The Parables 11/10-19/21

10-19 November 2021 - Manna from Dorothy & Tony Callies

Theme: Prophecy on Parables

 Psalm 78:2 “I will open my mouth in a parable …” This is from Old Testament King David, the prophet prophesied that ‘the future Messiah’ will tell lots of stories to the people. Parable means compared from earthly stories to heavenly stories.

             It happened already in the New Testament from Matthew 13:34-35 “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them: That it might be fulfilled (happened already) which was spoken by the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables …” In NCV, This is as the prophet said: “I will speak using stories …”

            Translate: Jesus told many, many parables. He wanted to show them what heaven was like so He compared earthly stories to heavenly stories. Jesus knew that people loves stories. Jesus knew that people would listen to the stories that are usually easier to remember to pass them on to others.

            Here is one example of Parables that I like very much to share. This kind of parable was used to compare what happened to God’s Word that was preached to four kinds of people and how they handle God’s Word who received them.

            The Parable of the Sower are four types of soil how the grounds respond to the seeds that are thrown to the grounds: Hard ground, stony ground, thorny ground, and good ground. Jesus compared the seeds that was thrown to the grounds are God’s Word that was being preached to the people who heard the words. People who heard the Word are like the ground. There are four types of people who received the Word of God.

            **Hard ground, the seeds were thrown on the ground, but the birds picked up the seeds.  This compare to a person who heard God’s Word preached to them, but soon they forget because the devil stole the seeds from their hearts.

            **Stony ground, the seeds were thrown into the ground, but it did not go deep enough. The seeds grew fast to become the stalks, and the sun burned it up. This compare to the person who heard God’s Word into their hearts with joy, but when they were persecuted and troubles came, they gave up easily because God’s Word did not take a deeper root in himself to become stronger.

            **Thorny ground, the seeds went into the ground and the plants grew, but the thorns also grew and choked out the plants. This compare to a person who heard God’s Word in their hearts, but the care of this world and being deceit to become wealthy, these choked the Word and he wasn’t successful spiritually.

            **Good ground, the seeds thrown into the grounds and it grew well and multiplied greatly. This compare to a person who received God’s Word into his heart, and understands it and his spiritually fruit grew and God blessed him greatly.

            Jesus used this parable to show us that people have a choice what to do with themselves when they heard God’s Word. Jesus gave us this parable to prove how important for us to study God’s Word into our hearts so our lives would be multiplied with God’s blessings. This parable of Sower enlightened my inner spirit that the Bible study is so very important to understand God’s Word that lead to our spiritual growth.

            The conclusion of Manna that O.T. prophesied on parables and introduced the N.T. fulfillment that Jesus gave many parables. There is a purpose in each parable that Jesus had given that applied to different situations. It means there’s an answer in each parable for us to find it by studying them. So what more could I say except God bless you?

 Dorothy

Crown of Thorns 11/9/21

 02-09 November 2021 – Manna by Dorothy & Tony Callies

Theme: Nine a.m. & 3 p.m. and Crown of Thorns

             “The Old Testament priests had two daily sacrifices, one in the morning at 9 a.m. and the other in the evening at 3 p.m. Jesus was crucified at 9 a.m., and He died at 3 p.m., thus fulfilling the type of both the morning and evening sacrifices. At the time of the evening sacrifice, all of God’s judgment had fallen on the body of Jesus. The floods of God’s judgment were ended by the sacrifice of Christ. (Written by Joseph Prince’s devotional books) 

            Dorothy: I was impressed with the Old Testament’s type of lambs sacrificed at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. as a daily reminder that Christ would be a sacrificed Lamb of God. John the Baptist quoted, “Behold the Lamb of God” and he must have known about the lamb sacrificed was a type of Christ as a Lamb of God. So I searched the Scriptures from NCV and it touched my heart to realize the Old Testament’s daily lambs sacrificed as a prediction of future Calvary of Christ. In the New Testament, it was fulfilled from reading the selective verses from NCV:

            Mark 15:25 “It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified Jesus.”  Matthew 27:45, 46a “At noon the whole country became dark, and the darkness lasted for three hours. About three o’clock Jesus cried out …” John 19:30 “… “It is finished.” Then He bowed his head and died.”

Song: A Crown of Thorns

A rugged cross, became His throne.

His kingdom was in hearts alone.

He wrote His love in crimson red,

And wore the thorns upon His head.

(Iran Stanphill, Melodies of Praise)

             Dorothy: To me that was the most powerful fulfillment in the New Testament when you know about the Old Testament daily sacrificed lambs that reminded the children of Israel about the coming of Christ. John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ and told two disciples, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” They followed Jesus and stayed with Him until Andrew realized who Jesus was. Andrew ran to find Peter and said, “We have found the Messiah!”

            The Samaritan woman at the well said, “I know that Messiah comes, which is called Christ ...” This shows me that Andrew and the Samaritan woman knows about Christ’s coming. How? Through daily sacrificed lambs, they knew Christ is coming and both of them discovered Christ as the “Lamb of God.” This just made me want to worship Him.

            This short Manna is powerful thought “daily sacrificed lambs.” No wonder, Jesus offered to disciples a communion, bread and juice to “do this in remembrance of Me.”  His broken body and His shed (flow from cut) blood for our salvation and for our healings.

Song: Look to the Lamb of God

Are you weary, does the way seem long?

Look to the Lamb of God;

His love will cheer and fill your heart with song,

Look to the Lamb of God.

Chorus: Look to the Lamb of God,

Look to the Lamb of God,

For He alone is able to save you;

Look to the Lamb of God.

[James M. Black, Melodies of Praise]

God bless you,

Dorothy

His Workmanship 10/17/21

17 October 2021 - Manna by Dorothy and Tony Callies

Theme: His Workmanship (A highly skilled worker)

 Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained (to become a Christian worker or minister) that we should walk in them.”

            The movie called, “The Gospel of John” the part that impressed me when Jesus quoted, “My Father and I are always working.” It was from John 5:17 that Jesus had just healed the man of 38 years of being crippled, he got up and walked. It happened on the Sabbath day that the religious Jew complained against Him for working on Sabbath day. Still Jesus said that He and His Father are always working.

            Why this impressed me? I tell you why. In our everyday lives, I often wondered what does God do when things happened to us. I read one story of a man who wrote about his friend who had just lost his wife and he was in deep grief. He asked God a question, “What do You do when a man is grief over the loss of his wife?” It felt like there’s no profit when a person is grief. (What does it profit when a person grief?)

            Then he received a vision: A melting pot of gold with refining fire.  The dross (a waste or foreign things) appeared on top of melting gold, Jesus wiped the dross from the top of the melting pot. The refining fire makes the gold clearer. Jesus explained that He was working on man’s life of grief, making his gold richer as Jesus continued to remove the dross of man’s life. So the man’s grief was not a waste, but a “grief” was a refining fire.

            That really hit me! Because Jesus was working but we don’t see it. That’s what FAITH is all about. Ephesians 2:8 “By grace you are saved through FAITH; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”

            Using the verse John 5:17 to remind me that Jesus is working which was why Paul explained, ““For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10) The word, workmanship means the art or skill of workman: Craftsmanship also means a highly skilled worker. That we should walk in them meaning be trained in God’s Word to become His worker? Something to think about.

            My friend if you are grieving, know this that Jesus is working … He is not ignoring you … as we sometimes felt that way. I just know that God does cares no matter how Satan tried to “buffet us” that God doesn’t care. I used the John 5:17 to tell Satan off that God is working … and boy that’s feels good!

            May God richly bless you!

 Dorothy

 

 

Pray Without Ceasing 9/29/21

Good morning! I just had to share this Manna with you. It was eye opening for me. Thank You Holy Spirit. Tony doing some improvement in some ways. Every day I see tiny miracle in Tony. Thank you for your prayers. Dot

             1 Thess. 5:17-18 “Pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus in you.”

            Paul closed his first letter to the Christians at Thessalonica, he stirred them with Scriptures of encouragements from verses 12-22. [I translated into my language.]  

          “Now we encourage you.  Urge you to take notice those who work hard among you and encourage you.  Think very highly in love for their work.  Be at peace with others.  Warn those who are rude and not show respect to others.   Comfort the shy.  Support the weak.  Be patient with all.  Make sure no one has revenge spirit. Seek what is good.  Rejoice always.  Don’t give up praying. Always give thanks.  Don’t stop Holy Spirit’s helping you.  Don’t look down at prophecies.  Test all things.  Hold on what is good.  Stay away from appearance of evil.”

            Paul prayed from verse 23, “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify (cleanse) you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”     

            From Paul’s word, I was very impressed that Paul has given the Christians the word of encouragement on how to build yourselves through Jesus’ teaching.  

 May the Lord bless you!

Dorothy

PS. This came from Bible Study. God’s Word is actually our Presence of God. It is based on John 1:1 that “The Word was God” meaning it is Jesus. Oh, it is Jesus!

Pray in Spirit 9/21/21

21 September 2021 Pray in Spirit- Manna by Dorothy & Tony Callies

 Theme: Pray in the Spirit – Jude 1:20.

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.”

            Why do we need to build ourselves on faith and keep praying in Spirit? The answer is in Jude 1:21 so we could “keep ourselves in the love of God and looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

            “The Spirit helps us with our weakness. We do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit Himself speaks to God for us, even begs God for us with deep feelings that words cannot explain. God can see what is in people’s hearts. And He knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks to God for His people in the way God wants.” (Rom. 8:26-27 NCV).

            Do you ever wonder who Jude was? Jude was the brother of Jesus. And Jude really encouraged us to pray in the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit helps us in prayer so we are to pray in the Spirit. Let us pray that Christ will guide us through Holy Spirit’s help. If we made mistakes and sinned, 1 John 1:9 tells us to confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleansed us from all sin (1John 1:7).                    

         The next theme explained more definition about intercession:

            From Roman 8:26-27 the key word is intercession. Holy Spirit makes intercession for us. Holy Spirit makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. It is important to know the meaning of the word intercession and what Holy Spirit does. Intercession comes from the word, intercede. Intercession means the act of interceding. Intercede means to act as a go-between for hostiles (an enemy) parties; to plead in behalf (spoke for; representative) of another.

            “To go-between for hostiles.” Who is our hostiles that Holy Spirit has to intercede for us? Satan is our hostile, means he is our enemy. Satan mess things up and we get confused. Hostiles can be refer to problems that we sometime cannot handle it.

            So Holy Spirit act as a go-between us, our problems and Satan. It is like we are in the court and Holy Spirit is our advocate, our lawyer with Christ. Holy Spirit presents our case before God in the court. Satan is opposing enemy. Holy Spirit speaks to God about our problems that Satan has caused and Holy Spirit wants to set us free in our spirits. Holy Spirit presents our case to God against Satan that we are under Christ’s blood and Satan lost his case.  

            It is important to understand the meaning that the Holy Spirit is our “go-between” for our problems and talked to God about the situations we faced. The will of God means the plan of God and only the Holy Spirit who is God, knows what is in the mind of God. So praying in the Holy Spirit will open our hearts and minds to see God’s purpose in all things.

            Like Roman 8:28 tell us: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.”

            For what purpose? Roman 8:29 tells us what purpose of what we go through.

“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son.” [He knew about us before. He plan ahead. God, the Father wants us to be like Jesus, His Son.]

            NCV interpret this from Roman 8:29: “We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love Him. They are the people He called, because that was His plan. God knew them before He made the world, and He decided that they would be like His Son so that Jesus would be the first-born of many brothers.” Romans 8:30 in NCV. “God planned for them to be like His Son, He also called, and those He called, He also made right with Him; and those He made right, He also glorified.”

            Translate: This is deep. God knew about us before the world was ever created. God knew what we are right now. Why are we facing problems? God said, “So you would be like My Son.” What does that really means? It means you will suffered like His Son had suffered. But Jesus’ life was full of God’s love and God wants us to be like Jesus, full of Holy Spirit and full of love. Amazing grace! Whatever suffering you go through, just be filled with Holy Spirit and let Him lead you. How rich is that!!!   

God bless you! 

Dorothy

Our Help 9/3/21

03 September 2021 Our Help – Manna by Dorothy and Tony Callies

Psalm 121:2 “[Our] help comes from the Lord.”

             Reading the devotion reminds me that God’s peace is given during the chaos time. The word chaos is not common among the deaf if I spell it, but in sign language it interprets “confusion time.” And “our help comes from the Lord” who gives peace, the inner peace during confusion time.

            As for news about Tony, he was in the hospital last August 26, 2021 for surgery to put stent in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms which is nearby the kidneys area. The stent helped to open the blood vessel area. Without the stent, it would rupture and cause death. The surgery was successful. Tony slept off and on for 12 hours until at night he slept soundly. The next day, Tony became alert. He was able to get up and use walker and walked a bit.  Then he went home on August 27, 2021. He was back to normal except to rest 7-10 days before assume normal activities.

            I want to add that I had taken the picture of Jesus with surgeon and other helpers who assisted with surgeon. It was in the hospital that the guide showed me the picture that impressed me. The guide lets me know that Jesus is guiding the surgeon during the time of surgery on Tony which last about an hour and a half. The picture was awesome and it reminds me of the verse that “our help comes from the Lord” guided the surgeon on Tony’s.

          May the Lord bless you today!

Dorothy