BFS #125 – Let Your Fingers Do the Walking (Yellow Pages)

Memory Verse: Ephesians 6: 10-18 10 Finally, grow powerful in union with the Lord, in union with his mighty strength! Use all the armor and weaponry that God provides, so that you will be able to stand against the deceptive tactics of the Adversary. For we are not struggling against human beings, but against the rulers, authorities and cosmic powers governing this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. So take up every piece of war equipment God provides; so that when the evil day comes, you will be able to resist; and when the battle is won, you will still be standing. Therefore, stand! Have the belt of truth buckled around your waist, put on righteousness for a breastplate, and wear on your feet the readiness that comes from the Good News of shalom. Always carry the shield of trust, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. And take the helmet of deliverance; along with the sword given by the Spirit, that is, the Word of God; as you pray at all times, with all kinds of prayers and requests, in the Spirit, vigilantly and persistently, for all God’s people.Introduction: Let Your Fingers Do the Walking (Yellow Pages) I have deviated from the traditional Memory Verse.. in that usually we take one of the words in the slogan and seek a scripture that uses that word, but today I’m using the concept of what Yellow Pages is all about.. seeking and finding. I used the word Walking.. which made me think of shoes.. and this set of verses is exactly what I want to share. This assignment will be tougher than those of the last few weeks.. take your time, you can always do it late. Put on that full armor and study God’s word, so that you can more fully understand what He wants you to learn from it. This scripture from Ephesians is exhorting us to be armed – fully armed – to stand against HaSatan – the Adversary. The Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. I want us to dig deeper into God’s Word, and to really let our fingers do the walking through the resources we have available to us – books, internet – and really seek to find the true meaning of His Word. Don’t worry, I’m no expert, I’ll be learning to do this along with you all.

Assignment: I’d like you to choose a word, find the Hebrew or Greek original word, and then dig into it’s full meaning. Use things like the Strong’s Concordance or the Gesenius and find the root of the word. What is the first occurance of that word in scripture? What did that word mean in that first occurrence? Did the meaning of the word change as God used it in scripture? Now find some verses in scripture that use that word, and like The Message Bible does, re-write that scripture using the full meaning that you now understand to illuminate that scripture verse. What kinds of words should you look up? I’m going to do fire.. but you could look up water, altar, sacrifice, prayer, washing, or any word that you feel God is asking you to understand better. If you feel challenged to, when you find the Hebrew word, look up the meaning of the letters in the root word. The Hebrew letters themselves have meaning, and give meaning to the word.

Here’s an example:

Ge 1:26 – Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, in the likeness of ourselves; and let them rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the animals, and over all the earth, and over every crawling creature that crawls on the earth.”

The word Make in the original Hebrew is Asah. It’s been translated as make, build, or to do. But God is a CREATIVE God, and so we need to understand that if God MADE us.. He put into us a creative impulse, an artistic ability, a desire to make something aesthetically pleasing. The word Asah is the Strongs Hebrew word 6213. It is made up of the letters Ayin, Sin, Hey. Using http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/3_home.html I’ve found that:
Ayin means Watch, Know, Shade,
Sin means Grab, Hate, Protect, This letter also has the meaning of a shield as thorn bushes were used by the shepherd to build a wall or shield, made to enclose his flock during the night to protect them from predators. Another meaning is to grab hold as a thorn is a seed that clings to hair and clothing.
Hey means Look, Reveal, Breath or “the” in the sense of pointing to something of importance, “behold”, as when looking at a great sight. This word can also mean “breath” or “sigh” as one does when looking at a great sight. The meaning of the letter is behold, look, breath, sigh and reveal or revelation from the idea of revealing a great sight by pointing it out. .

A teacher I read from named Bill Bullock describes Asah as ” This verb paints a Hebraic Picture if the application of creative energy to bring about a constructive or aestheticall pleasing result. The verb Asah describes what a potter does with a lump of clay, what a carpenter does with a piece of wood, what a blade smith does with a piece of metal etc.

In English, we usually translate as to make, to build, or to do. Tose translations are accurate as far as they go, but they are also inadequate as they leave out the artistic, creative element which is the essence of the Hebrew verb. To asah is not to perform a tedious chore – it is to express ones essential self artistically by an interactive, intelligent process involving making, shaping, forming, fashioning raw materials. To asah is to take a concept or idea that on has pictured in one’s heart and mind and to bring that concept or idea into the realm of the visible, the tangible, the practical, and the substantive.” (See why I want to study words.. Bill Bullock brings out a fullness.. I want to learn how to do what he does!!)

So, let me now use Asah in a scripture verse to illuminate it.

Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does (asah – makes the words of God come to a tangible fruition) them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built (asah-ed -had a vision, made blueprints, used hammer and nails and formed the walls and roof and floor to design for the purpose of protecting his family and making it lovely and sturdy for protection and for a place of comfort) his house on a rock. The rain came down, the floods cam up and the wind blew and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock.

I thank Bill Bullock for helping me with this example, but I promise, I will not use Bill to do my assignment for me.. I’ll struggle to do this assignment just like you Blogger Friends.

Can you find a way to write your word in Hebrew or Greek? Can you ASAH your word?

Okay, after much studying today, off  and on, I have finally gotten some understanding of the assignm ent.  I tend to overthink things so it takes me a while to get things done.

I have chosen the word strength because it comes from my favorite verse in Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

In Hebrew the whole verse looks like this:   “haMashiach mechazek otti veme’afsher li la’asot hakol”.

The whole verse shown in Greek:   Μπορώ να κάνω όλα τα πράγματα μέσω Χριστού που με ενισχύουν. Philippians 4:13

For the word Strengtheneth I found that in Greek it looks like this:  ενισχύουν. It means to empower: – enable, (increase in) strength (-en), be (make) strong.

I’ve always thought of the same meaning when I see or use the word strengtheneth.

I hope that’s good enough…be blessed!