God's Verbage
Ok- reading the word today and
taking notes about what I am reading, looking up the meanings of words in Strong’s
Concordance and trying to be “studious’ and I am learning stuff, but it all
seemed so cerebral, and stifled. Has reading the Bible ever felt like this to
you? Sometimes we just don’t get it, so we have to stop and read the word in a
new way. This is where learning, knowing, and understanding parts of speech
help me.
O I hope I haven’t lost all of
you now. Bear with me. Here is a quick chart to help….hopefully.
|
Parts of Speech
|
What it does/means in a
sentence
|
|
NOUN
|
PERSON, PLACE, OR THING
|
|
PRONOUN
|
TAKES PLACE OF A NOUN IN A SENTENCE
Example: I, me, we, they, us…etc.
|
|
VERB
|
A WORD THAT DESCRIBES AN
ACTION, (run) or A STATE, (freeze)
|
|
ADVERB
|
WORDS THAT DESCRIBE OTHER WORDS
Some end with 'ly', and they
can modify or change the emphasis of the action words in a sentence.
|
|
ADJECTIVE
|
WORDS THAT DESCRIBE
OTHER WORDS
These words modify or change
the emphasis of nouns in a sentence.
Example: the good Shepard, the wise men
|
Once you learn how every one of these types of
words work, you can read the verse with renewed insight, seeing how it flows
and what it says. What is God’s main point of this verse/ how does it apply to
me? I will show you what I mean with a
few verses from my reading today.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath
blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen
us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we
should be holy and without blame
before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us
unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to himself, according
to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath
made us accepted in the beloved.
Now take those bold words and condense what you read. It
looks like this:
God
hath blessed us
before the foundation of the world;
we should be
holy-
without
blame-
in
love. Having predestinated us unto the
adoption
by
Jesus Christ
according
to the good pleasure of his will: praise – glory! His grace hath made us
accepted beloved.
I am not advocating this all the
time, but sometimes this brings a new perspective to the verse, honing the
focus and zeroing in on the heart of the matter more quickly.
Stay on Target!
Now we can look up these words in
Strong’s
Concordance and get a better understanding of the original Greek. Then we
can begin to ask what does this mean to me? What is the Father saying to me
here? Sometimes I also write down other scriptures or stories from the Bible
that this passage reminds me of. This helps me decide if what I am seeing is
bearing out (in agreement with) the rest of the word. We are supposed to ‘rightly
divide the word of truth’ and one scripture by itself can never be the only
basis for a doctrine.
So this is what I got out of
these verses.
First, God opened up heaven and poured out his
love freely (John
3:16) to us through Jesus and what He gave on the cross. Secondly, God did
this because he chose me to be in relationship with Him before the foundations
of the earth (2
Thes 2:13). He has called us to live separate, (Romans
12:2) holy, without blame, constantly before his presence (Ps
95:6) and serving the body of Christ. (Galatians
5:13) He knew that he would claim us as HIS! (If you have no family, or are
estranged from them you know how miraculous this is!) This adoption was legally
binding and irreversible. And He did it because it made him happy to do so. (Romans
8:29-30)
Because we are now HIS, with the
promise now in our hearts, we praise (promise with our lips) and glorify God. And
God is faithful to bring us joy, sweetness, charm, loveliness, and goodwill by
HIS GRACE. (Phil
4:8, Galatians
5:22-23) He makes us ACCEPTED (redesigns us to be graceful, loving,
charming, and honors us with blessings) (Romans
12:1-3, Ps
16:9) so we can minister to other people God loves (John
3:16) (the ones we welcome, entertain, and have fond affection for) so HE
can take pleasure in us as we are content in him. (Duet
10:15)
Wow! That is just a few verses
from Ephesians, but it speaks whole volumes. In fact, it shows God’s love for
us so perfectly that if that were the only gospel you were ever to hear; it
would be enough to cling to forever!
Be blessed and be a blessing.
Remember that focus
is both a noun and a verb; it all depends on how you use it.
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