JoanG

This passage describes peace among all the animals in the world. All enemies will lie together and eat together without fear. This peace will be spread across the whole world. The whole earth will have knowledge of the Lord. The Lord will be ruler and king of all creation. There will be total love of all for all.

Jesse is the Father of the famous King David. Because the Messiah was to be a descendent of David, this would make his birth from the Root of Jesse. The Messiah will be wise and just. He will have great power. he will know the Father and he will do the will of the Father in all things. The poor and the weak will have no fear because he will protect them from all injustice. The wicked will be slain.

I feel that those in power take advantage of those weaker than themselves. They feel that if they take away from those weaker, they make themselves stronger. They are nothing more than bullies. We as Christians need to take a stand against these people. We need to fight against unfair laws. We need to be pro-active. We need to help the poor and weak. We need to step forward and to give them a hands up not just hand outs.

I feel that the statement that he will be a wonderful counselor and the Prince of Peace tell me that he is great. The fact that the government will be on his shoulders tells me that he is going to be a great ruler. The statement that he is mighty God and everlasting Father tells me that he is one with God and he is a part of God and he will be the Messiah. Right now in my life, I need a wonderful counselor. I need to have someone to really talk to for help and understanding.

God and Jesus can be a stumbling stone or a trap and a snare to those that are not true people. These are the ones that try to lie and take advantage of others. These are the ones that create their own worldly views that can crumble before their eyes. They think more of material objects than of heavenly objects. God does trap these people in their own lies. I feel that they get caught up in the weaves of their deceit. Their materialistic world can be gone in a minute and they are left with nothing. People refuse to trust in the Lord and to accept his path for them. They try to do it their own way. They honor money more than their fellow man. They put God on a back burner of their lives. They keep him locked in a small closet in their hearts to only allow him out when needed. These actions will cause God to lash out on them and to try to get them to wake up and repent.

Isaiah tried to tell Ahaz to wait and allow God to take control of the situation. However, Ahaz was afraid of the outcome and he actually paid to have his enemies destroyed. However, God changed the outcome. At times, we feel that God is so far away from us. We feel that God cannot understand what we are going through. God at times seems to be so farfetched with his ideas. They go against everything that we think are rational. And yet we need to trust him and allow him to take charge of us. We need to go on the faith that God really does know what is best for us no matter what we might think.

If a person keeps all their possessions within a tight grasp, they seem to be less open to praise God. They feel that they have earned this themselves and God appears to be an afterthought in their own minds. They feel that they are above prayer and they are usually the ones that attend worship service to be entertained. They are the ones that usually want to keep everything the same. They feel that they should be in control of the church and it's decisions because they give money to the church. God created all things. Everything on this earth belongs to him. Nothing really has any meaning except for the meaning we give it. Every thing was put here for our use and for us to be stewards of. They all inanimate objects. Once you realize these simple truths, it is a lot easier to not hold on to it. It is so easy to praise God and thank him for all the things that are given to make my life so much easier. These are all gift from God.

I can tell God how wonderful he is. I can tell him about all the great things that he has done for me and for all the earth. I can reiterate how he rules over all and over everyone. In the Lord's Prayer, the words hallowed be your name are used to praise God. Then we tell God that it is his will that should be done, not ours. We are nothing more than his servants here on earth. My favorite song to show God's greatness are: Alpha and Omega by Gaither Vocal Band Awesome God by Rich Mullins Blessed be Your Name by Tree 63 How Great is Our God by Chris Tomlin Our God is and Awesome God by Kurt Kaiser.

God is above all things. When we acknowledge that fact we are showing God how much we love and honor him. We should always show God how much he means to us. I feel that the exaltation of God opens up my heart and soul to hear his words and to receive his graces. We bring ourselves closer to holiness and to the fulfillment of the purpose that we were created. We allow our hearts and souls to take on the internal light of Jesus and we allow that light to shine forth for all men to see.

We are reaffirming to God just how great he is in our lives. It is a way of thanking him for all the good things that he has given us. It is a way of showing our love to him. God desires to know that we love, honor and worship him. I feel that there are prayers where a person is begging for forgiveness or healing or something where he would forget to bless God. I have also seen (heard) prayers that were just empty words. There was no feeling or thought behind them. They seemed to be self-praising for the person saying them.

Paul feel that the celibate person can spend much more time seeking to please the Lord. They can spend time fasting, time in prayer. They do not need to be so concerned with worldly things. I find that married believers need to put God first. They need to show their love and honor to God together. They can pray and study the bible together.

The only way that Christian married believers can divorce is if the spouse does not supply food, clothing and other marital rights. A wife or husband can and should leave if there is abuse to them or the children if spiritual counseling does not work. However, all efforts should be taken to keep the marriage together. In the case of an unbelieving spouse, only that person should decide on the divorce and leave. The believing spouse should work to keep the marriage together. I believe that only the words found in the Jewish divorce certificate or the Greco-Roman ones state that "you are free to marry any man you wish" would show that you can remarry.

Paul is teaching that those that burn with a sexual desire should be married. They should have a healthy relationship with their spouse. maybe a young couple needs to speed up the engagement and also plan on an earlier wedding date so that they do not sin. Celibacy is not for everyone. But it needs to be practiced outside of a marriage.

Paul agrees that being celibate can be a good thing. He himself has gone this route so that he can do the work that God has created him for. However, sexual intercourse in a marriage is a very powerful type of bond. It joins both bodies in a very spiritually fulfilling way. the joining is also a creation of two becoming one just as in the book of Genesis. Both the husband and the wife need to be sexually fulfilled. It is not to be considered a chore or a bargaining tool for things inside the marriage. There is to be a mutual love and respect for both.

Jesus invites everyone to drink from the living water from within. Those that believe in Jesus and have received the Holy Spirit in their soul have the living water of life within them. Jesus promises that those that believe will be given the Holy Spirit of God to aid them to live the life that Jesus requires for eternal salvation. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would come once he had returned back to the Father. During Pentecost the Holy Spirit came to the people in the form of tongues of fire and rested above their heads. They were given the gifts of the Spirit all at once. I believe that I walk in the Spirit of the Lord. I have been saved and I am on fire in my soul. I have given up many of my old habits and everyday I feel that I am making progress. I have taken the challenge to really learn about the word of God. I feel that I am being called to continue this work and to go further and to learn how to preach the word of God to those that really need to hear it.

I feel that the truth we know is the only way to God. we need to live by the word and the word is LOVE. We as humans need to have open hearts in order to know what the purpose of our life is. God is unable to come through a closed heart.

As individuals, Jesus looks after us and loves us unconditionally. he has told us on a number of occasions that we just have to ask for something through him with love and faith and it will come to us. he is willing to intercede for us to the Father. We need to collectively, pray and show our love as a church. He is there to bless us and shower us with grace. He will love us even with our faults and he will help to guide us and to make us one with him.

As a husband takes care of his wife's needs, he is really taking care of his own. When he provides a good home, food, this is not only for her but for him. If he makes his wife happy, she in turn will take care of him the same way. When a man and woman marry, they become one. They become joined in a union that is blessed by God. And this is the meaning behind Genesis 2:24.

No you do not get to boss your wife around. You are to guide and protect her and be willing to sacrifice your life for her. The husband is to be the provider for the family. The husband is to follow the example of Jesus as he worked to teach the church., take care of her, and eventually died so that she can be safe.

The husband is to be the head of the family just as Christ is the head of the church. This does not mean that the wife is to be his slave or not to have a voice in the running of the family. The wife is not to blindly follow a man that does not keep within the path of God. She has her own conscious and her own soul to protect. The wife must follow her first love that would be God and Jesus.

In the time of Jesus, young men would learn how to be a rabbi by training under another one. The information was passed down from one to another. Jesus, however, came from the Father and knew all that the Father wanted him to know. And Jesus passed this knowledge off to his disciples. When we go to formal training, we are guided to learn to ask questions and to discern what the bible says in answers. We are also taught to hear and to obey the voice of the spirit within us. We have someone who can teach us to look for the answers to those questions of life that burn in our souls.

Jesus knew that it was not his time to die. He needed to finish the tasks that the Father had sent him to do. He also knew the hearts and minds of those that wanted him dead. He knew that they had their own agenda and were not working on God's purposes. We cannot act foolishly with our lives. Yes, God will protect us, but we need to be proactive as well. We must remember that our being careless is not what God has in mind for us. We are a temple for God. We need to protect that temple.

The implications that we belong to God, is that we no longer live for our self fulfillment but to live for God and his purposes. We are his creation and he wants us to live holy and spiritual lives. If we do not believe this, we are opening ourselves up for sin and eternal damnation.

When we are able to take Jesus as our personal savior, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit connects us to Jesus and God. The bible also states that we are the body of Christ here on earth. We are to continue his mission to bring salvation to all the corners of the world. Since we are the body of Christ, our actions affect how others will see Christ. They will judge the whole Christian family by our actions. If we commit a sexual sin, we are actually causing sin to occur within the whole body of Christ. The implications go way beyond us in this action. With regard to our ministries, we can always say that we are never alone. We do not have to work by ourselves. We can ask other members of the body for help and for prayers. They are there to accomplish the same task.

The bible is the gateway to the salvation of all mankind. The gospel teaches people that once they accept Jesus as the son of God their sins are forgiven. They must pray to God and ask for forgiveness of their past and start to live anew in the grace of God. They just need to repent. They need to ask God for all kinds of help. They need to be able to show remorse for all they had done. And then they need to be able to forgive themselves and allow the grace of God to fill them with a new purpose.