5 of my favorites. Each word is broken down for deeper meaning. I have slept, fasted, cried, illustrated and mediated heavily on these words since 2019. Thanks be to God!
https://youtube.com/shorts/nkbE2o_CUBw?si=LiuwdlUGxiOBZx4K
Living Water
John 4:10-14: During his conversation with the woman at the well, Jesus offers “living water” that becomes a spring “welling up to eternal life,” ensuring the drinker will never thirst again.John 7:37-39: Jesus clarifies that “living water” refers to the Holy Spirit, which those who believe in him would later receive.Revelation 7:17: Describes the Lamb as a shepherd who guides his people to “springs of living water” where God wipes away every tear.Revelation 22:1: Mentions the “river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb”.Old Testament FoundationsJeremiah 2:13: God rebukes His people for forsaking Him, calling Himself the “fountain of living water,” and for trying to dig their own “broken cisterns” that cannot hold water.Jeremiah 17:13: Reiterates that those who turn away from the Lord abandon the “fountain of living water”.Zechariah 14:8: Prophesies that “living water will flow out from Jerusalem,” half toward the eastern sea and half toward the western sea.Ezekiel 47:1-12: A vision of water flowing from the temple that brings life and healing wherever it goes.For more context on these passages, you can explore the Bible Gateway collection of “living water” scriptures or the OpenBible topical guide.
Redeemer Kinsman
Ruth 3:1-18 (MSG):1. One day her mother-in-law Naomi said to Ruth, “My dear daughter, isn’t it about time I arranged a good home for you so you can have a happy life?
2. And isn’t Boaz our close relative, the one with whose young women you’ve been working? Maybe it’s time to make our move. Tonight is the night of Boaz’s barley harvest at the threshing floor.
3. “Take a bath. Put on some perfume. Get all dressed up and go to the threshing floor. But don’t let him know you’re there until the party is well under way and he’s had plenty of food and drink.
4. When you see him slipping off to sleep, watch where he lies down and then go there. Lie at his feet to let him know that you are available to him for marriage. Then wait and see what he says. He’ll tell you what to do.”
5. Ruth said, “If you say so, I’ll do it, just as you’ve told me.”
6. She went down to the threshing floor and put her mother-in-law’s plan into action.
7. Boaz had a good time, eating and drinking his fill—he felt great. Then he went off to get some sleep, lying down at the end of a stack of barley. Ruth quietly followed; she lay down to signal her availability for marriage.
8. In the middle of the night the man was suddenly startled and sat up. Surprise! This woman asleep at his feet!
9. He said, “And who are you?”
She said, “I am Ruth, your maiden; take me under your protecting wing. You’re my close relative, you know, in the circle of covenant redeemers—you do have the right to marry me.”
10. He said, “God bless you, my dear daughter! What a splendid expression of love! And when you could have had your pick of any of the young men around.
11. And now, my dear daughter, don’t you worry about a thing; I’ll do all you could want or ask. Everybody in town knows what a courageous woman you are—a real prize!
12. You’re right, I am a close relative to you, but there is one even closer than I am.
13. So stay the rest of the night. In the morning, if he wants to exercise his customary rights and responsibilities as the closest covenant redeemer, he’ll have his chance; but if he isn’t interested, as God lives, I’ll do it. Now go back to sleep until morning.”
14. Ruth slept at his feet until dawn, but she got up while it was still dark and wouldn’t be recognized. Then Boaz said to himself, “No one must know that Ruth came to the threshing floor.”
15. So Boaz said, “Bring the shawl you’re wearing and spread it out.”
She spread it out and he poured it full of barley, six measures, and put it on her shoulders. Then she went back to town.
16. When she came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “And how did things go, my dear daughter?”
17. Ruth told her everything that the man had done for her, adding, “And he gave me all this barley besides—six quarts! He told me, ‘You can’t go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law!’ “Ruth 3:18 (MSG):
Naomi said, “Sit back and relax, my dear daughter, until we find out how things turn out; that man isn’t going to fool around. Mark my words, he’s going to get everything wrapped up today.”
Rise up
Isaiah 60:1, which calls for action and hope: “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.”
Micah 7:8: “Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.”
Proverbs 24:16: “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”
Psalm 3:3: “But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.”
Ephesians 5:14: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
“Psalm 40:2: “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.”
Mother
Matthew 12:45-50 (MSG):
45. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse off than if he’d never gotten cleaned up in the first place.
“That’s what this generation is like: You may think you have cleaned out the junk from your lives and gotten ready for God, but you weren’t hospitable to my kingdom message, and now all the devils are moving back in.”
46. While he was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers showed up. They were outside trying to get a message to him.
47. Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are out here, wanting to speak with you.”
48. Jesus didn’t respond directly, but said, “Who do you think my mother and brothers are?”
49. He then stretched out his hand toward his disciples. “Look closely. These are my mother and brothers.
50. Obedience is thicker than blood. The person who obeys my heavenly Father’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Gift
James 1:2-3, 17-21 (MSG):
2. Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.
3. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.
17. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle.
18. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.
19. Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear.
20. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger.
21. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life.
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