Isaiah 43:1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. Isaiah 43:2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Here we see father God proclaiming an immutable statement about Jacob and Israel, both are his two names. Jacob means supplanter, it refers to governments or rulers which means to trip up or overthrow, this is exactly what he did to his brother Esau. The Second name is Israel which

Jude 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Angels were one of God’s creations, roughly one-third of the angels rebelled against God and were cast out of heaven. It’s uncertain for sure, but the angels above left their first estate. It is my belief that these were the angels from the book of Genesis 6: 1-5 these particular angels some 200 in all left their angelic state and became human. Genesis informs us that they saw that the daughters of men were fair, and took whomever they wanted for wives, the children that came forth became giants and men of renown, well known fo

Galatians 6:17 From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. I think at this point the Apostle Paul has had enough. Jewish teachers, known as Judiazers were following Paul, he would establish a church and build them up with sound doctrine of the New Covenant in Jesus Christ then, Jewish teachers would show up and try to legalize everyone. They would teach that you had to be circumcised and you had to follow the teachings of Moses in order to be a good Christian, sadly they were wrong. Paul is so fed-up with this legalism that he lays all the law out in this one important verse: Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, in this; Thou

II Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Blessed be God, Blessed, in this context means: adorable; or easier to read this way, Adorable be our God, also the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion, and the God of all comfort. I think the hidden gem is that the Holy Spirit is also known as the Comforter, this would imply that God Himself directs the Holy Spirit concerning your distress. He comforts us in all our tribulations o

Hebrews 3:1 For this reason, holy brothers, called to be partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus. I have spent years in sales and attended many sales classes. In sales, you’re taught the difference between an open-ended question and a close-ended question. With open-ended questions you never really know the outcome of the potential answer from a client, there’s more than you know. With closed-ended questions, you’re getting a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ type answer. To me this verse is not closed, it’s open-ended, thus giving it more than one meaning. Jesus is the High Priest of our confession as found in: Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess

Acts 27:14 But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called: Eu-roc’ ly-don. This is from the Apostle Paul’s journey, in some way a journey that he chose. At this point, he has been in prison for more than two years then sentenced to sail to Rome for trial. He was placed under the command of a Roman Centurion named Julius. I’m sure you’re familiar with the phrase, ‘Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse.’ Well, it got worse, with a strong easterly wind that wrecked the ship. But before they set sail Paul withstood them, telling them that this was going to happen. In our lives many times the Holy Spirit will try and warn you not to do something and we do it anyway t

Genesis 18:17 And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? Of course, this is the famous tent meeting between Abraham and God. God and two of his angels appeared before Abraham, maybe one was Jesus preincarnate? Some say it was three angels, but the text clearly uses the title LORD in all caps which translates from the Hebrew word Yehovah which means God and indicates that this is the Father God personally. Why is this important? Because Abraham has become a friend of God, and friends influence friends. God informs Abraham that He is going personally to see for Himself the evil of Sodom & Gomorrah, vs. 21: I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether a

II Samuel 5:18-20 The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand. And David came to Baalperazim, and David smote them there, and said, The LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baalperazim. David has just been anointed as king over Israel, and immediately the enemy sets up an attack. You ever notice that you can achieve something in life and immediately there’s a new obstacle i

II Corinthians 6:4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, The first word in this sentence is: But, in this context, it means: contrast, strikingly different, opposing one another. And with this one-word Paul is opposing the verse before: II Corinthians 6:3 Giving no offense in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: Not giving offense in the ministry, a thing that is judged to be an insult or go against your moral standards in the ministry. But here is the paradox, we approve ourselves. Have you ever made a mistake, and no-one knew, but you beat yourself up over it time and time again? I have, this