Hi Brian!

The word for this week is "wild". We find it in these verses:

Matthew 3:4 And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. KJV

Mark 1:6 And John was clothed with camel's hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey; KJV

These are both the Greek  word "agrios". Strong's Concordance says: wild as pertaining to the country, literally natural or figuratively fierce. Thayer's Greek Lexicon says: living or growing in the fields or the woods. Also fierce, untamed. Vine's Expository Dictionary says: (a) not domestic; (b) savage, fierce. The same Greek word is translated "raging" in Jude 13:

Jude 13 Raging waves of the sea, KJV

I have been sensing more and more lately that in these last days we are going to see the power and presence of God manifesting in ways that we may have never seen before! Not only that, but also our praises will be more intense. What comes to mind here is one of the Hillsong songs called "Might Sound Wild". One of the verses has these lines: 

And it might sound wild
But who on earth
Said our song should be tame

I have decided to keep myself ready for the unexpected and as long as Holy Spirit bears witness in my spirit, I am ready to get a little wild! So here is another Hillsong Worship song with a little bit of wild in it called "Bright as The Sun":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian!

The word for this week is "glorify". We'll be looking at these verses:

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. KJV

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. KJV

1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. KJV

These are all the Greek word "doxazo". Strong's Concordance says: to render or esteem glorious. Thayer's Greek Lexicon says: to think, to suppose, be of opinion, to praise, extol, magnify, celebrate, to honor, do honor to, hold in honor, to make glorious, adorn with lustre, clothe with splendor. to impart glory to something, to make renowned, to render illustrious, to exalt to a glorious rank or condition. 

We are to have this goal concerning our God and Rick Renner's Sparkling Gems From The Greek - Volume 2 explains even more.

The Glorifying Ministry of the Holy Spirit

He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. — John 16:14

Do you find the ability to express yourself in worship to God easy or difficult? Is it easy for you to lift your arms and audibly worship the Lord, or do you feel self-conscious and think about the possibility that people might be watching you? Do you hesitate to worship in the presence of others but find it easy to worship at home when no one is watching?

As Jesus prepared to depart from this world and sat in that upper room teaching His disciples about the Holy Spirit and His various roles, one of these roles He stressed that the Holy Spirit would carry out is the ministry of glorifying Jesus. Jesus said in John 16:14: “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.”

The word “glorify” is the Greek word doxadzo, which can be translated in a variety of ways depending on its context. It can be rendered to extol, to praise, to magnify, to worship, to give honor, to give adulation, or to express one’s fame or repute, and in John 16:14, it actually encompasses the full range of these meanings.

Thus, when Jesus said, “He [the Holy Spirit] shall glorify me…,” He expressly meant that the Holy Spirit’s role is to extol, magnify, glorify, and worship Him. In fact, one of the Holy Spirit’s chief roles is to give adulation and fame to Jesus — to glorify that name that is exalted above every other name (see Philippians 2:9). The Spirit of God doesn’t seek to draw attention to Himself in any way. Rather, He points everyone toward Jesus and leads us in rapturous worship of our exalted Savior.

Because the Holy Spirit is an invisible, non-material Spirit Being, He cannot glorify Jesus in the way the Lord desires without using someone as a vessel through which to work. By now, I’m sure you can guess that the vessel He chooses is the one in which He lives — you! How does the Holy Spirit fulfill His responsibility to glorify Jesus through you? He heals the sick, casts out demons, leads lost people to a saving knowledge of Jesus, and so on. However, one of the most effective, magnificent avenues through which He glorifies Jesus is in those moments when your heart is full, your hands are raised, and your whole being is caught up in worshiping Jesus the Lord.

By His very nature, the Holy Spirit is a Glorifier and a Worshiper, and when He is free to work in your life as a believer, it’s very obvious because you will glorify Jesus. If you will allow the Holy Spirit to be loosed inside your life, you will find yourself wanting to throw your hands in the air, move your feet, and lift your voice to Heaven with praise and worship — completely oblivious to who might be watching or judging you. The Holy Spirit seeks to glorify Jesus in every aspect of your life, including your conversations, your behavior, and your relationships. 

He wants your lips to be filled with Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

The Holy Spirit’s primary task is to reveal Jesus to you — and He’ll take you to Jesus on a level that you’ve never known before. He’s just waiting for you to surrender and to take the plunge into this spiritual experience. Believe me when I tell you that you’ll never be the same.

If you’ve had a hard time abandoning yourself in worship in the past, today is the day for you to begin. I urge you to take a moment right now and pray, “Holy Spirit, You are a Worshiper, so I yield to You. I ask You to help me remove all my inhibition as I do. I ask You not only to glorify Jesus in my behavior, my conversations, and my life, but right now in a time of worship, I ask You to glorify Jesus through me.”

If you prayed this prayer, just yield to the Holy Spirit and watch what He will do in you. Right now while no one is watching, lift your arms to Heaven and begin to express your thanks- giving to Jesus. Allow the Holy Spirit to fill you and take you into a realm of worship that you’ve never known before.

The Holy Spirit’s primary task is to reveal Jesus to you — and if you let Him, He’ll take you to Jesus on a level that you’ve never known before. He is there with you in this moment, and He’s just waiting for you to surrender and to take the plunge into this spiritual experience. The time and place for you to start is right now in the privacy of your own home. He’s waiting for you — so why not start today?

I LOVE this! It really is not a hard thing to do to glorify God! We just bring attention to all that He has done in our lives and share that Good News with others. We used to sing a song in our worship called "Shout Your Fame", which is just another way to glorify Him! Today we'll use Hillsong Worship's "I Will Praise You":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!

Hi Brian! 

 The word for this week is "Yeshua". This is one of the pronunciations of the Hebrew Name of Jesus. As we study this, I want to use Jonathan Cahn's "Book of Mysteries" to more accurately explain.

THE NAME IN WHICH YOU ARE

We were sitting in the sandy plain, in the same place where the teacher had in the past drawn symbols in the sand. But this time he handed me the stick and asked me to draw. So I did, slowly, as he directed. When I was finished, he told me what it was that I inscribed in the sand.

"Each of the symbols you drew," he said, "is a Hebrew letter. The first is the yud. The second is the shin. The third is the vav. And the last is the ayin. Do you recognize it?" he asked. "It's how the name Yeshua looks in Hebrew, which was then translated into 'Jesus.'"

"Yeshua", I replied, "Messiah's real name."

"Yes," said the teacher, "but think about it. He wasn't always Yeshua or Jesus."

"What do you mean?"

"Before the creation, the Son was with the Father and the Word was with God. He was the Son. And He was the Word. But He wasn't called Yeshua. In view of eternity, He has only borne the name Yeshua for a very short time. Why was it that He was given that name?"

"Because He was to save His people from their sins."

"Do you remember what Yeshua actually means"?

"God is salvation."

"Yes. So it wasn't His inherent name nor His Name from the beginning. In the beginning there was no sin, no darkness, no fall, no crisis, no brokenness, no judgment, no death, no need for salvation. For His Name to be Yeshua from the beginning would make no sense. Think about it. His Name is Yeshua because of us ... because of our need to be saved. So every time His Name is spoken, it proclaims His being joined to us. And He chose to bear that name forever. And do you know what else that name means? It means we're actually in His Name. It's the salvation of us that His Name is declaring. It's the salvation of you. His Name declares your salvation. You're in His Name. And when you receive Yeshua, when He becomes your salvation ... Then it's all complete."

"It's as if His Name is a prophecy ... a prophecy that comes true when you receive it."

"His Name is a mystery in which we are part. And when you receive the name, then the name is fulfilled. God becomes your salvation. And all who receive the name ... are already in it ... Yeshua."

The Mission: Ponder this mystery: You are in His Name. He was named for you. You are joined forever. Seek what that means. And live this day in that joinning.

I LOVE this! So many times when people pray using the Name of Jesus, it's almost like an exclamation point on a prayer, which isn't necessarily wrong or bad, but the importance of praying in His Name is to realize that WE are IN HIS NAME! We are part of His Body! He is the head and all the rest of us (born again believers) make up His entire body here on earth. Whatever belongs to the head belongs to the entire body. The Old Testament believers had faith in the Messiah Who was coming in the future. They prayed to the God in Heaven. WE pray through the God Who lives IN US! We are PART of HIM! We can't even begin to understand the magnitude of all that this TRUTH entails, but we CAN learn to walk with Wisdom in the light of the knowledge that we DO have! There never has been, nor ever will be again, the unique situation that WE are in! One minister shared that all through the ages to come, this glorious plan of our Father God will be spoken of with great awe! WE will be shown off as His great handiwork and His great plan in destroying the work of the enemy and in fooling him into giving up the hold that he had on mankind. 1 Corinthians 2:8:

None of the rulers of this age or world perceived and recognized and understood this, for if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory.

AMEN! What an exciting time to be living on this earth! As we pray God's Word over every situation, recognizing our right and authority to do so, IN HIS PLACE, IN HIS NAME, we will see HIS results! We used to sing a song a long time ago called "In The Name of Jesus". I like much better Hillsong's "Who You Say I Am"!

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys! 

Hi Brian!

What a great WIN! I can't wait for next week! For the blog this week I am going to do something a little different again! The word we will be looking at is "vagabond". It's found once in the New Testament in Acts 19:13:

13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. KJV

This is the Greek word "perierchomai". Strong's Concordance says: to come all around, i.e. stroll, vacillate, veer. We can gather that there was something very different about these Jews, who had no authority over evil spirits, as JESUS had shown! Rick Renner has a very good explanation of who these 'Jews' really were in his Sparkling Gems From The Greek - Volume 2. I am going to share that here for you!

A Father’s Bad Influence

Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure thee by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. — Acts 19:13,14

Today I want to talk to you about the spiritual role of fathers — and the immense impact they have upon the lives of their children. I want to use an example from Acts 19 to make the point, and I ask you to seriously consider the ramifications of what you are about to read. This is not a passage that is normally used to teach about the influential role of fathers, but it tells of a father who started out right but who went astray and, in doing so, led his seven sons astray with him.

Acts 19:13-17 relates this account:

Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure thee by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

Acts 19:13 specifically uses the word “exorcists” to describe the activity of Sceva and his seven sons. The word “exorcists” is derived from the Greek word exorkidzo, which depicts those who adjured, implored, and begged demon spirits to obey. With no real authority over the spirits, these exorcists resorted to their spells, charms, incantations, and magical names to try to coax evil spirits to cooperate with them.

Acts 19:14 goes on to tell us that the father of these seven sons was a man named Sceva. It says, “And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.”

 “Who was Sceva?” This man’s identity has been a subject of great debate among biblical scholars over the years. There is no record that a “chief of the priests” of the Jews ever lived in Ephesus. Hence, there are scholars who believe the Greek word used for “chief priest” indicates that Sceva was a renegade Jew who had backslidden from his Jewish roots and had become involved in the worship of Artemis at Ephesus. Therefore he was, or had been at some time, a chief priest in the worship of Artemis.

Making all of this even more interesting is the fact that the name “Sceva” isn’t a Jewish name. It is a Hellenized version of a Latin word that means left-handed — which in the vernacular of the First Century was slang that referred to someone who was untrustworthy, perverse, reprobate, a wretch, or a scoundrel. It is entirely possible that the name “Sceva” wasn’t even this man’s real name. It may have been a fictitious name inserted by Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, to express his opinion of this apostate Jew who converted to paganism and practiced it with his seven sons.

If these suggestions are true, the text would then convey the following idea: “And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew — a wretched, reprobate scoundrel who advertised himself as being great and who served as one of the high-ranking priests in the worship of Artemis — a man known for practicing pagan exorcism with his seven sons.”

With all this in mind, it seems likely that this Jewish man named Sceva converted to paganism and practiced occult rituals forbidden by the Old Testament — and then led his seven sons into the same practice. It is the perfect example of a man who has wandered away from the truth — and certainly a poor spiritual example of a father. Because of his own abandonment of the Word of God, this man led his sons right along with him into a backslidden spiritual condition — to the point that they even became involved in the activities of the occult.

When I meditate on this passage of Scripture, it always makes me want to pray for fathers in this critical hour. I pray that fathers will be spiritual leaders in their homes and will lead this next generation in the direction of a deep commitment to Christ and an authentic, intimate relationship with the Person and power of the Holy Spirit.

If you know a father who is leading his children astray by a wrong example, pray for him to change. God can change even the hardest heart. And if you are a father or mother of this next generation, make it a matter of serious prayer and determine to wake up to the awesome responsibility God has charged you with to lead and provide a godly influence for your children and the younger generations in your life. You have the potential of changing young lives as you lead others through your authentic and godly example.

If you are a father or mother, you are able to help teach your children to walk in obedience to Jesus and the Word of God. Let the example of Sceva stress again to you the incredible influence you have on your children. Then make a fresh commitment today to be a godly influence that leads your children in one direction only — on God’s good path that leads to life!

Rick has prayed for you (above) and we continue to pray for you, and for Kristine, as you have the awesome responsibility of raising four of God's beautiful princesses in the way that they should go! You have done such a tremendous job so far, and I believe that as you both continue in fellowship with God and His Word, you will be able to nurture these four precious and very unique beauties to find their very own God-given calling and place in life! And your promise is THIS from Proverbs 22:6:

6 Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it.

Amen to that! Here is Hillsong Worship with another new song from their "Awake" album called "From Whom All Blessings Flow":

Love and Shalom from the Swoveys!