Month: September 2024

“Blessed are those who find wisdom, and those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.”  Proverbs 3:13-15 (NIV)

I ran across this verse of scripture after a very strange dream I had last Saturday night. Dreams don’t always make sense, or leave us with a special meaning. In fact, I hardly ever remember what I dreamed, but once in a while, a dream stays with me  and leaves me with a message or a meaning to meditate on.

I dreamed I was talking with some new people in a church. It became late and everyone said goodbye and one lady named Sophia, looked at her watch and it was 11:30 pm. I am never awake at that hour, and I remember looking at her watch and being surprised at the time. We headed out the door together, but the weird thing is that we were both walking home, not driving. She mentioned where she lived, which was in my neighborhood, so we decided to walk home together. 

It was very dark outside, and we had to walk in the street since there was no sidewalk. I looked down at my clothing, which was also dark in color and thought of the danger as cars were driving past us on the dark street. Then I looked at Sophia’s clothes and they were very bright and lit up. As we walked, I felt safe with Sophia walking by my side. She lit up the path as we walked down the dark street.

She disappeared briefly as we passed some tall bushes, so I called out to her, “Sophia, where are you?” She answered me and reappeared, coming out from behind the tall bushes. I was relieved to hear her answer me, and then we continued to walk on the lighted path.

Before we ever arrived home, I woke up from the dream, and wondered what it could all mean, since all the details remained in my mind. That’s when I came across the beautiful scripture in Proverbs today. I know that the name Sophia in Greek translates to “Wisdom.” I wondered if Sophia in my dream, was a symbol or representation of God’s wisdom. 

Walking in the dark feels like a lot of the experiences we go through in life. We encounter unexpected difficulties and some trials can make us feel like we are lost, trying to find our way on a dark street, all the while feeling vulnerable to danger. We may have no idea which way to go or what to do, and we desperately need direction. We need God’s wisdom to come and light our path.

In the book of Proverbs, wisdom is a woman, and referred to as “she” or “her” throughout the whole book. Christian and Jewish theologians agree that wisdom is personified as a lady in the book of Proverbs. The Hebrew word for wisdom, “Khachmah” is even a grammatically feminine word. It convinced me that Sophia, the woman in my dream, was a symbol representing God’s wisdom.

God wants us to seek His wisdom in every difficulty we face. It’s the most valuable of spiritual gifts because wisdom gives us strength and understanding, long before our prayers for deliverance or healing are ever answered. Wisdom changes our perspective of things, and builds up our faith, which leads to peace. That’s why Solomon spoke about wisdom as an investment, saying that wisdom yields a better return than gold, and is more profitable than silver. 

I am pretty quick to ask God to remove a problem, but I am learning that He wants me to first ask for His wisdom regarding that problem. Asking for wisdom is not usually the first thing I think to ask for, but when I do ask for it, God gives it, and I realize I should have asked for it a long time ago. I recognize now, that Sophia in my dream, was reminding me to seek first His wisdom so that I can walk in the light each day. 

When I lost sight of Sophia in the dream, I called her and she answered and reappeared from behind the tall bushes, and then we walked on together. Those tall bushes are like the problems that distract or blind us from God’s wisdom during times of distress or trouble. Instead of letting anger or fear take over in the moment, if we ask for wisdom, God gives it to us, and lights up our path. 

When I encounter any challenge, or people who are difficult to deal with, 

I think God wants me to first ask for His wisdom to understand things and people better. David understood this, when he said, 

“Your commands are always with me

 and make me wiser than my enemies.” (Psalm 119:98)

 God’s wisdom makes us wiser than what our emotions dictate to us.

Walking in the light of God’s wisdom, means seeing His perspective in every problem. If we ask Him, He will give us wisdom in every challenge and difficulty that we face, which leads to peace.

When we left the church to start walking home, in the dream, Sophia looked at her watch and it was 11:30 at night. In that part of the dream, God was telling me to live like it’s always the 11th hour, as if the day is almost done. It reminds me of Paul’s words to the Romans,

“The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Romans 13:12)

No one knows the day or the hour of Jesus’ second coming, but if we pray for wisdom, and wear His armor of light, through all the trials in our lives, He will guide our path until He comes again. Nothing is needed more in the 11th hour than to seek God’s wisdom. 

I woke up before ever reaching my home in that dream, probably because wisdom is meant to strengthen our faith and guide us in the present, before we reach our final destination in Heaven. 

Lord, give us the wisdom to see your perspective in all the situations of our lives. Let us walk in the armor of your light, and lead us to the peace that passes all understanding. Amen

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

2 Timothy 4:7-8 (RSV)

Paul wrote this in a letter to Timothy, who was like a son to him. It was his last letter written from prison, before he was martyred. He writes about fighting the good fight, keeping his faith to the end, about crowns and awards for all who love to see the appearance of Christ on that day. 

It’s all beautiful to meditate on, but we can get the impression that Jesus is far away from us, living in a far off kingdom of heaven. 

It’s easy to think that way, while we function in a very material world all around us, but the kingdom of heaven is also all around us. Jesus lives within His people and works through His people, who are among us. He is doing His will here on earth, according to His will in heaven, each time we pray, “Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”

God sends us heroes of the faith, through the church or through those who lived before us, and left their inspiration by example. The heroes of the faith might be our own parent or a grandparent, a minister or the saints who lived and died for Christ, centuries ago. It might be those who wrote sacred scripture under the Spirit’s inspiration, which builds up our faith to this day. These heroes of the faith deserve to be honored, and Paul, the apostle, was just one of them. 

Historians tell us that Paul traveled 10,000 miles over his lifetime, and preached for a period of 30 years, while he wrote 14 out of the 27 books which compose the New Testament. That’s a lot of miles, a lot of writing and a lot of the kingdom of heaven brought to earth, through one man, for the glory of God.

A film was made in 2018 about the life of Apostle Paul. It was filmed on the island of Malta, and starred James Faulkner as Paul and Jim Caviezel as Luke, his companion. The movie is called “Paul, Apostle of Christ”.  Seeing this movie was like unwrapping a gift. It shed so much truth on how valuable Paul was to the early church at that particular time in history. 

The movie merged church history and scripture with some fiction, in order to tell the story of Paul’s life. One of the fictional aspects in the film, was of Paul having flashbacks to the days in his life when he was Saul, when he used to hate and persecute the church. 

He is reminded of an image of a little girl’s face, who he saw being martyred along with her family. This flashback continues through the film and builds up to a powerful ending later. 

The early church suffered under Nero, who hunted down and killed many Christians during Paul’s ministry, but character and virtue develop out of adversity, and the early church was a unified family, faithful to Christ even in the threat of imprisonment or death. The believers who survived Nero, worshipped in secret underground churches. 

Paul constantly preached love and forgiveness, leaving all vengeance to God only. Some believers left the church and formed a resistance group, becoming obsessed with fighting the oppressive Roman government. Paul tried to warn them that this was not the good fight that he wrote about. Hate breeds more hate, and Paul taught to “not be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good.”  (Romans 12:21)

He preached that to live is Christ, and to die is gain, so that whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Paul lived all that he preached, and the fruit of his ministry was how he encouraged others throughout his life, even through his letters from a jail cell. Jesus still brings the kingdom of heaven to earth, by living in the hearts of all believers today. 

He asks us to pray for one another, encourage one another and stay unified in Spirit by loving one another.

Paul died by martyrdom, shown at the end of the movie, and was instantly transferred to heaven, and welcomed by a large throng of believers who died before him. 

Suddenly, a happy little girl ran out from the heavenly crowd to greet him with open arms, and Paul lifts her up and hugs her. It’s the little girl from his many flashbacks, who was once martyred along with her family. 

The movie ends with the look of overwhelming joy on Paul’s face, surrounded by believers in heaven, as he turns around and sees Jesus standing before him.

We owe it to honor those throughout history who suffered for their faith, who led us by example, and fought the good fight of faith. We also owe it to uphold in prayer, all who are suffering for their faith today in other nations around the world.

Thank God for the heroes of the faith in the early church, like Paul, Peter, Luke and all other apostles and leaders. May we carry on their legacy of choosing to overcome evil with good, and fight the good fight of faith to the end.

Lord, thank you for the saintly examples you send to us, and for great leaders you have raised up in the church to spread the faith, and for sacred scripture, which inspires us to fight the good fight of faith, so that we may meet you, our victorious Savior in heaven one day. Amen 

“Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

 He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.”

Matthew 8:23-26

Sometimes I would prefer to be the one sleeping in the boat and let Jesus handle all the storms in my life, but He wants us to exercise our faith, which might be the whole reason that Jesus slept during that storm. He fully equipped his disciples with all that they needed to handle the storm. 

Right before the incident of the boat in the storm happened, Jesus met and praised a Roman centurion for his great faith. He was so pleased with the Centurion, who trusted Him to heal his paralyzed servant without coming to his house, just by saying the word. The Centurion was in the midst of his own personal storm, but he had faith in the presence of Jesus and spoke words of faith to Him, and his miracle happened. It was this example and message of faith, that led to what happened next.

Right after meeting that Centurion, Jesus and his disciples got into a boat together, where He fell sound asleep, just in time for a violent storm to shake up the boat. The whole scene sounds like a set up to me. 

I don’t think Jesus just happened to fall asleep while the storm just happened to rise up. Jesus wanted His disciples to use what he had been teaching them about great faith, and He equipped them to face the storm. He hoped they had learned from the Centurion to stand and speak in faith, knowing that Jesus was right there, with them on the boat.

He wanted them to have faith in His presence, even if He was asleep. Instead, they cried out that they were going to drown, and failed a test of faith. 

When something happens in our life that frightens us or stops us in our tracks, we probably need to remind ourselves that we are not alone. Jesus is in the boat with us, and He equipped us to face every storm in our lives. He knows we can handle the storm and He is with us even when He appears to be asleep. 

He wants us to stand on our faith and ask in His name. Trusting in His presence and speaking to the storm in His name brings us through our test of faith.

The Centurion believed in the presence and the word of Jesus, before He even went to the cross. 

We have His presence, His word, and the power of His blood. How much more can we do by faith in His shed blood, which has won the victory over any evil that comes against us?

Scripture says that we (all believers)

have conquered the enemy by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. 

(Revelation 12:11)

Different scripture versions state this verse using the words “triumphed, overcame, or conquered,” but every version uses the past tense of the word, because the victory has already been won at the cross.

Maybe Jesus wanted the disciples to withstand the test of faith, by praying against the storm, knowing that just having Him in their boat was enough. He wanted them to believe in the power of His presence, just as that Centurion did. He was so proud of the Centurion’s words of faith, and He wants His church to live with that same kind of faith and trust. 

We can trust His presence is with us through all of our storms, whether it feels like He is asleep or not. Jesus has equipped us with all we need to speak to our storms in His name, since He made us more than conquerors through His blood and the word of our testimony. 

I can just imagine Jesus in that boat, hoping to wake up and see that the disciples stood their test of faith, trusting in His presence and united in prayer together, speaking against the storm. He would rather praise people for their great faith than call them men of little faith. 

In all of our tests and trials, Jesus wants to reward our faith and say to His church, 

“Well done, your faith in Me is great!”

Lord, help us to please you by growing in the faith you have equipped us with, as we trust in your presence and your word, strengthen us to speak to and overcome every storm we face. Amen