That Woman Jezebel

Bible:

[Jesus said:] “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

“‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” Revelation 2:18-29 ESV

I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Psalm 2:7-9 ESV

And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. II Peter 1:19 ESV

Reflection:

In the legendary time when King Arthur ruled England, one of the enemies of everything good in his realm was a fairy queen named Morgan le Fay. Morgan was a beautiful woman, and she sometimes tricked King Arthur’s knights into loving her, but she was always working against Arthur and trying to win victories over him. Morgan could use her evil magic to cast spells or to disguise herself as an ugly old woman or a crow or a black horse to fool King Arthur and his knights. She especially was always trying to trick Arthur’s best knight, Lancelot, and one time she captured him and kept him in prison until he nearly died. Lancelot was always strong and able to resist her, but some of Arthur’s other knights weren’t as strong, and fell under her spell.

This is only a story, but it’s a little like what was happening in the church of Thyatira. There was a woman in this church who was teaching some very wrong things, especially the worship of false gods and goddesses and some wicked things as part of this worship. Jesus called this woman Jezebel, reminding the people of the wife of King Ahab from long before, who had led the people of Israel into worshipping Baal and Asherah. Some of the people in Thyatira had fallen under this woman’s spell and were taking part in these things, and Jesus warned them that they needed to repent. Jesus had even given the woman he called Jezebel time to repent, but she wouldn’t, and he was going to judge her soon. He would punish her and everyone who had come under her influence for all the wicked things they had been doing.

The people of Thyatira might have felt weak and powerless, because this woman was teaching some deep things of Satan himself. But Jesus had a wonderful promise for the people who hadn’t fallen under her spell. He was going to let them share in his rule, a strong and powerful rule with a rod of iron that could smash the evil of all the nations. Jesus would also give them the morning star. Jesus himself is our morning star, who gives us light and hope in dark places. We have hope because of his death on the cross and his resurrection. He went into the places of the darkest evil when he died on the cross for us, and he conquered death and hell and Satan by his death and resurrection. We don’t have to be afraid of the worst or most powerful evil, because Jesus has given us himself, and in him we can conquer everything that could hurt us or turn us away from him

Prayer:

Dear Jesus, thank you for being our morning star, and for conquering evil for us and helping us in the darkest places. Amen.

Blessing and Cursing

Bible:

With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water. James 3:9-12 ESV

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26-27 ESV

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. Matthew 15:18

Reflection:

When Mary Poppins came to be the nanny for Jane and Michael and their baby brother and sister, it didn’t take them long to realize that their new nanny was magic. One thing that happened on the first day was that Mary Poppins gave them some medicine. Michael was first, and he didn’t want to take the medicine, but when he did, he found out it tasted like strawberry ice. Jane was next, and for her the medicine tasted like lime-juice cordial. John and Barbara, the babies, were next, and for them the medicine tasted like milk. Finally Mary Poppins took her own dose, and she said that it tasted like rum punch. Jane and Michael wondered how one bottle of medicine could possibly produce different tastes like that. Such a thing would never be possible without some kind of magic.

James wrote about the way two different things come from one tongue. He said that people bless and praise and thank God with their tongues, and then with the same tongues they turn around and curse and say hateful and angry things to people. This shouldn’t happen, James said. How can we speak of God with love and respect and then speak of people who are made in God’s image with hate? God loves everyone he made, and Jesus died for everyone. It is wrong for God’s people to speak hatefully to people who are precious to God. It shouldn’t happen, just as we don’t expect a spring to sometimes give salt water and sometimes fresh water, or a tree of one kind to produce a different kind of fruit.

Hateful words for other people shouldn’t come out of our mouths, but they do. That’s because we still carry sin inside ourselves, and the sin in our hearts comes out of our mouths. We could never clean the sin out of our hearts all by ourselves, but Jesus came to die on the cross to pay for the sins in our heart and the hateful words that come out of our mouths. He forgives us every day, and he sends us his Holy Spirit to give us new hearts of love for all the people God has made.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, please forgive us for using our tongues to hurt people that you love. Help us learn to speak words of kindness. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Source:

Travers, P. L. Mary Poppins New York: Harcourt Brace, 1934

 

More Than Enough

Bible:

Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” John 6:10-14 ESV

You visit the earth and water it;
you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
you provide their grain,
for so you have prepared it.
You water its furrows abundantly,
settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
and blessing its growth.
You crown the year with your bounty;
your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.
The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
the hills gird themselves with joy,
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
the valleys deck themselves with grain,
they shout and sing together for joy. Psalm 65:9-13 ESV

Reflection:

There was once a little girl who lived with her mother, and they were very poor. One day this girl went into the forest and met an old woman who gave the little girl a magic porridge pot. When the little girl told the pot to cook, it would fill up with sweet porridge until she and her mother had all they wanted, and then she would tell the pot to stop cooking, and it would stop. Now the girl and her mother had plenty to eat every day, until one day the little girl went out to play, and her mother told the porridge pot to start cooking, but when she had enough she didn’t know how to tell it to stop. The pot kept cooking more and more porridge until it overflowed and filled their house, and the houses of all their neighbors, and the street, and the whole town, until finally the little girl came home and told the pot to stop cooking. Anyone who wanted to come home again had to eat their way home, but no one in the town went hungry for a long, long time!

This is just a funny story, but it’s a little like what Jesus really did for the many, many people who had gathered to hear him that day. He took five loaves of bread and two fish, and gave thanks to his Heavenly Father, then broke them and started giving them to people to eat. All the people–five thousand men and also many women and children–ate as much as they wanted, and then when Jesus told his disciples to gather up the leftovers, there were twelve baskets of bread and fish left over! Jesus didn’t just give the people a little food, but he gave them so much that there were lots of leftovers!

The abundant gift of food Jesus gave the people is a picture of God’s overflowing, generous love for the world. God sent Jesus into the world to show how much he loves us, and the greatest way that Jesus demonstrated God’s love was when he gave his life for us on the cross. Jesus died so that our sins could be forgiven and we could have life with him always. This is the greatest love the world has ever known, and it’s ours forever through Jesus, our Savior.

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the overflowing love you’ve given us through Jesus. In His Name, Amen.

Bold to Tell the Truth

Bible:

And Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all.” But Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord says, that I must do’?” And Balak said to Balaam, “Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God that you may curse them for me from there.” So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the desert. And Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me here seven altars and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.” And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go, as at other times, to look for omens, but set his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. And the Spirit of God came upon him, and he took up his discourse and said,

How lovely are your tents, O Jacob,
your encampments, O Israel!

God brings him out of Egypt
and is for him like the horns of the wild ox;
he shall eat up the nations, his adversaries,
and shall break their bones in pieces
and pierce them through with his arrows.
He crouched, he lay down like a lion
and like a lioness; who will rouse him up?
Blessed are those who bless you,
and cursed are those who curse you.”

And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. And Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times. Therefore now flee to your own place. I said, ‘I will certainly honor you,’ but the Lord has held you back from honor.” And Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you sent to me, ‘If Balak should give me his house full of silver and gold, I would not be able to go beyond the word of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will. What the Lord speaks, that will I speak’? Numbers 23:25-30, 24:1-3a, 5, 8-13 ESV

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:13-20 ESV

Reflection:

Paul was a missionary and an apostle. He went to different places telling people about what Jesus had done for them on the cross. He was very bold, and told the truth even when people got angry with him for what he said. He was punished many times for teaching and preaching about Jesus, and more than once he had to go to jail. He wrote the words we just read, asking Christians to pray for him so that he would continue to be brave about telling the truth about Jesus, even though he was in prison.

Balaam was also bold in a way. He had been using omens and other magic practices to see if God would let him curse Israel, but after two times he realized that God wouldn’t allow him to curse. So he just said the words God told him to say even though it made King Balak very angry and kept him from getting a reward. Balaam told the truth even though neither he nor the king liked it.

Paul encouraged his fellow Christians to be brave and bold also. God gives us his truth, righteousness, faith, salvation, and word to use like soldiers use armor to protect themselves. We can be brave to speak the truth about Jesus because of the help and power God gives us. The truth of Jesus is too wonderful to keep to ourselves. Once we were God’s enemies, but Jesus died on the cross so our sins could be forgiven, and we could become his people. God loves us and blesses us every day, and he wants all people to become his people. This is the truth he gives us to share!

Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for all your love and blessings. Please help us to be bold in telling others about you. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.