Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

One of the most memorable verses from the beloved 119th Psalm is verse 105 which says:

"Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

Biblical illumination is the process by which the Holy Spirit helps a person to understand the truth of God's Word. Illumination is often discussed alongside related concepts of biblical inspiration and interpretation. Inspiration involves how God has revealed spiritual truth; interpretation involves our study of spiritual truth; illumination involves our understanding of spiritual truth and involves both the Scriptures and the influence of the Holy Spirit.


Merriam-Webster
Definition of illumination

the action of illuminating or state of being illuminated: such as
a : spiritual or intellectual enlightenment
b : clarification, construction, elucidation, exegesis, explanation, explication, exposition, illustration, interpretation, road map


First, it is important to understand that the Holy Spirit indwells or lives within every believer in Jesus Christ. Romans 8:9 teaches, "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him." First Corinthians 12:13 adds, "For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and all were made to drink of one Spirit."

Jesus answered them in John 7:16, and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me."

"Anyone who doesn’t love Me will not obey Me. And remember, My words are not My own. What I am telling you is from the Father who sent Me. All this I have spoken to you while I am still with you.
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you" (John 14:24-26).


Illumination involves how the Spirit of God helps us understand the truth of God. In John 16:13-14, Jesus explains, "When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on his own authority, but only whatever He hears he will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you."

The Holy Spirit also uses people He has gifted in teaching or preaching to help others in the process of illumination. Ephesians 4:11-12 says, "And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ." Romans 12:6-7 adds, "Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them … if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness."

It is important to understand that our spiritual condition can influence the process of God's Spirit illuminating the text of Scripture in our lives. First Corinthians 3:1-3 shares a negative example: "But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way?"

We must remember that "the LORD my God lightens my darkness" (Psalm 18:28).

Psalm 119, written by David, is the longest poem in the Book of Psalms. It has 22 stanzas of 8 lines each giving a total of 176 verses. The psalm is an acrostic. It has 22 stanzas because there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. Many English versions will put the name of the Hebrew letter above each stanza (e.g., Aleph, Beth, Gimel).

The longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119, repeatedly emphasizes that God's truth is our foundation for spiritual maturity. We turn to His Word for wisdom and seek help from God's Spirit to understand it through illumination in order to better live His purposes for our lives.

"The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces." Psalm 119:72

In Protestant Christianity, various metrical settings of Psalm 119 have been published, including "O God, My Strength and Fortitude" by Thomas Sternhold, which appeared in the Scottish Psalter of 1564.

Psalm 119 is a prayer that includes many different elements, including prayers of praise (45-48), lament (81-88), vindication (132-134), obedience (57-64), and petitions for wisdom (33-40).

Ephesians 1:17-18 explains the appropriate goal of illumination: "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints."

Peewee Loc: San Antonio, TX

Amen and Amen! Forest fires are inching toward Jerusalem and many people have lost their homes. Just got an email update from Zev Porat.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fires-rage-in-a-forest-near-jerusalem/vp-AANo0Bj

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

We are in a chaotic moment in a chaotic world, Peewee, let us pray that these fires will be extinguished, but we have God's assurance that Israel will always remain.

In the U.S., more than 31,000 Californians have been evacuated due to wildfires. The growing Caldor fire in northern California's El Dorado County east of Sacramento has prompted evacuation orders, as 30,000 acres have burned, according to authorities, who added that there was no containment.

Drought and high demand are expected to force the first-ever mandatory cuts to a water supply to 40 million people and 5 million acres of farmland from Wyoming to the US-Mexico border -- the Colorado River.
After another record-setting hot and dry year in 2020, the western U.S. is now in widespread extreme drought.
Lake Mead supplies water to millions of people in Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico.
Earlier this summer, Lake Mead's (Boulder City, Nevada), elevation hit its lowest point since being filled in the 1930s at 1,068 feet (326 meters).

Thousands of farms and water agencies that rely on flows from California’s vast delta watershed, including some in the Bay Area, are being told to stop drawing water from its rivers and creeks because there’s not enough to go around, so they will be unable to water or harvest their crops.

This is just a wee bit of what is occurring in our country at present - without consideration of the 15,000 to 40,000 American citizens now deserted by our government, and vulnerable to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

All Christians have a sanctuary, for through His death on the cross, Jesus Christ, The Son of God and Son of Man paid in full the sin debt for all humanity who would choose to believe in Him, and in that incomparable moment, he lovingly created for us an accessible island of truth, peace and security present in every chaotic situation.

Marty 2020 Loc: Banana Republic of Kalifornia

Romans 10:17 sums it up.
Faith comes by hearing,
Hearing by the word.
Rhema!
Praise God!

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Rhema, indeed, Marty!

Rhema literally means an "utterance" or "thing said" in Greek.

In Christianity, it is used in reference to the concept of Rhematos Christou, Jesus Christ's sayings.

It is a word that signifies the action of utterance.

It was used by both Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle to refer to propositions or sentences.

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Just a reminder, Marty -

Jesus, the Christ, IS the Living Logos, the eternal Word of God...

Genesis 1:3 "By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible."

It was His Words, the "utterance" of the Pre-incarnate Christ, the 2nd person of the Trinity, that commanded the physical world into being:

John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made."

All the Words of God, received through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, by His Old Testament (Tanakh) Prophets, and New Testament (B'rit Haddashah) Apostles, a.k.a., All of God's Canon of Scriptures, (the "collection of books which form the Old and New Testaments) are the Words of the Living Logos, the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ/Yeshua haMashiach.