Transfiguration, in the New Testament, is the occasion upon which Jesus Christ took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, up on a mountain, where Moses and Elijah appeared and Jesus was transfigured, his face and clothes becoming dazzlingly bright. The Transfiguration is recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels (Mark 9:2–13; Matthew 17:1–13; Luke 9:28–36) and is understood to have been the revelation of the eternal glory of the second person of the Trinity, which was normally veiled during Christ’s life on earth. The event can also be interpreted as an anticipatory Resurrection appearance, and the presence of the two prophets is often taken to signify Christ’s fulfillment of the Mosaic Law and the prophecies of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament). The Feast of the Transfiguration is celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches on August 6, and the Transfiguration is ranked alongside Jesus’ baptism and the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension as a key milestone of his life and ministry.
In the Gospel accounts, after foretelling his death and Resurrection, Jesus and his three disciples went to “a high mountain” to be away from the crowds. There, Jesus’ face began to shine like the sun and his clothes became miraculously white. As the disciples looked on, Elijah and Moses suddenly appeared in glory and talked with the transfigured Jesus. Peter then offered to make three dwellings, one for Jesus and one for each of the two supernatural guests, but was interrupted by a voice from a bright cloud that said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him, I am well pleased; listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5). Having collapsed in fear, the disciples were comforted by Jesus, who then urged them to keep silent about these events until after his Resurrection (Mark 9:9; Matthew 17:9). According to tradition, the event took place on Mount Tabor. The Transfiguration is also referenced in the Second Letter of Peter, where Peter’s presence as an eyewitness to Christ’s majesty is used to assure the readers that his message is true (1:16–18).
The Transfiguration; There is a long history of Christian art depicting the Transfiguration. By the 6th century, scenes of the event frequently featured Christ enshrined in a mandorla, an almond-shaped aureole of light surrounding the entire figure of a holy person. In the 15th century, however, with the growth of naturalism in art, the mandorla became less popular, being incongruous in a naturalistic context, and it was abandoned by the painters of the Renaissance.
Melissa Petruzzello The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
What Makes the Transfiguration Central to the Faith' BY DR. ANDREW SWAFFORD | AUG 5, 2020 | FORMATION | 1 COMMENT
The Transfiguration—perhaps like the Ascension—is a mystery of faith that often receives too little of our attention and meditation. But in truth, it is a mystery at the very center of our faith. When St. John Paul II gave us the Luminous Mysteries, he considered the Transfiguration the mystery of light par excellence.
Why does this mystery strike at the heart of the Christian faith? Because it shows forth the full divine glorification of humanity. God’s plan has never been merely about redemption and forgiveness of sins; God desires not only to forgive but to heal and transform our fallen nature—to make us radiate through and through with his divinity.
What happens to Jesus is exactly the template for what the Holy Spirit wants to do in each of us. In this respect, the Transfiguration of Jesus is a foreshadowing of our own resurrection—the divine glorification not just of our souls, but of our bodies as well.
And not coincidentally, the Transfiguration occurs right on the heels of Christ’s first Passion prediction—teaching us that the suffering of the Cross culminates in triumphant glory and victory (see Matthew 16:21 and 17:1-5).
What do Moses and Elijah have to do with divine glory? Often, the presence of Moses and Elijah with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration is explained in terms of their representing the Law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah), as the Old Testament bearing witness to Jesus. Surely, this is part of what is going on; but there seems to be more.
Intriguingly, both of these Old Testament characters experienced theophanies—manifest encounters with God’s holy presence. In Exodus 33, Moses famously requests to see the very glory of God (see Exodus 33:18); and eventually, God’s glory manifests itself to him, even revealing divine attributes:
“And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him, and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy and faithfulness.’”
Exodus 34:5-6 However, the Lord tells Moses before this amazing encounter that he cannot see all of God’s glory—he can only see the Lord’s “back,” not his “face” (see Exodus 33:20, 23).
Elijah, after defeating the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18, sets out for Horeb—that is, Mt. Sinai, the very place where Moses had the above encounter with the Lord (see 1 Kings 19:8).
Here, the Lord appears to Elijah—not in wind, earthquake, or fire, but in a still small voice (1 Kings 19:11). In both episodes with Moses and Elijah, we have the curious expression “the Lord passed by/passed before” (see 1 Kings 19:11; Exodus 33:19, 22; 34:6). The Hebrew and the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) use the same expression in all these passages—abar in Hebrew, erchomai in Greek.
1. Our Father in Heaven; The very first thing to notice from this prayer is who we should be directing all of our prayers. Notice Jesus tells us to direct this prayer direct to God the Father – not to Him, the Holy Spirit, any of His angels, or to any of the dead saints who are now living up in heaven.
We believe that all of our main prayers should be directed to God the Father. We can talk with, fellowship with, and worship and praise both Jesus and the Holy Spirit. When Jesus tells us to specifically direct our prayers to God the Father in this verse, then I feel we should abide by what He is telling us to do.
Both Jesus and the Holy Spirit always pray to God the Father. And if They are both praying direct to God the Father, then we should all do the exact same thing in our personal prayer lives with the Lord. Again, we have more commentary on this revelation in the above article.
2. Your Kingdom Come; The next thing to pick up from this model prayer is the words, “Your Kingdom come.” The Kingdom Jesus is referring to is His Father’s Kingdom up in heaven. As we have explained to you in all of the articles in our End Times Section, the final two chapters in our eternal destinies with the Lord is that first Jesus Himself will be coming back down to our earth to establish a 1000-year Millennium Kingdom from which He will rule this entire earth from the city of Jerusalem in Israel.
After this 1000-year millennial reign has ended, then God the Father will be bringing down both Himself and the new city of Jerusalem to our earth from His heaven, where He and Jesus will then be ruling this entire earth under what is called the New Heaven and New Earth.
So when everything is all finally said and done, God’s eternal kingdom will eventually be coming down to our earth where we will all live happily ever after with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, all of God’s good angels, and all of the saved and born again in the Lord.
The above words, “Your kingdom come,” should always be a constant reminder to all of us that eventually all of the demons and bad and unsaved people will eventually be taken out of this world – and God’s kingdom will then be literally coming down to our earth so we can all have perfect peace and a perfect environment in which to live in with both God, Jesus, and all of our saved ones forever and ever.
In the crazy and tumultuous world, we all now live in, this one powerful phrase alone should help keep us focused on the real big picture.
Is it proper for believers to pray directly to the Holy Spirit without mentioning God the Father or Jesus Christ? The answer is NO!. Believers are not to speak directly, or pray, to the Holy Spirit. There are a number of reasons why this is so. They can be summed up as follows;
The Holy Spirit Does Not Speak of Himself; For one thing, it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to speak of Jesus Christ. He does not speak of Himself. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit was given to remind His disciples of the things which He said.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you (John 14:26 NASB). The Holy Spirit which was sent by the authority of God the Father was given to testify to Jesus Christ, not Himself.
In addition, we are told that He will not speak on His own initiative. Jesus said. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you (John 16:13, 14.
Jesus made it clear that the Holy Spirit is His representative. He does not present His own ideas or speak on His initiative. Instead, He carries out the plan of God the Father and God the Son. This is His role among the members of the Trinity. While the Holy Spirit is fully God, His role is one of representing the wishes of the Father and the Son. Thus, while the Holy Spirit is not subordinate in nature or character to God the Father or God the Son, He is subordinate in His position.
The Holy Spirit Helps Us Pray the Right Things; Thus, the Holy Spirit is not the member of the Trinity to whom we address our prayers. We should pray to God the Father, through the Person of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is the one who guides our prayers and helps us to pray the right things. Paul wrote about this to the Romans. He put it this way;
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, or how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words (Romans 8:26. The Holy Spirit helps us pray to the Father through the Son – He does not help us pray to Himself! This is the plain teaching of Scripture.
We Are Commanded to Pray in Jesus’ Name or Authority; In fact, we are commanded to pray in Jesus’ name or authority. Jesus made this clear to His disciples on the night that He was betrayed. He said.
On that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. “Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. On that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf” (John 16:23-26. It is in the authority of Jesus that we pray. We are to ask for things using Him as our access to God the Father.
There Are Direct Prayers to Jesus; We also find that people directly prayed to Jesus. Stephen the martyr was filled with the Holy Spirit as he was dying. At that time, he directed his prayer to Jesus. The Bible records what took place n this manner.
And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep (Acts 7:59-60). Direct prayers can be made to Jesus. Indeed, we have a biblical example of this.
There Are No Direct Prayers to the Holy Spirit; As we search the Scriptures, we find no prayers addressed directly to the Holy Spirit.
Thank you Mermaid for your explanations you sure are able to do a lot of things. I understand you are allowed more lately due to the shortage of nurses. Too bad about the no romance but you are right to stick to your guns......
The Holy Spirit, it is my belief that some of us don't understand or underestimate the third part of the Godhead. God the Father, God the Son, we all know very well, what about the third part of the Godhead the Holy Spirit? He is the one left with us as Jesus is now sitting on the right hand of His Father. As Jesus told us He would leave us not as orphans but leave us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts people of their sins......... We are told we can ask the Holy Spirit for gifts, knowledge, healing power, speaking in tongues, casting our demons, prophecy, and wisdom. Yes, all we need to do is ask for these gifts is that not mindblowing for sure? I know the gifts I would like to have, do you? If so, then please ask the Holy Spirit for them now.
Congratulations are in order Mermaid, well done!!! Please tell me what is a medical assistant job in the medical field. Please forgive my ignorance.............
Your boss has his eye on you who knows?.....................
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT ..............LAUREN BERG
“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (Galatians 3:1) Don’t you love how kind and gentle Paul’s letters are? What was it that got the apostle so worked up? It was because the Galatians had the wrong idea about the importance of the Holy Spirit. They understood the role that the Spirit played in their conversion, but they were missing out on his role as a Helper in the ongoing life of a believer. Their new life in Christ had begun by responding to the Holy Spirit through faith, but they were now trying to maintain it by human effort, rather than relying on him.
Many Christians today get caught in the same trap as the Galatians: we forget why the Holy Spirit is so important. If we want to avoid being “foolish Galatians,” we need to respond to the Holy Spirit and the way he moves in our lives. Here are five key roles that the Holy Spirit plays;
1. HE GUIDES YOU INTO JESUS’ TRUTH Jesus was clear on the importance of the Holy Spirit: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth... he will glorify Me because it is from Me that he will receive what he will make known to you” (John 16:13-14). Do you want to know what Jesus is saying to you as you journey through this life? Do you want to be able to hear God’s voice as you read through the pages of the Bible? It is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who communicates all of that to you.
2. HE DIRECTS YOUR STEPS; The Holy Spirit not only speaks the words of Jesus to you, but he actually is the one who leads and directs your steps into the abundant life that Jesus promised. Paul wrote, “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit…. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you” (Romans 8:9, 11). The Holy Spirit is the conduit of life from God into your heart. He is the one who controls your thoughts, attitudes, words, and actions as you follow his lead. He will direct your steps through all the complicated paths of life and keep you from sin. That is abundant life!
3. HE GIVES YOU SPIRITUAL GIFTS; The Holy Spirit is also the one who gives spiritual gifts to all followers of Jesus so that we all can play our role in the Body of Christ. Paul gave us a sampling of those gifts in his first letter to the Corinthian church:
“Now to each one, the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to other gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous power, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines” (1 Corinthians 12:7-11).
It is through these gifts of the Spirit that we function best as the Church, and it is through these gifts that we are able to proclaim the power of Jesus to people who desperately need to know our Savior.
4. HE EMPOWERS YOU TO PROCLAIM; In Acts, Luke recalls over and over the crucial role the Holy Spirit played in the early Church’s proclamation of the Gospel. When Peter and John stood accused before powerful leaders, Luke reported that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and boldly proclaimed that Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the One they had crucified, was the only way to salvation (Acts 4:5-12). This is the same Peter who only two months earlier had denied Jesus. And now, standing in the very place where Jesus had been condemned,
Thank you for telling us about your trip Mermaid. Perhaps you may find someone to go with you next time, your mom maybe? I would not step on that glass plate for all the tea in China...............you did good girl.............
Never thought of God as being a feeling Celticwitch. He is a lot more than that. To me, it is a belief a knowing that He is who He says He is. The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is alive and that is why we can come to Him and talk to him in prayer. The Lord already knows what we need/want but has set it up so we must ask Him. I really wonder if we would get things automatically would we talk to Him as much? It is very humbling that the Lord wants to hear from us and wants us to communicate with His children. I am sure the Lord loves more than anything for us to say; "Thank you Lord for being who You are"
A very famous preacher, Hudson Taylor once said, Lord, THAT you will answer my prayer, I know! What fascinates me every time is, HOW you are going to answer. The moment we pray, God set things in motion
What is the spirit of security but a deep belief in yourself?
What is insecurity but a lack of faith in one's own ability?
How do you give people a sense of security? By giving them a chance to build faith in themselves! Self-reliance and self-confidence are real security. When Communism collects people together and spares them from the possibility of poverty, is it really offering security? It is perhaps eliminating the fear of poverty and starvation, but the absence of fear is no proof of courage.
Play-it-safe people may not be afraid. But this does not mean that they are brave. What would happen if they had to face danger? Suddenly they would discover that they lacked real courage. Communism offers a counterfeit security, for real security is self-confidence.
The priceless gift of self-confidence can only be acquired when you suceed after being exposed to possible failure. Exposure to risk is the only route to real self- confidence. Self-confidence cannot be inherited. It must be earned by each individual, each generation, each new regime. And the only way to earn it is by taking a noble risk, and honorable chance, a glorified gamble. Self-confidence cannot be taught; it must be caught! And risk-running, chance-taking, is the only way to catch it. Mountain-moving faith succeeds in building self-confidence through chance-taking. Without self-confidence, faith will never muster and demonstrate mountain-moving power.
-Author: Dr. Robert H. Schuller-
From "The Hour of Power" copyright (c) 2004 by Robert H. Schuller Used with permission of the Crystal Cathedral
John 3:16: So Loved, So Familiar We need fresh eyes for our faith’s basic teachings, no matter how long we’ve studied the Bible. JARVIS J. WILLIAMS, MARCH 13, 2023
One warm April night, my high school baseball team was celebrating a big win. Then one of our coaches gathered us together. In a serious tone, he told us that Merri Kathryn Prater, a good friend, and classmate, had passed away a few days after her tragic road accident. My teammates and I immediately erupted with loud cries of lament. One classmate in the stands told a few of us that the sudden sound of our grief was like an explosion of shotguns as it echoed around the mountains surrounding our Eastern Kentucky baseball field.
When we calmed down, many of my teammates and I headed to Merri Kathryn’s church. There, her pastor, Mike Caudill (known to his parishioners as Brother Mike), and members of the church were gathering to help local teenagers process the news of her death.
I remember sitting down in a pew in the pristine sanctuary of Hindman First Baptist Church with my teammates. One of them, a Christian like Merri Kathryn, turned the pages of a pew Bible to John 3:16, and he slowly began to read the verse to me.
“Jarvis, this is what life is all about,” he said. That was the first time I remember hearing John 3:16. At that moment, while stricken with grief and shock, I had no clue what the verse would mean to me throughout my life. My teammate’s exposition both shook me and left me silent.
In subsequent days, I considered the reality of my own mortality and my need to give my life to Jesus Christ in light of Merri Kathryn’s faith, her death, and the truth of John 3:16. Members of Merri Kathryn’s church had already told me about the gospel several times during my visits to see her at the hospital.
A few weeks later, on a phone call on April 22, 1996, Brother Mike led me to the Lord. I was 17. Brother Mike baptized me, and I became a member of Merri Kathryn’s church. I was the first African American to join this church in its history.
This fellowship deeply loved me—even more than some people in my own family. They taught me much about the love of God, the love of neighbor, the gospel, and what I now call redemptive kingdom diversity. I was not the only one at my high school to become a Christian that year. Merri Kathryn’s death led to dozens of professions of faith in my county of a few thousand. For several months, new believers kept asking to be baptized.
The content of John 3:16 was fresh and baffling to me at first when I was a nonbeliever, and it still was in different ways when I was a new believer in Christ. During the revival in Hindman, I preached and shared my testimony, still in wonder at the verse. But perhaps there are many of us who forget the power, the truth, and the implications of verses like John 3:16 as we grow older in the faith.
Familiar verses can seem like the ABCs of the Christian faith—things to move beyond in order to drink from deeper wells. But if we have this attitude, we may forget key elements of the Christian gospel and miss the deeper, varied truths that are right there.
After my conversion, I began sharing my faith and the truth of John 3:16 with close family and friends. I often spoke about becoming a Christian to my uncle who raised me. One night he looked at me with a straight face and said, “Jarvis, I know John 3:16.” Then he quoted it to me verbatim. “That is exactly right!
Different Kinds of Tongues – The 9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit; The gift of tongues is simply the Holy Spirit giving you the supernatural ability to speak in a foreign tongue that you have no knowledge or ability to speak out on your own.
There are two types of tongues He can give you. One is a tongue of this earth. For instance, if your native language is English, then He can give you the ability to speak in Chinese, Japanese, or Spanish.
The other type of tongue that He can give you is a tongue direct from heaven, a heavenly language that is not of this earth. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 13 that there are “tongues of angels.”
But in either event, it will be a foreign language that you will not be able to speak out on your own, and only the Holy Spirit’s supernatural transmission of this language out of your spirit will give you the ability to be able to speak this language out.
And whatever tongue the Holy Spirit will give you, you will be able to use it 24/7, whenever you want. It will be your own personal, private, prayer language between you and the Lord.
The only problem with this gift is that for the most part, you will never know or understand what you are praying about when you go into this gift.
The Bible tells us that we will be speaking out “mysteries,” and only God the Father and the Holy Spirit will be knowing exactly what the prayer will be about on any given occasion when you are actually doing it.
So if we will not know exactly what we are praying about when using this gift, then why would God even want us to have this kind of gift in the first place? I believe the reason is in the verse where it says that sometimes we will not know how to pray as we ought to.
Sometimes we will not be able to find the right words to use in our own personal prayers to the Lord due to our own natural imperfections in being able to properly communicate with Him.
Here is the verse that will show us that sometimes we will not know how to pray as we ought, and that we all need the Holy Spirit to come and help us out in our own personal prayer life with God the Father:
“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26)
I believe the Holy Spirit is the Master Prayer to God the Father and as such, He is allowing us to have direct access into His own personal prayer life with God the Father. In other words, He is asking us to play a part of and to share with Him on His own direct, personal prayers to God the Father.
Even though you will not know what you are praying about when you do go into your gift of tongues, at least you will have the honor and privilege of being able to pray direct to God the Father with the Holy Spirit.
And since the Holy Spirit knows how to present a perfect prayer to God the Father, then you can actually play a part in that perfect prayer to God the Father.
Another reason that you will want this gift is for emergency type situations. I cannot tell you how many testimonies I have seen or read where the Holy Spirit will all of a sudden prompt someone to start praying in tongues, and then later on that person finds out that the prayer they were just doing in tongues was just used to save someone else’s life.
Since the Holy Spirit is God and Lord Himself, this means He can perfectly see into the future.
And if He sees a fatal accident getting ready to occur, He can prompt you to start praying in tongues to God the Father to stop the impending tragedy from occurring.
You have no idea how many lives you may be instrumental in saving if you will only allow God to give this gift to you and then go into it whenever the Holy Spirit will prompt you to do it.
Jesus feeds 5000 people by multiplying 5 loaves of bread and two fish. God parted the Red Sea for Moses and the children of Israel. Daniel is not being eaten by the lions in the lion’s den. Peter walking on water. If you study the Bible very carefully from start to finish, it is literally one miracle after another with both God the Father and Jesus Christ. Our God is a miracle-working God and He still loves to do them for His people.
The Bible says that God does not change, and if both He and Jesus were constantly doing miracles in both the OT and NT, then God will also be wanting to do miracles in our day and age.
And with this specific gift being listed as one of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit, then you know that God is trying to tell all of us that He still wants to do them, even in the jaded and skeptical times that we are now currently living in.
Again, do not be afraid of this heavy gift from the Lord, and do not quench the Holy Spirit with any lack of faith or belief if He ever wants to try and do one for either you or for any other people you may be working with. Remember, the Bible tells us that absolutely nothing is impossible with God, which will include any divine miracle that He will want to perform.
The Discerning of Spirits – The 9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit; This next gift is one that is really needed in the dangerous and perilous times that we are now living in.
The first thing to notice about this gift is that the “s” in the word “spirits” is with a small “s.” This means that it is not referring to the Holy Spirit. The only other spirits that are out there that this gift is referring to are the following three kinds of spirits:
The Gifts of Healings – The 9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit; Per the article we just did titled, “The Great Commission – Save, Heal, Deliver and Disciple,” one of the things that Jesus is wanting all of us to do for Him to is pray for the sick.
And if we do, then many of the times they will “recover,” which means that He is going to heal them. So it should come as no surprise that we have the gift of healing as one of the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit.
What this means is that at anytime the Holy Spirit can manifest this special gift through any believer so He can then heal someone of any kind of disease, illness, or sickness.
You do not have to have the gift of healing as any kind of a full time ministry to be able to have the Holy Spirit do this through you. Again, this can literally happen to any single believer at any time with the Lord.
As such, this is another gift that you will definitely want to try and stir up with the Lord because there are just so many people who need some kind of healing due to the fact that we still have to deal with all kinds of diseases, sicknesses, and illnesses on a regular basis as a result of the Adamic curse that is still in full operation on this earth.
Not only can the Holy Spirit directly heal you with your own personal prayers to the Lord, but He can also use you as an anointed vessel to manifest His healing power through to help heal someone else – if you will only have the courage to speak out what He wants you to say to that person, and then lay hands on that person for the healing power to be transmitted into their body to the affected body part that will need the healing.
Also, notice that the wording being used in this verse is that this is the “gifts” of healing. The word “gifts” is plural, which means there are different kinds of healings the Lord will want to do.
What people who walk with this kind of anointing on a regular basis have found out is that some people will be more gifted and anointed in some areas than they will be in other areas.
For instance, some people may have more success with healing bad back cases, where another may have a stronger anointing to heal cancer cases. In other words, the Lord will sometimes specialize in the kinds of healing He will want to do through an individual believer.
Your part is to just tell the Lord that you would like to have a big part in this special gift, and then let Him decide how He will want to use you in this area and what areas you will be stronger in than other areas.
In the Spiritual Warfare section of our site, we have an article titled, “Healing Verses of the Bible.” In this article are 89 of the best healing verses in all of the Bible.
If you would like the Lord to use you in this specific area, it would be our recommendation that you study and meditate on the verses that are in this article, as it will show you that both God the Father in the OT and Jesus Christ in the NT were constantly healing people on a regular basis.
And if God does not change, and He is the same today as He was yesterday, then that means He will still want to continue His healing ministry in this day and age, and thus will anoint His believers with His healing power through the Holy Spirit from time to time when they will either need it for themselves or someone else they may be praying for.
The Working of Miracles – The 9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit This next gift from the Holy Spirit is where you can get into some real heavy, jaw-dropping, knock-your-socks off type of supernatural activity from Him.
Some of the different Bible Dictionaries describe the word miracle as the following: An intervention in the natural universe by God A phenomenon that transcends natural laws A divine act by which God reveals Himself to people Good examples of actual miracles from the Bible are the following:
Jesus and the apostles healed and cast demons out of people. Jesus turning water into wine.
The Gift of Faith – The 9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit; This next gift, the gift of faith, is something that comes directly from the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us that we all have a certain measure of faith that has already been given to us by the Lord. God has to give each person a certain measure of faith or we would not be able to get saved, as the Bible tells us that we are saved by “faith” through grace.
And then over the course of our walks with the Lord, our faith will continue to grow to higher levels as we continue to draw closer to the Lord in our own personal relationship with Him and increase our knowledge levels about Him through the study of Scripture.
However, there will be times when our own levels of faith in the Lord will not be enough to get the job done with what He may be asking us to do for Him. Here is an example:
Say God has been manifesting the gift of healing through you from time to time to heal a few minor ailments or illnesses on a few people.
Your confidence and faith levels are then starting to build up because God is now starting to use you in this manner and you now have had a few good successes on these smaller illnesses.
But then all of a sudden God tells you to walk up to a paraplegic, lay hands on him, and then command him to get out of his wheelchair and start walking.
All of a sudden you can immediately sense in your mind and in your spirit that your own levels of faith are not going to be good enough or high enough to try and do this, as you have never tried to heal someone of something this heavy before.
And this is where the Holy Spirit will now be moving in big time so this miracle can be fully accomplished for the Lord.
The Holy Spirit will then manifest His own divine faith right up into you so you can now believe and operate on that faith – so you will now have the actual courage to walk up to this person, lay hands on him, and then tell him to get out of that wheelchair and start walking.
Sometimes it will take higher levels of faith to pull down a major miracle from the Lord, and where our faith levels will not be high enough or good enough to be able to do this, this is where the direct faith of the Holy Spirit Himself will then move up in us and pick up the slack with our own imperfect faith levels so God can then manifest the miracle that He will be looking to do through us.
Sometimes God may ask you to do something that will be out of your comfort zone. Fear and panic will immediately set in because you have never done what He is now asking you to do.
If and when this should ever happen to you, just ask the Holy Spirit to manifest His faith, courage, and boldness up in you so you will have His faith, strength, and courage to do what God is asking you to do for Him.
This particular gift could be a lifesaver, depending on what God may be asking you to do for Him. If God is asking you to go into a burning building to rescue a child, there will be a very good chance that the Holy Spirit will immediately manifest His faith and courage right up in you so you can take on this dangerous assignment.
Firemen, policemen, and our military especially need this particular gift to help them do heroic acts, as many of them could easily let fear and panic set in on them, which would then keep them from being able to perform a major rescue operation.
Again, there are just a wide variety of situations and circumstances where you will need this gift to be manifested up in you by the Holy Spirit. That is why the Holy Spirit is called the Helper in the Bible, so He can help you with a lot of different areas in your daily life where you will have trouble dealing.
The Gifts of Healings – The 9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit; Per the article we just did titled, “The Great Commission – Save, Heal, Deliver and Disciple,” one of the things that Jesus is wanting all of us to do for Him to is pray for the sick.
When Paul says in the above two verses to “desire earnestly to prophesy” and to “desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy,” you know that this is something that the Lord would really like to do more of with His children.
Again, if you would like the Lord to manifest this gift through you from time to time so you can be a direct messenger for Him to someone else, just go to Him in prayer and tell Him that you would be more than happy to be a willing and yielded vessel for Him to manifest this particular gift through if He would like to do so.
And then keep your radars up, always being open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit if He will want to start manifesting this gift through you so He can use it to help build others up and bring some comfort, joy, peace, or direction into their lives.
The Gift of Faith – The 9 Gifts of the Holy Spirit This next gift, the gift of faith, is something that comes directly from the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us that we all have a certain measure of faith that has already been given to us by the Lord. God has to give each person a certain measure of faith or we would not be able to get saved, as the Bible tells us that we are saved by “faith” through grace.
And then over the course of our walks with the Lord, our faith will continue to grow to higher levels as we continue to draw closer to the Lord in our own personal relationship with Him and increase our knowledge levels about Him through the study of Scripture.
However, there will be times when our own levels of faith in the Lord will not be enough to get the job done with what He may be asking us to do for Him. Here is an example:
Say God has been manifesting the gift of healing through you from time to time to heal a few minor ailments or illnesses on a few people.
Your confidence and faith levels are then starting to build up because God is now starting to use you in this manner and you now have had a few good successes on these smaller illnesses.
But then all of a sudden God tells you to walk up to a paraplegic, lay hands on him, and then command him to get out of his wheelchair and start walking.
All of a sudden you can immediately sense in your mind and in your spirit that your own levels of faith are not going to be good enough or high enough to try and do this, as you have never tried to heal someone of something this heavy before.
And this is where the Holy Spirit will now be moving in big time so this miracle can be fully accomplished for the Lord.
The Holy Spirit will then manifest His own divine faith right up into you so you can now believe and operate on that faith – so you will now have the actual courage to walk up to this person, lay hands on him, and then tell him to get out of that wheelchair and start walking.
Sometimes it will take higher levels of faith to pull down a major miracle from the Lord, and where our faith levels will not be high enough or good enough to be able to do this, this is where the direct faith of the Holy Spirit Himself will then move up in us and pick up the slack with our own imperfect faith levels so God can then manifest the miracle that He will be looking to do through us.
Sometimes God may ask you to do something that will be out of your comfort zone. Fear and panic will immediately set in because you have never done what He is now asking you to do.
If and when this should ever happen to you, just ask the Holy Spirit to manifest His faith, courage, and boldness up in you so you will have His faith, strength, and courage to do what God is asking you to do for Him.
How to properly witness to an unsaved family member. How to solve a marital dispute. How to start up a new business. Where to look for that next new job if you have just been laid off. Who God wants you to marry in this life. How to counsel someone who has just had an impending tragedy hit them full force. What your specific calling in the Lord is going to be in this life? Word of knowledge that God wants to heal someone of a specific illness. As you can see from these kinds of examples, there is literally nothing that the Holy Spirit cannot get into in your own personal life where He can then give you a word of knowledge on how to properly handle something that you are currently dealing with, or give you a word of knowledge to help someone else out with what they may be dealing with on their end.
With our own knowledge levels being so limited, so imperfect, and so incomplete, we all need words of knowledge from the Lord on some kind of regular basis in this life so that we can make it through this life in one piece and get to where we need to go in our divine destinies with Him.
How exactly does the Holy Spirit transmit an actual Word of Knowledge to us? I believe the number one way that He will communicate a Word of Knowledge to us is through inner knowing. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit will bear “witness” to our human spirits.
This inner witness is what I call inner knowing. All of a sudden, you will receive a without-a-doubt type knowing the knowledge that He is trying to transmit to you. It can come in the form of a thought or an impression on your mind, or possibly come in the form of a vision or a picture in your mind’s eye.
I have found from personal experience that the Holy Spirit loves to communicate knowledge through these pictures, which are really visions in your mind’s eye. These pictures can be used to give you quite a bit of information and knowledge on what He is trying to give you knowledge on.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and sometimes much more information and knowledge can be conveyed to you by way of a simple picture rather than Him trying to give you all words or sentences, depending on exactly what you are dealing with.
The only problem with these pictures in your mind’s eye is that you have to learn how to discern the difference between when a vision is coming in from the Holy Spirit and when a vision is coming in from your own natural imagination, as your own natural imagination has the power and the ability to conjure up their own mental pictures in your mind’s eyes.
Over time, the Holy Spirit can teach you how to do discern the difference between the two if you would really like for Him to do this for you. This is something that you can learn how to do with Him through a process of trial and error.
Think of the ramifications and the possibilities with just this one special gift alone – that the Holy Spirit Himself can transmit His own divine knowledge to you on something that you cannot solve or figure out on your own. This is why this particular gift is so important and so needed in this day and age, as most of us are always facing some kind of roadblocks or obstacles on a regular basis in our daily lives.
As such, we all need the knowledge of God flowing through us so we can make it through all of these obstacles, and then get to where we need to go with the Lord and fully accomplish everything that He will like for us to do for Him in this life.
Bodie Hodge on May 30, 2007; last featured September 2, 2019
How old is the earth? The question of the age of the earth has produced heated discussions on Internet debate boards, TV, radio, in classrooms, and in many churches, Christian colleges, and seminaries.
Get equipped with biblical answers to questions about Noah's ark and the global flood. Young-earth proponents (biblical age of the earth and universe of about 6,000 years)1 Old-earth proponents (secular age of the earth of about a 4.5billion years and a universe about 14 billion years old) The difference is immense! Let’s give a little history of where these two basic calculations came from and which worldview is more reasonable when answering the question, "how old is the earth?"
Where Did a Young-earth Worldview Come From? Simply put, it came from the Bible. Of course, the Bible doesn’t say explicitly anywhere, “The earth is 6,000 years old.” Good thing it doesn’t; otherwise it would be out of date the following year. But we wouldn’t expect an all-knowing God to make that kind of mistake.
God gave us something better. In essence, He gave us a “birth certificate.” For example, using a personal birth certificate, a person can calculate how old he is at any point. It is similar to the earth. Genesis 1 says that the earth was created on the first day of creation (Genesis 1:1–5). From there, we can begin to calculate the age of the earth.
Let’s do a rough calculation to show how this works. The age of the earth can be estimated by taking the first five days of creation (from earth’s creation to Adam), then following the genealogies from Adam to Abraham in Genesis 5 and 11, then adding in the time from Abraham to today.
Adam was created on day 6, so there were five days before him. If we add up the dates from Adam to Abraham, we get about 2,000 years, using the Masoretic Hebrew text of Genesis 5 and 11.3 Whether Christian or secular, most scholars would agree that Abraham lived about 2,000 B.C. (4,000 years ago).
So a simple calculation is 5 days + ~2,000 years + ~4,000 years ~6,000 years. At this point, the first five days are negligible. Quite a few people have done this calculation using the Masoretic text (which is what most English translations are based on) and with careful attention to the biblical details, they have arrived at the same time frame of about 6,000 years or about 4000 B.C.
"As you can see, many opinions, many explanations"
The Origin of the Old-earth Worldview; Prior to the 1700s, few believed in an old earth. The approximate 6,000-year age for the earth was challenged only rather recently, beginning in the late 18th century. These opponents of the biblical chronology essentially left God out of the picture. Three of the old-earth advocates included Comte de Buffon, who thought the earth was at least 75,000 years old. Pièrre LaPlace imagined an indefinite but very long history. And Jean Lamarck also proposed long ages.11
However, the idea of millions of years really took hold in geology when men like Abraham Werner, James Hutton, William Smith, Georges Cuvier, and Charles Lyell used their interpretations of geology as the standard, rather than the Bible. Werner estimated the age of the earth at about one million years. Smith and Cuvier believed untold ages were needed for the formation of rock layers. Hutton said he could see no geological evidence of a beginning of the earth; and building on Hutton’s thinking, Lyell advocated “millions of years.”
From these men and others came the consensus view that the geologic layers were laid down slowly over long periods of time based on the rates at which we see them accumulating today. Hutton said:
The past history of our globe must be explained by what can be seen to be happening now. . . . No powers are to be employed that are not natural to the globe, no action to be admitted except those of which we know the principle.12 This viewpoint is called naturalistic uniformitarianism, and it excludes any major catastrophes such as Noah’s flood. Though some, such as Cuvier and Smith, believed in multiple catastrophes separated by long periods of time, the uniformitarian concept became the ruling dogma in geology.
God's Word is Truth; Thinking biblically, we can see that the global flood in Genesis 6–8 would wipe away the concept of millions of years, for this Flood would explain massive amounts of fossil layers. Most Christians fail to realize that a global flood could rip up many of the previous rock layers and redeposit them elsewhere, destroying the previous fragile contents. This would destroy any evidence of alleged millions of years anyway. So the rock layers can theoretically represent the evidence of either millions of years or a global flood, but not both. Sadly, by about 1840, even most of the Church had accepted the dogmatic claims of the secular geologists and rejected the global flood and the biblical age of the earth.
After Lyell, in 1899, Lord Kelvin (William Thomson) calculated the age of the earth, based on the cooling rate of a molten sphere, at a maximum of about 20–40 million years (this was revised from his earlier calculation of 100 million years in 1862). With the development of radiometric dating in the early 20th century, the age of the earth expanded radically. In 1913, Arthur Holmes’s book, The Age of the Earth, gave an age of 1.6 billion years. Since then, the supposed age of the earth has expanded to its present estimate of about 4.5 billion years (and about 14 billion years for the universe).
"Really what is a few billion here and there"..........
Question; If you have lots of food in your home, could you eat it alone, knowing your neighbors have nothing to eat? Hunger is a terrible thing, people have been known to eat leather belts, wallpaper, and tulip bulbs.
In Matthew, we were instructed to put the lamp on a lampstand. We aren’t to worship or crave the lampstand. No, we are to crave the light. We need the light. We can get so caught up in the lampstand, which is simply the thing that showcases the light, that we start worshiping the lampstand. The problem with making the lampstand the big thing is that it brings no light to the house. Your talent and your platform are just the stands that the light goes on. What people need is not one more performance, one more song, one more sermon, or one more book. What they need is for the light to be placed back on the stand to bring light to the entire house.
I learned this firsthand. My lampstand was the gift of creativity. I had done everything and then some. I tried every creative idea that my young mind could think of, yet all failed. What I saw with my heart, and what I saw with my eyes were two different things. The journey of a pioneer, while it sounds romantic, is daunting. It’s full of upsets and frustrations as you trek on the road less traveled, or maybe even the one never traveled. If you can relate, hang in there. Keep moving forward. You’re not alone. I have hit many walls along this journey, and I’m sure I will hit many more. I have now found that it’s who you listen to at the wall that determines if you settle there or press on.
I hit a wall. It wasn’t my first time in ministry, but this time was different. I’ll never forget walking out to speak that night. I was ready to close worship, and as I looked at the crowd, I was disheartened. The room was filled with empty seats. and although a few leaders at the front of the stage were giving all their praise to God, the rest of the crowd looked uninterested, bored, or focused on something outside the room. I walked right back off the stage and went into my office. I burst into tears, full of anger and frustration. I had done everything I could imagine, yet I couldn’t grow this ministry. I longed to set it on fire as I’d seen in my dreams. Maybe I just wasn’t the guy. Maybe God got mixed up. I fell to my knees in my office and heard the drums beating through my wall. It felt as though I was beating on God’s chest. It took a minute, and then I heard God say as clear as day, “Are you done yet?” I cried out, “God, I am so done! I have nothing left. I can’t do this.” Then God said, “Good, this was the place I wanted you. Are you sure you’re done with all your big ideas, all your catchy phrases, all your clever sermons, all the ways it will work for you?” I screamed out, “God, I’m so done!” “Good,” He said. “Now I can begin. The first thing I want you to do is ripping up your sermon. It’s not yours anyways.” He was right. I had gotten it online from one of my favorite preachers. I ripped up my sermon, and then God said, “When you go out to the mic, I’ll tell you what to say.” Well, this should be interesting, I thought.
I walked back onto the stage with nothing in my mind to say. Sure enough, when I grabbed the mic, words began to come out. The first thing God had me do was ask everyone who was sick in the room to come to the stage. After I said it, I thought, No big deal. This is youth ministry. There won’t be a bunch of sick kids. Boy, was I wrong. The whole stage was packed with kids I’d never seen before—one guy in a wheelchair, three with crutches, others just holding up a part that was in pain. I thought, Oh great. I didn’t know God was going to put me on the spot like this. However, the tables were turned, and He was challenging my faith to put Him on the spot. With my shallow faith, I turned to the first person. Good thing all it takes is a mustard seed to move mountains. With that, I began to pray. Never before and never since have I experienced something so supernatural. One by one, the teenagers began to get healed. As I prayed, the first guy just began yelling that his leg was hot. Instantly, I realized it was working.
So much wisdom in our curvydoll she is good at figuring out those dumb, wait they all had to have gone to University right? Right!.........................
Sometimes they gave money they had thought was for one thing to something else, so they had to remain in faith for the original need.
A week before leaving for Africa they received money for their expenses to London. However, another need came up for the money. No money came to enable them to buy tickets to London, so they bought tickets to Llanelli which was as far as the money they did have would take them. At Llanelli station, they were waiting when Holy Spirit told Howells to stand in the queue for tickets. When there were only two people in front of him, a man stepped out of the crowd and gave him the money he needed. They had everything they needed for the journey except watches, raincoats, and fountain pens, and on meeting their benefactor in London he had the three items ready for them.
They left for Africa n July 10th, 1915. On arrival, they joined another missionary couple who had labored in the area now called Zimbabwe for several years. On hearing that the Howells were from the land of revival they were asked if they had brought the blessing with them. For six weeks Howells spoke on revival and then Holy Spirit began to stir. The Lord told him that revival was coming and two days later, on October 10th, He came. They had two revival meetings every day for fifteen months and hundreds were converted. The station where they were was founded in 1897, and several had died establishing it. They had prayed for years and now they were reaping the harvest. On hearing the news of revival an American station forty miles away invited them to speak. At the first meeting, revival came. The news spread and they were asked to go down to a missionary conference in Durban. It was then suggested that they go around all the mission stations in South Africa. Revival touched that conference and the missionaries went home to prepare for their visit and the hoped-for revival. They returned to their station after a two-year revival tour. They arrived back in Wales on Christmas Day 1920.
Until the Llandrindod Conference of 1922, Howells traveled around taking the revival anointing with him. The power of God at the Conference was very great. At a prayer meeting the question of training the young converts was discussed, and Howells suggested asking the Lord for a training college. While they were at prayer the Lord told him that he was the one that was going to build the college. This meant giving up the one thing that Howells had always wanted to have - a worldwide revival ministry, so it was hard for him to accept. The Howells left for a private visit to America, where they saw the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Seeing the Institute gave Howells a vision to start something similar in Wales. He believed that God would provide the funds. They resigned from the Mission and set their faces toward their new task.
While holidaying in Mumbles near Swansea they were walking near the Bay and came across an empty house named Glynderwen. As they stood by the gates the Lord said, ‘This is the College.’ Howells asked God for proof of the ‘call’; to meet someone who knew the owner within two days. On the second day, a local came by to invite them to tea and it turned out that he knew the owner very well. Howells went to see the owner and visited the property again. He was told that the Catholics were after the property, but God told him to kneel down and claim it for his College. Howells felt a little despondent because he knew the weight that would be on him to bring this project to completion. The owner offered to sell the house, eight acres, and a public house for £6,300 although he had had an offer of £10,000. Howells was keen to accept, but God said he could not pay more than £6,150, so he wrote to the owner explaining what God had said. The owner replied by offering £5,800.
When it came time to pay the deposit he was still £140 short, so he decided to go to the solicitor anyway.
t was not just individual characteristics, but the root causes of his actions/thoughts that were dealt with. The more he obeyed, the more he became like Christ, and the more the Lord could do through him. As he spent more time ‘abiding,’ he became more aware of Holy Spirit engaging the enemy in battle and being victorious. Howells would be able to tell when victory had been won, and then he would wait to see the result in the physical.
At the end of the sixth week, he says, “I was abiding now, without being called to abide, walking in the position, and the Lord told me that I could now expect to see this woman make a move.” That very night she was in the open air meeting. Then she started to come to the cottage meetings, but there was no sign of repentance. Holy Spirit told him not to pray for her. Then after six weeks, on Christmas morning, Howells knew that victory had been won. At the Christmas service, the woman fell on her knees crying out for mercy and she never went back. On making a mistake Howells asked the Lord to forgive him and come by His Presence into the meeting, in return for which he promised the Lord anything He wanted. As a result, Holy Spirit asked him to be a steward and not an owner of the money. He had to promise that he would not spend a penny on anything, but essentials and only spend money as directed; he could not even give away money without permission. He would no longer have the joy of giving as it was not his money to give. Having made the promise, the Lord told him that he was now grafted into the Vine.
It took several months for Howells to become dead to money, but he succeeded. Chapters 10 and 11 give an account of Howells’s theology on healing and intercession. If I included them here I would have to do so fully, and this would make this account of his life much too long. I urge you to read the book. Suffice it to say here that for Howells intercession involved identification, agony, and authority. At this time the Lord taught him how to pray for the sick; take on their burdens, identify with them until a breakthrough came or not. He prayed for a consumptive woman for six months, but she died in the end. However, she died in victory. As Howells interceded for the sick he began to hear God’s voice more clearly, and he came to know that God’s will for the sick person was life or death. After the death of the consumptive woman, some people who were dying lived as a result of his intercession. The Lord used him a lot to pray for the sick during this time, and he said he believed a new era of healing would break out in the Church. The consumptive woman had four little children whose father deserted them soon after she died. The Lord directed Howells to move in with them and be their father, but this was something he had no inclination to do. He felt that he had no love for them and that looking after them would severely restrict his ministry; he told God that he would only do it if He changed his heart so that he could love the children as a father. This the Lord did, pouring His love into Howells in such a way that Howells felt he loved every orphan in the world. At the last moment, three of the children’s aunts came forward to look after them, but there remained in Howells a love of orphans.
The Lord needed Howells to be a pure vessel if He was to be able to use him effectively as an intercessor. One evening he was to speak in the open air after his friend had spoken. His friend was being used so powerfully by Holy Spirit that Howells wondered if he would ever be called upon to preach. Howells was not a gifted open-air speaker and a small amount of jealousy rose up inside him. Holy Spirit really convicted him and told him that he had to repent to a friend and that if it ever happened again he would have to repent publicly.
There had been much success in the village where Howells had ministered for so long and the mission was growing.
The Obedience of Sister Chang; “The reason I wrote to you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.”? - 2 Corinthians 2:9 When God spoke to Sister Chang, a house church leader from Henan, he told her to do something that made no earthly sense at all. He told her to go and preach the gospel on the steps outside the local police station. Such action may lead to arrest even in Western nations, and in Communist China, it is a sure way to invite severe punishment. But the more Sister Chang prayed about it, the more clearly the inner voice of God continued to tell her to do it. Finally, she saw no option but to obey God.
Standing on the top step outside the police station, she boldly proclaimed the gospel to astonished onlookers. Within a few minutes, several officers dragged her inside and placed her under arrest. To the human eye, her obedience looked foolish, but God can see things that we can’t.
Sister Chang was sentenced without a trial and sent to the local women’s prison, where she was placed alongside thousands of spiritually lost souls. She boldly and lovingly proclaimed the gospel to her fellow prisoners. The light of the gospel spread like wildfire. Within just three months, 800 women believed in Jesus! The entire atmosphere of the prison changed, and new sounds of praise and worship were heard echoing down the prison hallways and in the courtyard.
The prison director was greatly impressed at the change in the atmosphere and was able to trace it to the preaching of Sister Chang. He brought her into his office and said, “You have made my job easy! There is no more fighting between the prisoners and the women have become gentle and obedient. We need more people like you working here. From today, we have decided to let you go free. We want to give you a full-time job here in the prison, and we will pay you 3,000 Yuan per month” (about US$ 375, a fortune in rural Henan). He continued, “We will also give you a car and your own driver, and will find you comfortable housing.”
Sister Chang briefly considered the offer, and then replied, “Twenty years ago I became a disciple of Jesus Christ and he has been wonderful to me. I don’t believe your offer of a car, driver and salary is in line with what Jesus wants to do with my life, and I belong to him. All I want to do is preach the good news.”
Despite her rejection of his offer, the director released her from prison that day, and she continued her ministry for the Lord.
It always pays to do what the Lord tells us to do. Don’t argue, don’t fight it, and don’t try to work out all the details with your mind. Just do it. That is one mark of a true disciple of Jesus Christ.
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What Makes Jesus Unique? No one else made the claims that He did, He is alive...............
Transfiguration, in the New Testament, is the occasion upon which Jesus Christ took three of his disciples, Peter, James, and John, up on a mountain, where Moses and Elijah appeared and Jesus was transfigured, his face and clothes becoming dazzlingly bright. The Transfiguration is recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels (Mark 9:2–13; Matthew 17:1–13; Luke 9:28–36) and is understood to have been the revelation of the eternal glory of the second person of the Trinity, which was normally veiled during Christ’s life on earth. The event can also be interpreted as an anticipatory Resurrection appearance, and the presence of the two prophets is often taken to signify Christ’s fulfillment of the Mosaic Law and the prophecies of the Hebrew Bible (the Christian Old Testament). The Feast of the Transfiguration is celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches on August 6, and the Transfiguration is ranked alongside Jesus’ baptism and the Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension as a key milestone of his life and ministry.In the Gospel accounts, after foretelling his death and Resurrection, Jesus and his three disciples went to “a high mountain” to be away from the crowds. There, Jesus’ face began to shine like the sun and his clothes became miraculously white. As the disciples looked on, Elijah and Moses suddenly appeared in glory and talked with the transfigured Jesus. Peter then offered to make three dwellings, one for Jesus and one for each of the two supernatural guests, but was interrupted by a voice from a bright cloud that said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him, I am well pleased; listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5). Having collapsed in fear, the disciples were comforted by Jesus, who then urged them to keep silent about these events until after his Resurrection (Mark 9:9; Matthew 17:9). According to tradition, the event took place on Mount Tabor. The Transfiguration is also referenced in the Second Letter of Peter, where Peter’s presence as an eyewitness to Christ’s majesty is used to assure the readers that his message is true (1:16–18).
The Transfiguration;
There is a long history of Christian art depicting the Transfiguration. By the 6th century, scenes of the event frequently featured Christ enshrined in a mandorla, an almond-shaped aureole of light surrounding the entire figure of a holy person. In the 15th century, however, with the growth of naturalism in art, the mandorla became less popular, being incongruous in a naturalistic context, and it was abandoned by the painters of the Renaissance.
Melissa Petruzzello
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica