WISDOM--THAT MASTERY FROM THE ALMIGHTY

I have always prayed for wisdom. I have always desired to be successful and generous. I have never been able to connect faith with wisdom and success in a way that felt genuine, Scriptural, and in accord with the Spirit of God however, until today.

There has been much prayer on this topic of "success" in my life and I have always known that wisdom was the intimate connection to it but I could never find that connection--I could never seem to clearly see the "why" of that connection, until I received it today. Boy was it a powerful summons, a calling to finally place into full-force the abilities and talents that I have been wired with. Powerful. And it gives me nothing but eager anticipation to make it come to pass, truly feeling, finally, that direct commissioning of God's Holy Spirit to actually be "sent" to accomplish this, for the benefit of all.

The key concept that connected "success" I have found is antithetical to the easy-gospel, prosperity preachers whose message is simply that "God desires everyone to be successful" which, as anyone with 5 seconds of Biblical education knows, is simply a euphemism for "Follow me and God will make you rich" which I have NEVER sat well with because I know it not to be a simple truth which applies to everyone. But, the glorious riches of Jesus Christ have been revealed today--that connecting link between faith and wisdom and success that falls into full accord with the Biblical message from front to back, it falls in line with the Gospel message, it falls in perfect accord with the message and example of Jesus Christ as he walked this earth and commissioned his people to do "greater things than these". That piece of wisdom is this--

 ** A Mastery of the Elements of the Earth **

My heart rose up in me when I heard this phrase. My volitional faculties emblazoned with unquenchable flame when I heard this phrase. My mind instantly set to work on the countless means through which I might accomplish this. Ohh, how my blood races within me to make it so. When I think of this phrase, the prophets of old come to mind--Abraham, Joseph, Job, when my mind settles to germinate this glorious seed of the tree of life, with full understanding and feeling abounding I know I am commissioned for this duty. 

I think of the Edenic period, when God commissioned Adam to go and "subdue and fill the earth" it was therein the angels rebelled. Cause the angels had be set in charge of those very elements of which the earth God had made. In essence, God was saying, "Go and rule over the angels of whom I have set forth to be your ministers." Was this not the essence of the enemy's pride? That he simply refused to serve a younger, less powerful being of God's creation? Was this not the reason so many of those in the heavens agreed with him to abandon their heavenly court and seek to subdue mankind? 

Indeed it was. This was why Christ had to come in human form: to redeem the original blessing of authority conferred upon the sons of men to have the earth as their very own. Christ, as Son of God had the immutable power and authority over which these fallen spirits could not prove the victors. But also Christ, as Son of man, brought back the authority proper to the dignity from which man had fallen--a mastery of the elements of the earth. This is wisdom, and hence, Christ also represented the embodiment of this wisdom, for there was nothing he did that he could not master, and there was nothing that could master him, even death itself. That was the true motivation for his miracles--just another demonstration of the mastery of the elements of the earth. His wisdom spoke into them an omnipotent movement against which neither land, nor sea, nor demon had the power or ability to resist. The Words of Christ represent the current, the outflow, of the Spirit in auditory form. An ability conferred onto those who accept the wisdom to master the elements of the earth, to subdue its thrashings, to hedge-in its wanderings, to restore the boundaries of the wisdom of God upon whatever be commanded.

Thank you God of heaven and earth, you have shown me the wisdom my heart can thrive in, can excel in permanently, can simply accept in the parameters of my faith in the Son of God, God of God, Jesus Christ. I set out for such as this, equip me, train me, and make me into that Son of God, Master of the Elements of the Earth which you have created me, nay, destined me to become. Amen.

I love the material I'm studying, but sometimes I really feel like I'm some kind of scholastic hermit. I learn all this wonderful material--conversation analysis, variation analysis, Markedness theory, studies in verbal aspect of the Greek NT, Speech Act theory, and many others--and I just feel that no one in the field of Biblical studies has any amount of appreciation for this type of material toward the NT because their agenda is to engrained and embedded within traditional scholarship on the issues.

I have to let out my growing disdain for theological studies of the NT when we are using that material to explain the NT Greek. That just has really grown to chafe my hide as I come to other approaches of linguistic study and find that many views are untenable according to the language of Scripture. At the same time, I can begin to see what the Apostle Paul talks about to Timothy that if he engrosses himself in the Scriptures then he will stay firmly established in the traditions that Paul taught him and trained in him to carry on to other generations.

I look forward to the days ahead, not knowing what they have in store, but a quiet confidence remains.

I watch the stories of those who succeed, and I see truly the words of Jesus are real: the greatest needs to be servant of all, OF ALL.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVLm9ZUCJns&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL84gvKWrEc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_P3Hrq7UMw

These people (mostly children) just want to offer their best. Those who are remembered the most, the most vividly, with the memories that remain the cherished above all, are those who simply offer what God has given them to serve the greatest amount or quantity of people as much as they can. Is this not the reason our children are becoming major stars on stage and screen? Is this not the words of Jesus coming to life in the lives of our children and communities? God is using the simplicity of a child's purity and uninhibited service-oriented performance for excellence to shame the self-centered, disgusting greed of their elders. Truly, this is the fulfillment of those who gave their talents to "the money changers" in order to reap the most interest of their talent back to God. I see these are intimately connected, service is the key.

Therein lies the key to life that so many have discovered, but so many more do not understand. Therein is the true open door for all to take that many will never understand. Therein is the true wisdom and protection of the Lord for everyone who offers their lives up to this cause: just simply give what you have back to humanity. Was that not the actions of Jesus himself? Was that not at the end of the day what all others have done in the past? The longstanding heretidge of the great people of the past? Nothing can bring a larger blessing than the offering of our talents, and that is the real issue--our TRUE talents. We can never hope to serve in a capacity that God has not blessed for us to do. We can never be someone or do something that is obviously not the way we are wired, the part of our very nature that has been set in place for the service that it was meant for, just as a tree is planted by God by the river to shade, and protect those near it, to feed and be fed from the river by which it was planted. So too, are we in the place where the Almighty has planted us.

In this, all He simply desires from us is to produce the fruit we were meant to create and to offer it to the world's people, so that they all might share in and enjoy, and spread the good fruit which he has designed us to make, and create, in service to all. That, coincidentally, is also the nature of sin--to disqualify us from the prize of this service, to waste our time, effort, resources, and talent on a worthless, serviceless, self-absorbed activity that has no lasting, growing, joyful fruit. Service to others with who and what we are is the true answer. Hence James challenges us with his poignant admonition: if you know the good you ought to do, and do not do it, you sin; from which the words and example of Jesus save us once again: I have not come to be served but to serve and to give my life. . . Amen Lord Jesus, come, and fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may live this unshakable wisdom you have predestined me to live, that all may share in the blessing!


Lord, I am ready now: let me serve; let me offer my life in the talents you have given for others' fruitfullness! Amen. 

My heart has simply been given over to deeper study of the Scriptures linguistically on a doctoral level. New and improved means of linguistic study are being revealed everyday. There seems no end to the level of understanding that can be gained in this regard: pragmatics, semantics, optalmics, sociolinguistics, rhetorics, the list goes on and on. I sense that God has for me now an intense time of study, prayer, and mental visualization to receive by faith the program that he has for me.

In this consideration, I have sought MacDiv, Dallas, 5 colleges in MA, Georgetown, Wisconson U., certainly Oxford, Edinborough, and many others. I feel lost in this regard. Therefore, I will move forward with my Chaplain career and wait on God's movement to direct me in the Holy Spirit.

My prayer is that I could move forward into the right program that would become the most productive for the talents that I am wired with that could put them to use and produce the best material in scholarship that I can offer and shake up the world with new insights the change the course of studying the Scriptures. I model after what EP Sanders has done with Pauline studies: exposing the tradition for what it is, a tradition, and getting back to the source itself to reveal to audiences the original intent of the author. I know I am meant for this. I just need the outlet. Linguistic studies of the NT Greek material is certainly shaking up the scholarship here at Regent U. Logos Digital Libraries are certainly making that exposure happen on a grandeur scale.