Atrophying? Exercise.

Being that we learn daily, a couple of days ago I learned a new word: atrophy.

Atrophy is the wasting away of something through disuse. A muscle that is not exercised weakens. A skill that is not practiced diminishes. Nothing stays static. Growth demands stewardship 

Think about this proverb; Iron sharpens iron and during sharpening three things happen ,

✨Friction is involved.

✨Pressure is involved.

✨Sometimes sparks are involved

Yet the purpose is not damage but improvement.

If a blade is not sharpened it will overtime become dull and rusty .

Hebrews 5:14

"But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."

When we break that down ,we see that ;

✨Strong meat — requires ability to 'chew' and that is capacity 

✨Full age — speaks of maturity.

✨By reason of use have their senses exercised to discern — speaks of stewardship.

The transition from milk to meat is not because you have outgrown milk. Rather, milk has accomplished its purpose: it has formed in you what is necessary to support the eating of meat. It has brought you to a place where you now possess the capacity to handle deeper things because you have come of age in the knowledge of Christ.

But maturity is not the destination ,it forms in us a steward.

The writer of Hebrews does not say they discern because they heard, studied, or memorized. He says they discern by reason of use. What they received, they practiced. What they learned, they exercised the more they exercised the more they discerned what was good and what was evil .

And that is where many things either grow or atrophy.

Truth unused becomes truth forgotten. Discernment unused becomes discernment dulled. 

Maturity forms a steward in us and in stewardship it's required that we be found faithful.

The things God gives us are not merely to be possessed; they are to be exercised and the more the we exercise,the more we keep Atrophy at bay

 DailyWell- Peace 

THE WHALE FALL

Ever heard of the whale fall? 

No? 

Here is what it is ;

When a whale dies and sinks to the ocean floor, it becomes what scientists call a whale fall and what unfolds is extraordinary. The carcass sustains entire ecosystems in stages, sometimes over decades.

The whale in death is said to give more life than it ever did in life.It sustains more species in its death for extended period of time .

I was busy loving marine biology guys but Jesus is Lord of all I ended up seeing the Light of His Person through this fishy story of death and life 🤣🤣 anyway it's through Him that all things were made including the whale and the strange math of multiplication through death.

John 12:24:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

Jesus said a grain of wheat, but I'm here using the whale logic ; that dying is not the end of giving of life, it is the beginning of a different, wider kind of giving of life.

As the only begotten of the Father,He chose to be the Seed that Fell to the ground that he would bring many sons to glory. 

Through His death ,many have been begotten of the father, that though death ordinarily ends a life,His birthed many lives. 

Though death should have brought sorrow,His was one that gave God pleasure because His purpose for man would be fulfilled.

Though His death had brought mockery to Him as 'King of the Jews' His resurrection was evidence of His kingship as Lord of all .

His death was a wonder because it was through it that we have come to the NEWNESS OF LIFE, I am the fruit of His 'fall'.

I am born of God.

Many love the prayer of Jabez but I say consider the prayer in John 17 ,it is solid. His hour to be glorified has come, and the prayer He makes for His disciples is this: "The glory You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one, just as We are one." (John 17:22)

This is where the grain of wheat was always headed. 

Much fruit was not just in numbers , it was about union. He bore fruit after His kind, that we would be brought into the very oneness He shares with the Father.

"He who is joined to the Lord is one — one 🥺 spirit with Him." (1 Corinthians 6:17)

Now you see being told 'life is spiritual' is not a far fetched truth , you are born of the the spirit and that which is born of the spirit is spirit .

You've been raised to life through His life .

DailyWell-Peace ✨

BETTER

I love it when I'm reading Scripture and one word sticks.

Not because I am looking for it but it keeps just popping in other scriptures until I pay attention 😀

Yesterday that word was; better.

 Better doesn't just mean nice or improved, it means what is now present is of greater worth, greater value, greater quality than what was there before. Better assumes something came first. And something else later surpassed it.

Several scriptures popped but these three stayed with me;

✨ It is better to live on the corner of a rooftop than with a quarrelsome wife. — Proverbs 21:9

✨ The end of a matter is better than its beginning. — Ecclesiastes 7:8

✨ Christ has become the guarantor of a better covenant, established on better promises. — Hebrews 7:22

The groom in Proverbs chose the rooftop. That corner of the house that is exposed and uncomfortable. But he stayed. He didn't pack his things and walk out completely he just moved to where the peace was and waited.

His was the kind of love that doesn't leave. The kind that watches from a distance and keeps coming back. Because every time he drew near, something in her softened. Maybe she didn't even notice it. But he did. He kept pursuing because he could already see what peace between them looked like and he wanted that .

That's the groom on the rooftop, patient, persistent, pursuing.

And then; the end of a matter is better than its beginning.

We know what "It is finished" sounds like. We've read it,sang it so many times.

But that moment on the cross was the end of a very long matter. A matter that started in a garden where God walked with man in the cool of the day and then sin entered and the walking stopped.

But God never stopped watching for His beloved .

With every covenant, every prophet, every sacrifice it was all Him staying on the rooftop. Drawing near,waiting for the moment He could say DONE. 

The end was always going to be better. He planned it that way.

Which brings us to the better covenant. Established on better promises.

Not just revised promises. Better ones. The old covenant said you keep yourself right before God. And we couldn't. 

So Christ became the guarantor of the New covenant. 

Which means He didn't just sign off on the promise , He is the promise. He absorbed everything,every contention ,every 'quarrelsomeness' that stood between us and the Father and said, I've got this. She can come in.

And the better promises? Peace in the house again.😀 Now I have Pece with God , I have Communion with the Him. Everything the Groom always wanted His bride to walk in finally coming to a fruitful end..

Here's what I kept seeing across all three;

Better always required staying through discomfort and even pain .

The groom stayed on the rooftop, in pursuit, the preacher in Ecclesiastes stayed through the whole matter until the end proved itself better than he imagined at the start. And Christ He stayed through Gethsemane, through the cross, through the silence until that resurrection morning became the loudest proof that the end of a matter is better than its beginning.

 In Christ we have something better than what Adam lost. We have a covenant that can not be broken because its guarantor cannot fail.

Song of Solomon 2:16

My beloved is mine, and I am His.

✨ In Christ ✨

SERVICE AND SONSHIP

Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.

So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. 

Pharaoh had a will to actually release the people and he severally  denied the people freedom and the people had will to respond to that freedom by serving /worshiping God .

The Freedom from Egypt wasn't the end goal ,it was the doorway to worship .

God didn't just say "let my people go" — he said "let my people go so they can serve me." The exodus was instrumental to something else.

Different versions use the word serve/worship interchangeably ,meaning they carry a similarity .

Paul talks severally of being a servant of Christ , not in the capacity of one who don't belong but from the place of being a son that now it gives him pleasure to serve or submit to the king willfully.

Service must be from the place of liberty and Galatians 5;1 reminds us to stand therefore on that freedom wherewith We've been made free.

Service under Pharaoh was extraction without consent ; labor /service demanded from those who had no say. 

Service to God post-exodus is something else entirely: invitation not coercion; relationship not just relief .

 Same word, "serve" has different standings ,One is bondage. The other is worship.

Paul's writing to the Phillipians says "let this mind be in you that was in Christ " to let is to permit , to allow , to grant access.

The expression of the mind of Christ in man works when you let it .

Christ doesn't force his mind on you, he makes it available, accessible and you permit it to function through you. The sense of allowing access rather than commanding compliance.

God doesn't just liberate people from something , He liberates them into the capacity to choose Him. And that choosing, repeated is service. The freedom isn't the destination; it's what makes the destination beautiful and worthwhile.

Slavery in Egypt couldn't produce worshippers, no matter how loud the cries. Only free sons can offer worship .

Abraham left behind servants and went with the son to worship because with Isaac being free to access anything the father had made it beautiful

interesting to note how Paul teaches on Sonship and then calls himself a bondservant, because sonship and service are not opposites. In the kingdom, sons serve because they love the Father.

Service has the privilege of belonging rather than the burden of being tasked to . 

Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours (Luke 15:31).

The father to his elder son here was implying his presence and possession were at the sons disposal ,but the son was serving to attack. what was already his.

✨

THE JOURNEY || FATHERHOOD

The Sequel No one Ordered ,Episode 3 🤣

Meditation did it again so let's wheel it.

I found a story,a story of a father and son .

One that got me hooked .

So , have a seat .

We know Abraham right , okay who doesn't know the father of faith? 

 The guy has a great name and as scripture says , a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches. 

So Abrams dad ,Terah packs up his family and they leave Ur of Chaldeans headed to Canaan. Canaan was the destination.

During their transit, they get to a city called Haran,instead of going through it , Terah settled his family there . 

You can call this "settling for less " If you like 🤣🤣 because technically the family didn't get to the intended destination. 

Then later God calls Abram to complete the journey ."We are for completing the Journey "wasn't introduced by our former president I say 🤣

Okay ,let's slow down on Terah and take note on a few things ;

✨ He had gone through the loss of a child 

✨He moved into a new locality which was unfamiliar 

✨He gave up on his mission /vision halfway through the journey 

I kept wondering ;

Did Abram ever look back to see that the journey to Canaan was actually began by the dad? 

It seems as if the dad had divine insight when it came to Abrams life and purpose, so he set him on a journey closer to the " promised land ".

Did Abraham ever wonder why the dad stopped halfway? 

Well , We don't know since that's not recorded for our reading but what that shows is that fathers are human .

Sometimes they'll be grieving the loss of one son while having to pave way and position the living son to fulfil purpose.

Sometimes they'll not finish the journey as they navigate through unfamiliar territories with little understanding.

Yes ,we pray the Lord leads them because they are His sons .

Most of us judge our fathers /men too harshly,let's be compassionate.

Sometimes a father will begin the journey and a son will finish it . 

The inheritance he lives behind may not be in property,it maybe wrapped in knowledge, wisdom and network 

Honour the father who got you to Haran.

He may not have delivered the promised land to you but he set you on a good path to get there .

🟢To the father/man in Ur of Chaldeans just making the move ,keep moving 

🟢To the father/man stuck in haran because life happened and things caved in on you , there's light in you and those with you .

🟢To the father/man who's picked up the pieces and and is headed to Canaan , prosper in your land of promise .

🟢To the father/man in Canaan you can testify of God's faithfulness 

Grace.

TRAIN || ||FATHERHOOD

Another unplanned sequel 🤣🤣It's meditation, let's blame meditation 😀Yesterday we did Ephesians 6:1-3 and in essence established obedience is the foundation on Which honour blooms .Today we take a look at verses 4Ephesians 6:4And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. I love how God was specific in speaking to fathers here , not to exasperate their children to anger , ofcourse I wanted to know why he said it to fathers only 🤣🤣 and Collosians said that if fathers embitter their children they become discouraged.Discouragement is like a quiet injury,it doesn't bleed loudly it just makes the child to slowly stop reaching .The Role of a father is to TRAIN in the Instruction of the Lord .

To train is an intentional engagement. By training , a father is simply curating a path for the child . He is not just correcting behaviour,he is shaping character and cultivating wisdom for purpose in the child .A father doesn't just use an imaginary method to train , He follows a pattern , the instruction of the Lord .God has given the father Divine insight to steward what's he has been put in charge of .While exasperation would bring discouragement, training prepares a child for to prosper and bloom in their inheritance.The expression of a wise man leaving an inheritance for His children and His children's children is not only  scripture to fill up the Bible  but a statement to tell a son/daughter  that the father/father figure has the ability to lay a foundation that generations  after Him can build on.That is legacy . Training is therefore not simply about discipline; it is about preparation. It is the daily deposit of wisdom, correction, instruction, example, and love that equips a child to walk confidently in God's purpose..A trained child , though he strays hell come back to his senses .

OBEDIENCE || FATHERHOOD

✨ Happy NewMonth ✨Being the fathers day month,we must learn a thing about the Father.But for our understanding of His person let's begin here 👇👇This looks like an intentional sequence Ephesians 6:1-3🤎Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.🤎“Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise:🤎that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.As a parent , I have absolutes in my house . Things that are are not subject to discussion with my son , I am slowly learning why God makes it that way . Because obedience forms a child . However ,am sure by the time he turns 20 or 30 he will have grown enough to decided whether to do what am saying or not . Children ought to obey because they are children , inexperienced and without much knowledge so it's expected of them to follow the instructions of a parent .Obedience is better than sacrifice yes and in obeying something is quietly being built, foundationally.Obedience is basically following instructions to the letter and this teaches us to develop an attentive ear,to incline to God's saying.Before they follow a shepherd ,sheep always hear his voice As a child , obedience is the foundation upon which honour is built .Where there's obedience,honour will thrive with ease .Honour has a lot to do with maturity. A transition from milk to meat.. if you skip milk , meat will choke you😀😀Honour means you have grown in Sonship so much to understand and also choose to do what's expected of you.Not because you were told but because you know ,you know what to do and you do it circumstances notwithstanding.Also, noticed how honour ties up a promise of your well being to itself? Why? Well,because as long as you remain a child there are responsibilities that won't be given and lack of responsibilities means there are places you wont go. Even God sent a Son and He was sure, through Him His pleasure will prosper . IT PLEASES YOUR FATHER to give you the kingdom.Dont be the heir who remains a child .Let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. 

(Heb 6:1)Obedience forms the child. Honour reveals the son. Sonship positions us for inheritance, inheritance guarantees our well being and longevity if our life#GoodFathe