destroyed, but Jesus came to save. “Save” comes from the Greek word sózó (σῴζω), which implies a rescue operation meant to restore to safety and soundness.

In Luke 4:18, He says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.”

Jesus came to heal the brokenhearted, and the word “brokenhearted” is the Greek word suntribó (συντρίβω), meaning to be smashed, crushed, or trampled. Maybe you feel like life has walked all over you and crushed you, but Jesus came to heal those wounds. The word “heal” in this verse is iaomai (ἰάομαι), referring to a progressive and ongoing healing. Then He says He came to bring “deliverance.” That is the Greek aphesis (ἄφεσις), meaning a permanent release from bondage. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, specializes in restoration. Friend, your Shepherd restores your soul, and when He is finished, you are not what you used to be — you are better.

The second half of Psalm 23:3 tells us that Jesus leads us, and that word “leadeth” is agó (ἄγω) and it depicts a rope tugging an animal. It is gentle but firm. He knows the safest and best path to take, and when we follow, it brings glory to His name. So don’t resist Him; just follow and let the Holy Spirit guide you!

Verses 4-5: Guidance and Anointing in Adversity

Next, David says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.”

This is a powerful statement, that even when we are in dangerous situations, we do not have to fear anything!

I want you to realize that when David talked about walking through the valley of the shadow of death, he did not say he was settling down there. He was just passing through, and friend, you can walk through it too! God doesn’t want us to sit in a place of death and fear forever — He wants to help us walk through it! As a shepherd himself, David knew firsthand about the shepherd’s responsibility to protect, feed, and correct, and he has a certain image in mind when he mentions the rod and the staff. A shepherd’s staff had two ends: one to pull sheep back in line, and one to ward off predators. Thank God our Shepherd uses His rod, His power, to defend us, and His staff, His correction, to keep us safe. We can depend on Him to get us through that valley! As David says in Psalm 56:3-4, “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.” My friend, fix your eyes on the Lord. Trust His Word, and you’ll walk through and come out stronger on the other side.

Verse 5 tells us about the anointing that David claims in the Lord. When he said that his head is anointed with oil, David was talking about God’s hand that was on his life! Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1:21, “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God.” The word “stablisheth” or “establish” is the Greek word bebaioó (βεβαιόω). This is a wonderful word that describes something that is firm, durable, dependable, or reliable. This very term was used in the ancient world to depict the lengthy and intensive investigative process involved in validating a document, so the verse paints a picture of God testing us, verifying us, and then anointing us. David had three anointings in his life — each greater than the last, because he was found faithful. If you’ll be faithful where you are, even in the midst of your enemies, then your cup, like David’s, will run over.

Verse 6: God Will Find You!

David ends this psalm with this statement:

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

Even after talking about the valley of the shadow of death and the enemies all around him, David wasn’t wavering — He was emphatic! God’s supernatural promise is that His goodness and mercy will hunt you down — yes, hunt you down like a lion — all the days of your life. This is not just a wishful thought. It is a declaration of absolute certainty! This is a relentless pursuit by God’s goodness and mercy. It’s His supernatural promise to you, that you will dwell in His house forever. Friend, this is not just for David — it is for you too!

How To Stay in a Place
of Faith

Unblocking the Way to Your Promise

I love Hebrews 10 so much because it has really been a part of life for me. In our ministry, God has told us to do many things which seemed impossible for our natural abilities, but we’ve learned that we have to hold fast to what He calls us to do. Whatever is in your heart—whether it’s your healing, the salvation of a child or spouse, prosperity for your business, or anything else—you’ve got to hold on to the promise that God gave you. If you don’t, life will try to take that promise away from you.

The writer of Hebrews was writing to a group of Jews who were struggling. They had been attacked in their faith and were suffering through many hardships, and they were tempted to question what they believed and even to let go of it. The writer of Hebrews tells them:

“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;).”
—Hebrews 10:23

The Greek word for “hold fast” is katecho (κατέχω). Katecho paints the picture of somebody that has something in their possession, and they are literally holding it down or suppressing it. If you translate it with that knowledge, the verse is saying, “Let us hold down the confession of our faith; let us put all of our weight on top of it so that it can’t get away.”

Well, why do we have to hold it? Is your faith trying to escape from you? Not quite. The reason we need to hold down our faith is because someone else is trying to take it from us. We have an enemy, and we live in a broken world, so life will try to take your faith away from you. If you don’t really put all your weight on top of it, if you are not determined to hold fast, it could be stolen. If you’re believing God to do something in your finances, and you’re not seeing results, disappointment will try to take it away from you. If you are believing for your body to be healed, but you are not seeing the manifestation of that healing, you may become discouraged and be tempted to let it go. But that is exactly when you must hold fast! You must understand that whatever God has promised to you, the devil will try to pull it out of your hands, so if you are going to stay in your place of faith and see the manifestation of God’s promise to you, you have to say, “Nobody is going to take this away from me; I’m going to put all my weight on top of this thing. I’m going to sit on it and suppress it. I’m not going to let life or the enemy or anyone else steal from me what God has promised.” It is a determination to never let go of the promise that God has made to you.

Of course, if we’re going to hold so tight to something, we had better understand what it is we’re clinging to. Verse 23 tells us, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith.” What does that part mean? The Greek word, homologia (ὁμολογία), refers to an action of saying the same thing, agreeing, confessing, or aligning. In the context of our faith, it means that we don’t just repeat the Word of God, but we hear and see it the exact same way He does. It is divine alignment, and it takes time, prayer, crucifixion of the flesh, and renewal of your mind. It takes all that hard work for you and God to come into agreement about what He wants to do in your life, but when you follow through, then you will be perfectly aligned. Once you have fully embraced what God says, you see exactly what He sees, feel the way that He feels. You hear the Word the way that He hears it, and your heart and God’s heart beat in syncopation with each other.

Then, this divine alignment with God leads you into a place where your declaration of faith can bring amazing results! When you read the verse in the Greek text, the word “faith” is not there. Instead, it is the Greek word elpis (ἐλπίς), the word for hope or expectation. It is a biblical hope, a hope that is so real that it’s turned into expectation. That’s what real hope is—a full expectation that what God has told you will absolutely come to pass, without a doubt.

Then the verse says, “without wavering.” If God has made you a promise, you need to hold it down and embrace it. You can’t let anyone take it from you. You need to get into agreement with God about what He has done, with the full expectation that He is going to do what He has promised you, and all this must be done without wavering. The Greek word for “wavering” here is ἀκλινής (aklines), and it describes a person who begins to give up territory. They begin to surrender ground, yield, recline, and eventually, they go to bed on their faith, and they just give up.

If you wonder why you should stay in a place of faith, the answer is right there at the end of verse 23. The reason you should keep holding fast to the confession of your faith and maintain your full expectation is because “He is faithful that promised.” God is not a man that lies. He does not change His mind. What God has promised is exactly what He intends; He just needs you to get into alignment so that manifestation can come into your life. If he is so faithful, then it’s only right that you should be faithful to Him in return.

If God has made a promise to you, He intends to fully deliver the promise. If you are not seeing the fulfilment of your promise, God probably is not the problem; it might be you. Maybe God is ready to answer your question or give you what you’re believing for right now, but the way is blocked. If a pipe is filled with debris, nothing can get through it, and that’s why it’s so important to be in alignment with God. You can make a bold confession of faith and declare your expectation, but if you and God are not in agreement, that answer will not come through to you.

 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
—Romans 12:18

Have you ever had someone in your life who rubbed you the wrong way? No matter what they did, this person aggravated you so much that you always left their presence inwardly seething. You just felt as if you were about to explode. I’m sure we’ve all met someone who seems to always say something so rude, something that makes you think to yourself, “They are so impolite and so unkind that it just makes my blood boil.”

My friend, the world is filled with all kinds of different and interesting people, and at one time or another, we’ve all had an experience with someone that irritated or annoyed us. Maybe you have a person like that in your life right now. If so, I believe this teaching will help you. 

A Most Disagreeable Person

I’m going to share with you an experience from my own life when my family lived in Riga. Many years ago, I had to deal with a particular person that I did not like. I had a unique problem here, because it just so happened that he and I were the pastors of the two largest churches in that nation, and because of this, we ended up in meetings together all the time. 

I’m not exaggerating when I say this pastor was absolutely one of the rudest, most vulgar, and most belittling people I have met in my entire life. I was constantly shocked by the things that came out of his mouth. I would think to myself, “I cannot believe he said that. How can anybody be so barbaric to say those kinds of things in front of other people?” He was malicious, and everyone was his target, including me!

I sincerely tried to become his friend. Denise and I invited him to our home for dinner. I wanted to open the door for friendship, yet he would continually offend everybody. I would invite him to meetings with other pastors, and when they would say beforehand, “Don’t invite him! He doesn’t care about anybody but himself. He will offend everybody,” I would answer, “Brothers, we need to try to embrace him.” 

One time, I sent him a $20,000 offering to bless his church. This was large for us, especially since we were right in the middle of a building project at that time and needed the money ourselves. But I wanted to build a bridge with him, and I thought if I just sowed a seed, we could form a relationship. Would you like to guess how that pastor received my gift? The very next week, he called his pastoral team and staff together, put my offering in front of them and said, “Look at this stupid little offering Rick Renner sent to us. Couldn’t he do better than that?”

I was shocked, especially since that offering was such a massive sacrifice for us! But I kept trying. I invited him to the dedication of our church, and afterward, he went right to his own congregation and told them everything he didn’t like about our new building. He even went so far as to make fun of it.

I tried everything I could think of to befriend him, but it didn’t matter what I did because this man just kept rubbing me the wrong way. To be truthful, there were many times I privately thought to myself about how much I would like to knock the snot out of this guy! Of course, I couldn’t really think or act like that, but my peace was being disturbed by his behavior. I began praying for patience repeatedly, asking the Lord to help me forgive his words, to help me overlook the ugly things he said to other people. I knew that because he and I were pastors of the nation’s two biggest churches, we were going to be together often, and I had to get along with this man, even if I didn’t want to. 

Sometimes, a wrong mixture of personalities really can be difficult, and two people can be ineffective purely because their personalities don’t work together, so I tried very hard to believe that maybe this pastor and I had personalities that just didn’t match. When I thought more about it, though, I realized that if it was just a personality conflict, then this man must have had a personality conflict with every person on the planet. My personal struggle had gone on for years, but at last, I had to come to the truth that this man, so gifted as a public communicator, had no people skills whatsoever. He was amazing on stage but was otherwise a nightmare, offensive to everyone, and he was not going to change.

Have you ever been in a relationship with somebody you didn’t like or someone difficult, and you realized that the relationship was not going to change? If so, my friend, you have come to a point where you can make a choice.

There I was, in the city with that same pastor, and I felt completely stuck in this terrible situation that wouldn’t change, so I began to say to the Lord, “Change me. If he’s not going to change, then change me.” I didn’t want to inwardly boil every time I saw this man, but I needed the Lord’s help.

That was when I turned to Romans 12:18, and God really spoke to me from this verse:

“If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.”

I found such answers in this scripture. It ministered to me and helped me cope with this difficult man, and through the years, this verse has helped me deal with many difficult relationships. If you have a challenging relationship or feel stuck in a conflict that’s not going to change, this verse is for you, my friend! You can be angry and upset all the time, or you can ask the Lord to show you how to change so you can deal with the situation.

Do Your Own Part

Notice how Paul begins this verse. He says, “If it is possible.”

Paul begins with a question mark that has no definite answer. The fact is, sometimes in life, you will run into a situation where it is not possible to be at peace with all men. Maybe you’re dealing with somebody right now who’s not peaceful, and you just can’t get along with them. That’s just life. Sometimes, you can do everything possible to have peace with someone, and there’s still no peace. It’s not always something that you’ve done wrong. Sometimes, you’re just dealing with someone who is hard to get along with. Regardless of the reason why the problem exists—whether it’s our fault, their fault, or just a wrong mixture of personalities—the command of God is the same: to the best of your ability, if it is possible, get along with everyone!  

In the original Greek, the phrase “If it’s possible” comes from a word that literally describes something that is potentially difficult but completely possible. Paul is essentially saying that being at peace with all men is difficult, but it’s very doable. God’s command is that we give it our best shot. It doesn’t matter how hard it looks. As much as we can, even if it’s difficult, we’ve simply got to give everything we can to have peace with all men. 

In my case, I finally accepted that this pastor and I would never be close or understand one another, and I needed to stop being bothered by it. In the end, I truly felt sorry for him. I wished he could be different, but I learned not to feel his insults too deeply or wish so hard for his correction because, although I couldn’t change him, I knew that I could change my attitude and chose to stay at peace with him. And that is what I did.  

If you are dealing with someone that you think is difficult and is constantly rubbing you the wrong way, then ask the Holy Spirit to help you clearly understand the problem. See the situation for what it really is. If you’re wrong, be willing to admit it, but determine that even if you’re right, and you and that person will just never get along, you’re going to decide to live at peace with all men, just as the Bible instructs.

My friend, always be willing to hear whatever the Holy Spirit has to say to you. He is there to help you if you will simply ask for it. From this moment forward, don’t allow the devil to steal your peace, and refuse to let him steal your focus. Never again allow him to rob you of your peace, because that would ultimately stop or hinder God’s blessings from overfilling your life. God has better plans for you than that. And remember: peace is a decision. The choice to walk in it is entirely up to you.

Meditating on the Right Things

By Rick Renner

The Lord’s desire for our health and prosperity is clearly displayed throughout His Word. In 3 John 1:2, the apostle John, moved by the Holy Spirit, expresses this divine wish:

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

This statement depicts the direct correlation between our physical health and our internal thoughts. Prosperity and health are not merely external blessings but are deeply rooted in the condition of our spirit, specifically our thoughts, so we need to take control of those thoughts if we want to see healing in our lives.

As humans, it is naturally difficult to never worry or think negatively, and that is why we must accept a transplant of God’s thoughts into our minds. We must surrender our earthly thoughts to His divine perspective, and that takes meditation, meditation on the powerful Word of God, just like Joshua 1:8 says:

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe
to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”

What does that look like? This verse seems to say that we will have prosperity just by speaking verses, but many times, people recite powerful verses over and over without receiving the outcome they desire. Why is that? It is because you cannot spend what you do not have, and when you just read a verse without meditating on it, you do not truly have it in your heart.

There are so many intricacies missed by just glossing over verses while we read. Sometimes, a single word holds groundbreaking revelations that we don’t think about when we just read it at face value. That is why meditating on the Word requires that we pore over a verse or verse fragment one word at a time. This can be applied to any part of any verse. For an example, let’s look at 1 Corinthians 2:16:

“For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.” 

We can break it down even further and look just at the phrase, “we have the mind of Christ.” If we have the mind of Christ, that means we have a mind that resists temptation, like Jesus resisted temptation in the wilderness. If we have the mind of Christ, then we have a mind that loves all people, because He loves all people. If we have the mind of Christ, then we have a mind that can remain firm in our convictions even in the face of extreme adversity, just like Jesus never wavered even when being sentenced to death. Do you see how many hidden victories are contained in that phrase? How much do we miss when we don’t take the time to study and meditate on the scriptures and truly commit them deep into our spirit?

It is important to get these things down deep into our souls because, like it says in Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” If we want to be godly people, then we need to think of godly things, but this works the other way too. That is what worrying is; it is meditating on bad things, things that do not yield good results, and we need to realize that it is futile. It cannot fix anything! Our problems do not need the attention of our futile worry; our problems need the attention of God, who is more than capable of solving them. 1 Peter 5:7 says, “casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.” We can cast all our cares on the Lord because He cares for us! He wants what is best for us, and anything that would cause us to worry is not His best. God’s will for us is not for us to suffer.

In Greek, “worry” is merimnao (μεριμνάω), which means to be anxious or to be overly concerned. This word is found in Philippians 4:6: 

“Be careful [merimnao] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

God commands us not to worry but instead to trust Him with everything. That means that when we worry, we are breaking His command! We sin against God by not trusting Him, and we must repent of that sin.

Worry is a wrong way of thinking, and the devil can only operate in our lives through the doors that wrong thinking opens. Many people believe that God brings about trials to test us or teach us a lesson, but God does not use bad things to teach us lessons; He teaches through His Word. James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” Every good and perfect gift. Very few people live in the Lord’s best because they do not realize what belongs to them, they have not developed their faith to receive it, or they are in disobedience. We must recognize that worry is not a thought pattern of faith, and we must replace it with prayer, thanksgiving, and supplication.

It is God’s part to manage the problem, but we have a part too, and it is to be disciplined in what we do with our mind and bodies. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind,” and the word for “sound mind” in the Greek is sōphronismou (σωφρονισμοῦ), which refers to a disciplined, self-controlled mind that is stable and well-balanced. God has given us a well-balanced mind with discipline and self-control so that we can routinely cast down thoughts that do not bring peace and are not of Him.

Any situation that is not peaceful must be answered with faith. During times of emergency, anxious thoughts will still come to bombard us, but we must out-talk them. Satan is a tormented being, and when he comes into a room, his torment can be felt, but it does not belong to us. We must not take it upon ourselves. Victory is not about the devil leaving us alone; it is about remaining untroubled even when he comes, no matter what surrounds us. We are fortunate to have a God who prepares us and gives us everything we need to overcome, but we need to make our spirits the master, our minds the servant, and our bodies the slave. The spirit of man is the feature that is like God, and our spirits are equipped to take the lead. We are not called to simply cope with fear and worry; we have total authority, and we are called to rule and reign over them!

Jesus told the woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5:34, “Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” Continued peace was the condition for continued healing, so peace must become a way of life for healing to be continuous. It may seem impossible to maintain peace during a storm, but Jesus said in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” According to His words, we do not even have to form our own peace to take solace in because Jesus takes care of that. He gives us His own peace! He wants us to have it because what we choose to meditate on will bring a harvest, and He does not want us to reap a harvest of worry.

The enemy often tries to get us meditating on the wrong things. He points out where we have failed, where we are struggling to see God, and where we are ashamed, but even when we make mistakes, we can still cast our burdens on Jesus, and that is the way He intends for us to handle worry. When the spiritual life is in order, the body responds, so we must quiet our minds and ask the Lord what needs to be transformed, because the Holy Spirit knows what is within us that needs to change. If we do not correct what the Lord is dealing with us about, we open the door to negative consequences, so we must purge our conscience and silence the replay of worry in our minds. Replace that worry with scripture. Meditate on God’s holy Word, and I promise you that He will use it to renew your worrying mind.

Put Prejudice in Its Place

By Rick Renner

When I was growing up, I didn’t think I had a prejudiced bone in my body. We never had any conversations in our home that would reflect any degree of prejudice, so why would I think something like that? As I got older, however, I began to discover there were some attitudes in me that did not reflect God’s view of my fellow people and needed to be corrected by the Holy Spirit.

Being prejudiced is not of God and is in fact refuted by the Bible. James 2:1 says:

 “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.”

In the Renner Interpretive Version, this verse says:

“My dearest brothers and comrades, whom I cherish and treasure, you must not be a respecter of persons. That is, you must not have, hold and possess the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, and at the same time judge others or base your acceptance of them by what you see in their external appearance.”
—James 2:1, RIV

That is what prejudice is: pre-judgement. Though you’ve never met a certain person or have no experience with a certain group of people, you have a pre-judgment about them. It is an unreasonable dislike of a particular person or group of people or things, and it can strongly influence how people behave and interact with others, and God absolutely does not approve of it. 1 Samuel 16:7 says:

“But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”

Clearly, then, God does not approve of prejudice, so we need to learn how to recognize it in ourselves and get it out.

The Prejudice Trap

Prejudice is often subconscious, and it can affect people’s behavior without them even realizing it. When people hold prejudicial attitudes toward others of a certain group, they tend to view everyone in that group as being the same, and when they hold these attitudes toward just one person, they tend to think that person is incapable of change. Without even realizing it, someone can start to take on stereotypical beliefs and negative behaviors towards another person or group, all because of prejudice that they fail to see in themselves.

Prejudice can manifest in a variety of ways, and it is important to refrain from them all. Racism is a prejudice that has unfortunately persevered throughout time. It is the egregious example, but prejudice sneaks into so many other areas as well, and we need to be aware so that we can recognize these areas and keep ourselves from prejudice.

There is often prejudice between socio-economic classes. Oftentimes, high-class or wealthy and powerful people see middle and lower class people as inferior or less smart, and on the other hand, middle and lower classes may view higher classes as arrogant and greedy. Here, we can see prejudice on both sides. The Bible describes a situation where, as a host, you might show socio-economic prejudice. It says:

“For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?”
—James 2:2-4

The word “evil” in this verse is interpreted from a form of the word ponéros (πονηρός.) In the New Testament, ponéros illustrates that which is malicious or malignant, foul, hostile, vicious, and vile. It includes not only that which is dangerous to the physical body but that which is dangerous to the spirit and the mind. The word ponéros is often used in the New Testament in connection with the activity of demonic spirits, and it lets us know that wrongly judging people is devilish behavior and completely unacceptable among God’s people. Rather than be prejudiced against the impoverished person, we ought to give him the best seat in the house. This is the man who needs to hear the good news. The gospel is an economic game changer, so rather than push him over to the side because of how he looks, we need to give him a front seat in the house.

Prejudice has no Place in Heaven

Galatians 3:28 says:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

This verse makes it clear that there are no distinctions in Christ. Paul is very distinctly saying that the unity that all believers share in Christ transcends cultural distinctions. Paul addresses the church at Colossae, too, affirming that Christ unites all believers, regardless of their backgrounds, saying:

 “Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.”
—Colossians 3:11

Notice the distinctions Paul adds to these two lists. He was very directly addressing prominent prejudices of the time. First, he says there is “neither Greek nor Jew.” The pagan world loathed Jews. They regarded them as narrow-minded and bigoted because they only believed in one true God, compared to the pagans who had the open-mindedness to believe in a sundry of gods. On the other hand, the Jews found Greek-speaking pagans to be disgusting, sexually deviant, perverse idol-worshipers with no moral law. They especially disdained the Romans, who had forcibly occupied Jews’ territories. The repugnance Jews felt toward pagan Gentiles was so acute that they did all they could to keep distance between themselves and the pagans.

Next, Paul adds circumcision and uncircumcision to his list. “Uncircumcised” comes from the Greek word, akatomia (ἀκροβυστία). This was not simply another way of describing Jews and Gentiles, but, as used in Colossians 3:11, the word “circumcision” could also depict strict religious Jews as compared to non-religious Jews. In this verse, it seems Paul is depicting deeply religious Jews, who faithfully followed the law and saw themselves as superior to Jews who did not. The deeply religious Jews had little tolerance for the non-religious Jews, and the extreme hostility between them was so cold-blooded that these groups seldom met civilly.

Paul then mentions bond and free. The system of slavery was so entrenched in that society that even back in the classical period, Aristotle wrote that those born as slaves had inferior intellects and were biologically designed to be slaves, and they should therefore be content to live in a subservient condition for the rest of their lives. This mindset is outrageous to us today, but at the time the perceived difference between bond and free was so stark that even if a slave was granted freedom, he or she was still considered inferior to others.

In saying that there was no distinction between male and female, Paul wrote one of the most revolutionary statements ever written at the time. In the first century, there were simply societal restrictions that were applied to women but not to men, denying women the same freedoms and protections that men had and reducing them to a lower state.

Paul goes on to list barbarians and Scythians. The term “barbarian” referred to anyone who spoke Greek or Latin poorly, earning them a reputation as uncultured and uncivilized. Yet even barbarians looked down on the Scythians, nomadic tribes regarded as the lowest of the low, “the barbarians of the barbarians.” It would have been laughable to imagine these groups socializing peacefully, much less becoming equal members of a spiritual community, but Paul boldly declared that in Christ, these stark divisions melted away. Suddenly, barbarians, Scythians, and all other people stood on equal footing as one body, supernaturally fused by the Spirit of God. In this breathtaking revelation, societal ranks vanish, and what remains is a unified family in Christ. Isn’t that astonishing?

We see a picture of this when Paul found himself at a table in Antioch with a wise group of people involved in the ministry. This wasn’t just any group; it was a striking mix of backgrounds. These were not people the old Paul, or Saul, would have respected and valued. There was Barnabas, a distant Levite Jew who grew up in Cyprus, likely away from strict religious customs. There was Simeon, and the Bible tells us he was “Simeon called Niger” (See Acts 13:1), which is the Latin word meaning black. Scholars speculate that this indicates Simeon was a black man from Africa and may have been a slave of a Roman family. There was also Lucius, a North African man, and Manaen, who was raised in Roman royal circles, likely alongside Herod the Tetrarch. Then there was Paul, with his prestigious education and Pharisaical background.

In the natural world, these individuals would never have sat together. Social, cultural, and racial divisions would have kept them apart. Yet here they were equal partners in the ministry, serving side by side. This was unheard of. It was because of this unlikely setting that Paul had his groundbreaking revelation: In Christ, distinctions of race, status, and background vanish. Jew, Gentile, slave, free, male, and female are all one in Christ.

Eliminate Your Prejudice

Since this article has so many details flying around already, I would recommend cutting this paragraph and just ending on the previous one. Reasoning below if you want to read it.

This would narrow the focus of the article to where prejudice’s place is in the church (answer: nowhere). The paragraph gives good information, but I just think It might be too much jumping around for an article

If we wanted to keep it (it being good information), I would at least recommend fleshing it out a little more. There is so much detail on every part of Paul’s list of prejudice, so it just seems awkward to then have a one paragraph closer that’s it’s own section because it just doesn’t quite fit into the previous one.

Miracles in the Garden

Introduction

When I was growing up and going to church, my parents faithfully talked to us every year about Easter and all the events concerning it. Every year, my mother dressed my sisters up and put me in a little white shirt with a black bow tie. We really dressed up because we understood Easter was a major holiday in the life of a Christian. But every year, it seemed we heard the same story.  As I got older, I began to think, “Surely, there’s more to this story than I’ve been told.” So, I began to take a deep dive into the story of Easter, and I found out there is so much to this story that is so rarely discussed.

The Garden of Gethsemane is a staple of the Easter story, the place where Jesus spent His last moments with His disciples, but people often fail to realize the incredible things that happened in that place of our Lord’s agony.

Miracle 1: Divine Support

According to early Christian tradition, the area surrounding the Garden of Gethsemane was a regular gathering place for Jesus and His disciples when they were in Jerusalem, but that night, the Savior felt the need to pray. He left all but three of His disciples, and a short distance from them, He began to pray to His Father.

Jesus’ agonizing struggle with the cup that He would soon bear is chronicled in Luke 22:44:

“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground”

The word “agony” in Greek is agonidzo (ἀγωνίᾳ) which refers to a struggle, fight, great exertion, or effort. It conveys ideas of anguish, pain, distress, and physical conflict. The fight that Jesus was experiencing was so intense that it required His entire being—spirit, soul, and body—and while He was strained to His limit, His three closest disciples slept, unaware of the intensity of His struggle.

Jesus rarely needed the support of His friends—the incidents recorded in the Bible tend to show that they were the ones who needed Him—but on this night, facing the cross and the grave, Jesus called Peter, James, and John to pray with Him through the night, but they repeatedly fell asleep, leaving Jesus alone in His agony.

Let me ask you, have you ever felt the need for help from your friends or family and been let down? Perhaps we will never experience Jesus’ level of agony, but difficult times come into all our lives, and often the potency of our struggles is not known to our friends or family, which can lead them to be unreliable when we most need their support. If we put our faith in men, they will let us down time after time. However, Jesus, just like us, was not truly alone in the garden.

God the Father was aware of Jesus’ agony, and when the disciples were found to be unfaithful in their support again and again, God provided for His Son. Luke 22:43 says:

“And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.”

God the Father, in all His wisdom, knew just what His Son, Jesus, needed. The supernatural presence of the angel strengthened Jesus, and He was able to then stand and wake His disciples to confront Judas and those who sought to arrest Him.

The Miracle We Don’t See: God’s Power against an Army

John 18:3 tells us:

“Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons.”

The word “band” here comes from the Greek word speira (σπεῖρα) and describes a Roman cohort consisting of 300 to 600 well-trained soldiers armed with the best weaponry of the time. This was not a small group. The miracles, signs, and wonders Jesus performed were legendary even in His own time, and the religious leaders were determined not to let Him slip through their fingers as He’d done before.

With these Roman soldiers, there were also members of the temple police. These were armed men whose responsibility it was to carry out the verdicts of the religious court of law. This means that, at minimum, 300 trained Roman soldiers and a group of armed temple police were sent to arrest Jesus. Very possibly, they numbered even more than 600, and all of them with torches to keep Him from hiding or escaping into the dark and weapons in case He and His disciples put up a fight.

Of course, these vast numbers sent to arrest Jesus had no power comparable to that of the Lord. Jesus points out in Matthew 26:53:

“Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?”

However, Jesus, did not fight back or try to hide. Knowing His arrest and sacrifice were imminent, He accepted the cup given to Him, leaning on the strength brought to Him by the angel that the Father had sent Him.

It is important to understand that no one took Jesus. He voluntarily went with the troops because He was lovingly and willingly intent on offering Himself as the ultimate Sacrifice for the sin of all mankind, including you and me.

Miracle 2: The Statement of Identity

After Judas betrayed him with a kiss, Jesus stepped forward and asked the soldiers who they were looking for. When they asked for Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus identified Himself using the words, “I am He” (Egō eimi/Ἐγώ εἰμι). These were the same words God used in Exodus 3:14 to identify Himself to Moses, not “I am Jesus of Nazareth,” as the soldiers might have expected, but simply “I AM.”

When He made this announcement, that He was God in the flesh, it says in John 18:6:

“As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.”

The power behind this declaration of His identity literally sent a shockwave of power over all the soldiers that had come to arrest Him, so much so that, the Greek says, they hit the ground hard. But after He proved that He could overpower them with His mere words, He still willingly surrendered to the soldiers because He knew it was part of the Father’s plan.

Miracle 3: The Healing of the Servant

As we know, not all the disciples shared in our Lord’s calmness and passivity. It says in Luke 22:49-50:

When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.

John 18 tells us that this impetuous disciple was Peter. He saw that the soldiers and temple police were on the ground, and gripping a sword, Peter swung with all his might and lopped off the ear of the high priest’s servant. In his haste, Peter made a mistake that no one in history has ever forgotten, and it could have cost him his future ministry and perhaps even his life.

The man that Peter had attacked was Malchus, a servant and spokesman for the high priest of the time, Caiaphas. That Peter had injured a fellow citizen was enough to sentence him, and this wasn’t just any citizen. This was a servant of the high priest, an extremely well-known man in the city of Jerusalem. His injury would have raised serious legal and religious trouble for Peter because of his status.

It is also important to note that a disfigurement like that of a missing ear would have prohibited Malchus from being able to hold a position in the temple. Malchus, likely an enemy of Jesus and His ministry, who would have announced the high priest’s disparaging statements against Him, would have lost his reputation, his status, and his job, but Jesus did not say, “Finally, one of you guys got what you deserve.” Luke 22:51 tells us:

And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far.   And he touched his ear and healed him.

Despite His own tribulation, Jesus took time to miraculously heal the ear of Malchus, both sparing Peter from criminal charges and preserving Malchus’ ability to continue working in the temple.

Miracle 4: The Risen Dead

Jesus’ great power was on display that night in the garden. Mark 14:51-52 even gives us clues to an unintended effect of one of Jesus’ miracles that night. It says:

And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold on him: and he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.

The clue as to who this young man is lies in the linen garment that the Bible tells us was his only covering.  In that time, the custom of the Jews was to bury the dead naked and wrapped in a linen cloth. The Greek text describes the linen cloth this boy was wearing with the same word for the cloth Jesus was buried in after His death, the only other use of this word. Furthermore, the Garden of Gethsemane was situated on the side of the Mount of Olives, and at the base of that mount was a heavily populated cemetery.

We already saw that the words “I AM” (Egō eimi/Ἐγώ εἰμι) were powerful enough to knock hundreds of men off their feet, but evidently that blast of power was enough to reach that young boy, draped in linen burial cloth, and he crawled out of his tomb—raised from the dead!

Conclusion

The power of Jesus was undeniable in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knocked down armies and resurrected the dead by identifying Himself. He healed the severed ear of a man in opposition of Him. Though the numbers brought to arrest Jesus would have been insufficient compared to the legions at Jesus’ disposal, Jesus freely gave Himself up. The hordes of Roman soldiers must have been aware of the discrepancy between the power in which He operated and the submission in which He surrendered to them. Even awaiting His final moments, Jesus continued to display who He was, a healer, miracle worker, and God in the Flesh, but most importantly, someone who loved us enough to willingly and quietly go to the cross.

You Are the Salt
of the Earth

“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” — Matthew 5:13

“You are the salt of the earth” is one of Jesus’ most famous statements, but what does it practically mean? With this carefully chosen metaphor, Jesus was describing the role and place of Christians in the world. Salt was a valuable, expensive, and rare commodity because the process to acquire it was laborious, indicating that we are very valuable to God and to the world, and it had many functions in the ancient world. In that context, salt was such a powerful symbol, and you can be sure that Jesus carefully selected it when He said, “You are the salt of the earth,” so it is important to understand His meaning and its application in the life of a Christian.

Salt is Good

Mark tells us that “Salt is good” (Mark 9:50), coming from the Greek word kalos (καλός) meaning attractive, beneficial, advantageous, and wonderful. This word tells us that Christians, as the salt of the earth, should positively impact those around them. A Christian’s presence should be beneficial and attractive. The saltiness that Christians possess should also enhance the flavor of the gospel and, as salt makes people thirsty, should create a thirst in others for the gospel we are carrying.

This means that we should be acting with the flavor of God, not of the world, so that the gospel is attractive to others. For example, believers should not engage in negative and damaging speech. Paul says:

“Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” – Colossians 4:6

Though the rest of the world is negative and harsh in their words, we are called to be gentle and forgiving when we speak. Instead of adding to negativity, we can change the entire environment by injecting words that are seasoned with salt. Christians have so much more to offer with their words than injury. Our words can bring healing, preservation, and growth to others, but only if we are depending on God to give them their flavor.

In the same way Titus 2:9-10 tells us:

“Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.”

When we do our job as salt, both saying and doing what is right, we adorn the gospel. The Greek word for adorn is kosmeo (κοσμέω), and it describes decorating something or making it attractive, so we are representing God’s Word well by our good words and actions. We are supposed to enhance the flavor of the gospel by being the salt of the earth and draw people to it, not driving them away with lives that are shameful, hurtful, or hypocritical

Salt is a Preservative

Christians are also compared to salt to convey their preserving influence and ability to resist corruption. The warm Middle Eastern sun dictated a need for preservatives for various foods like meat in the ancient world, and salt was able to keep the bacteria and rot away, so it was often used for this purpose. It was also believed to be powerful enough to ward off evil spirits, leading people to spread it on their thresholds to keep evil away or, in the practice still popular today, throw a pinch of salt over their shoulder to avoid bad luck.

These uses for salt give us an image of how the church is meant to act as a preservative and protective force for the world. 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7 says:

“And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.”

The word “withholdeth” in this verse is the Greek, katecho (κατέχω) and means to hold back, suppress, or restrain. It describes the Church’s role as a preservative to the world, suppressing the arrival of the Antichrist. This is a valuable and important job for all believers. We must simultaneously fend off the manifestation of the anti-Christ while using that bought time to reach all people who remain untouched by God’s Word.

Salt is a Medicine

People in the ancient world also used salt as a disinfectant for wounds or contaminated and unclean areas. Salt was seen as a bacteriostat, a substance that hindered the growth of bacteria, so if there was an outbreak of disease in a village, the citizens would relocate and then salt would be spread throughout the vacated area to disinfect it. In treating wounds, salt was a sanitizer that stopped infection and accelerated healing. In the same way, Christians are called to have a disinfecting presence wherever they go. Just as salt stops malfunction and collapse by inhibiting harmful bacteria, Christians should prevent moral and spiritual collapse in their environment. As Jesus tells us:

“Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” – Luke 10:19

Again, he says:

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” – Mark 16:17-18

Christians are endowed with power that follows them wherever they go. “Follow” in the Greek is parakoloutheō (παρακολουθέω). It means to accompany tirelessly and to stay in close proximity to. These signs are ours to use consistently, and miracles are done in the name of Jesus such as healing and casting out demons. This cleansing power we are given aligns with the antiseptic function of salt. Through the authority of Jesus, the church, as the salt of the earth, is empowered to heal even the most ill among us and to tread all over the power of the enemy.

Salt as a Fertilizer

Another ancient use for salt was to improve the fertility of the soil by killing weeds and balancing the conditions of the soil. Farmers would carefully apply salt to fields in controlled amounts to stimulate plant growth. When Jesus says that salt without saltiness is “neither fit for the land nor the dunghill” (See Like 14:35), He is describing the soil and compost used in farming, showing us that this agricultural function of salt was on His mind when He preached this message.

In other words, Jesus is continuing the image of gardening and harvest that is so prevalent in Christianity. He is saying that Christians should radically improve their environment, fostering spiritual growth and life just as salt enhances the growth of crops by conditioning the soil. When we act as the salt of the earth, we are creating a fertile place for other believers to grow, and with our help, they will be plentiful when it comes time for harvest.

Losing Your Saltiness

These subtleties are so often overlooked in Jesus’ powerful statement, “You are the salt of the earth,” and it is important to exercise all the aspects of salt that Jesus intended so that we can completely embody His vision for us. We represent Him here on the earth, and He called us to preserve righteousness and morality. Our salvation should speak for itself, and our example should enhance the appeal of the gospel to all who will listen, bringing an antiseptic presence to the moral collapse of the world. If we perform all these jobs assigned to us, we will stimulate spiritual growth all around us as the fertilizing salt of the earth.

This responsibility is so important, but it also means that we have to be careful. As the salt of the earth, we are constantly watched by the world to see how we will represent God and the Gospel. Jesus warns us:

“Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.” – Mark 9:50

As Christians, we not only represent ourselves individually but our Savior and the church as a whole. That is why we must maintain the saltiness in our lives. To “have salt” in ourselves is the Greek word echo (ἔχω) which means to have, hold, or possess. It illustrates a person who maintains the responsibilities and functions of salt that we have been talking about, and they act in wisdom so that they may be shining examples to others.

However, that kind of example and influence can be easily destroyed but not easily rebuilt. Jesus warns His listeners with the fact that salt can’t be reseasoned if it somehow loses its flavor. The writer of Ecclesiastes similarly says:

“Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour: so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour.” – Ecclesiastes 10:1

In the same way, maintaining an upright reputation is a delicate thing which requires a deep subservience to God. We don’t want a little folly to ruin our reputation beyond repair, so we have to stay dependent on God, and let our reputation reflect Him. Jesus called us to be the salt of the earth, but as in so many things, He doesn’t expect us to do it perfectly on our own.