Spiritual Ponderings

In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18) This verse came to me this morning as I was actually practicing it before I got out of bed. As I intentionally was thanking God for various specific people and blessings I couldn't help but notice its powerful effect on my spirit. I felt relief, stimulated, increasingly positive and less stressed. My perspective was quickly changing about my problems and I knew that this is exactly why God has told us to practice this most important virtue. But when this verse came to mind as a reinforcement for what I was doing, a question came up in my ever-inquiring mind. Just exactly what does the word thanks really mean? I am no longer satisfied to just live with the accepted, assumed meanings of most words anymore, especially since I have discovered upon closer examination that a great many of them actually have very different meanings and connotations than what is generally believed. S...

"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7:38) "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock , and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, " Is the LORD among us, or not? " (Exodus 17:6-7) "Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink." (Numbers 20:8) There is so much here that there is no way that I can begin to unpack what I am starting to see. But what really grabbed my attention today was the strong link between these ver...