Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem(11/15/22)[Prayer]

The Holy Scriptures | 11/15/22 | left that other site

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Matthew 13

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[b] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables,

    I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”[c]

_______________________________________________________

New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

God Bless America.

ML/LTOS

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Dear Father in Heaven,

How Wonderful is Your Name!

You Alone Are Worthy of Praise and Worship,

For You Alone Are The One True God.

Thank You For Making Bitter Waters Sweet.

Thank You For Giving Us Your Precious Holy Word,

So that We Can See You in Your Word, and be Healed,

Not only From Physical Problems,

But From the Bitterness of the Heart, that robs us of our health.




Let all that has been Concealed
Be Revealed.

Father, We Pray For The Peace Of Jerusalem,
According To Your Will and Promise.
We Pray That You Will Forgive The Sins
of Our Own Nation,
and Lead us all to Godly Repentance.
Create in Us Clean Hearts, Oh LORD,
and Renew a Right Spirit Within Us.

This we Pray Together,
As We Await Your Messiah,
Blessed Be He,
To Set Up His Kingdom,
And Make All Things Right.

God Bless America.

ML/LTOS

[left that other site]

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Matthew 13

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast

31 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”

33 He told them still another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[b] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. 35 So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet:

“I will open my mouth in parables,

    I will utter things hidden since the creation of the world.”[c]

_______________________________________________________

New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

New Brides often make "cooking errors" as they experiment with different foods and techniques,and also learning the personal tastes of their spouses. My biggest cooking blunder concerned home-made bread.

It was 1972 and America was in a frenzy of "Organic, 100% Natural, Unprocessed, Meatless, Chemical-Free, Whole Foods". Any food that was "white" such as white bread, spaghetti, pasta, or rice, was considered bad for you.

The regular supermarkets didn't carry this kind of food, so, in order to eat this way, one had to go into Downtown Boston or Cambridge to get ingredients. (Now they are everywhere, but that was then). Since all we had was a motorcycle, shopping meant taking a rolling basket on the Trolley to the "EREHWON" store, (which is "Nowhere" spelled backwards) and scoop grains and produce out of burlap sacks into paper bags, weigh them, pay outrageous prices, stack the little bags into the rolling basket, and go back home on the Trolley. But I was determined to make home-made bread. It was to be "Organic, 100% Natural, Unprocessed, Meatless, Chemical-Free, Whole Food Multi-Grain Bread". Only the BEST for my new husband.

When I got to the store, I was confronted by sacks and sacks of whole grains: Wheat, rye, barley, sorghum, spelt, wheat germ, cornmeal, and several other brownish-looking flours stared at me from the burlap sacks. I bought a pound of each. This was going to be some kind of bread!

My cookbook only had the recipe for white bread, but I figured I would just follow the directions using my awesome collection of whole grains. First, I heated up a half-cake of yeast in water to get the bubbles going. Then I gave it some "starter" flour to give it something to work on. Then I added all my other flours, and kneaded it for what seemed like HOURS. It was hard to work the dough because it was so thick. Then I set it in a warm place to rise.

After nearly a day of rising, it looked pretty good, but then the directions said I had to "punch it down" and knead it all over again. "WHAT? After all that work?" I punched it down, and all that lovely fluffiness went away, and I had to knead it again and set it aside to rise again, which would be several more hours.

Finally, after working on the dough for over a day and a half, it was finally ready to be shaped into loaves and baked. The aroma filled the house and was heavenly. This was going to be good.

I proudly placed the bread on the table and attempted to cut the first slice. It had the consistency of a cement block. My husband put down his fork, got up, and walked to the corner store, and purchased a loaf of white bread. I vowed never to attempt to bake bread ever again...and I have kept my vow to this day.

Jesus tells these parables to describe the Kingdom of God. He uses familiar things that simple people can relate to. A powerful leader probably never had to bake his own bread, but the wife of a shepherd or a fisherman probably had to do it every day. She probably had to grind her own flour as well. In the story, she is using 60 pounds of flour. That will make a lot of bread. Perhaps she is a professional baker, or a servant to a large household, or maybe she is baking bread for the whole community. In any case, she will have to make sure she has enough yeast to permeate all that dough...maybe a whole cake instead of just half. That is still not much at all, but yeast is a living organism. Once you expose it to warm water, it is activated and begins to grow, and grow, and grow. That's what makes bread fluffy and delicious. In most interpretations, the Yeast represents the Word of God, which is also Alive, working its way through multitudes of people and growing exponentially.

The Unleavened Bread of the Passover could not have been made with yeast because of the time it takes for the yeast to permeate the dough. All that kneading, rising, punching down, kneading, and rising even before baking would have taken days. The Israelites had to get out of town that DAY, and so the bread was baked without yeast. This prompts an alternate interpretation of Today's Parable. To many Biblical Scholars, Yeast is a symbol of sin. When sin is kept in check and not fed as in a dry little cake wrapped in foil, it will not grow. However, if yeast is nurtured with water and a little flour, it comes alive. Just as yeast comes alive if fed, so does sin. A hurt or a fear turns into a thought of resentment. The resentment gets kneaded about until it grows into anger. The anger is left to rise until it become hatred. The hatred gets punched down with a half-hearted apology, but then gets kneaded some more, and allowed to rise again. Whether or not the hatred results in violence, the heart as been hardened like a block of cement.

Both interpreations make sense, and both can be accepted simultaneously. My experience showed that the flours that I had thrown together were like the rocky soil in the previous Parable about the sower. The yeast was alive and working, but the whole grains had a rock-hard barrier against it. There was no place for the yeast to land and grow.

Now, some of you may love to make home-made whole grain bread. I'm thinking that maybe newer milling methods have made it more pleasant to do so. I may have even used the wrong cookbook at the time. The procedure for white bread may be different than that using whole grains. In any case, it gave me a good parable for today.

I will be gone most of Thanksgiving week, somewhat off-the-grid, so there will be a short break in these devotionals. I'll bet my sister will be making home-made bread!

See you tomorrow.

Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[DarthVader]

Amen !!! <><

Psalm 73

A Psalm of Asaph.

1 Truly God is good to the upright,*
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant;
I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pain;
their bodies are sound and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not plagued like other people.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them like a garment.
7 Their eyes swell out with fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8 They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9 They set their mouths against heaven,
and their tongues range over the earth.

10 Therefore the people turn and praise them,*
and find no fault in them.*
11 And they say, ‘How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?’
12 Such are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain I have kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all day long I have been plagued,
and am punished every morning.

15 If I had said, ‘I will talk on in this way’,
I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
16 But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17 until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I perceived their end.
18 Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20 They are* like a dream when one awakes;
on awaking you despise their phantoms.

21 When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22 I was stupid and ignorant;
I was like a brute beast towards you.
23 Nevertheless I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterwards you will receive me with honour.*
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength* of my heart and my portion for ever.

27 Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;
you put an end to those who are false to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
to tell of all your works.

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, DarthVader, For Your Prayers and Wonderful Psalm For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[pollywog]

Good Morning LTOS...
What a story about the home-made wheat bread. I am sure it did smell good...makes me want to bake bread again.

On a serious note, I join you in prayer today.

[pollywog]

26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength* of my heart and my portion for ever.

~

AMEN!!!

[SheepWhisperer]

Leaven (yeast) is a putrefying agent and represents things unclean/sin.
For Passover, the houses were to be swept clean of it one week beforehand in preparing for the feast.
In the kingdom is like a mustard seed, we also learn of the “birds of the air” taking refuge/shelter in abnormal shrub growth described as a mighty tree. In the parable of the sower, we’re told that the “birds of the air”are the evil ones who “snatch away the Word of God”.

There is s parallel thought here.

With you in prayer.

Respectfully,
SW

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Indeed. I presented that interpretation as well.

That’s why I love the parables. They have so many layers of meaning. :-)

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, pollywog, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[left that other site]

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, SheepWhisperer, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[etabeta]

My husband loved making bread...potato bread, soda bread, whole wheat bread.. The aroma filling the house is truly heavenly.

Joining in prayer. God bless.

[redryder_90]

Amen

[NEWwoman]

Amen, left that other site

I can relate to the bread story.

As a teenager, I was making angel food cake out of a box. Thought I’m make it chocolate and added instant Swiss Miss Cocoa. I result...well, you don’t do that to angel food cake.

I have heard different interpretations of the yeast, too. A pastor once said, Scripture has a surplus meaning. So true.

Joining in prayer for the Peace of Jerusalem and for our beloved America.

[left that other site]

The aroma is almost better than the actual finished product...almost.

[left that other site]

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, Etabeta, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[left that other site]

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, redryder_90, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[left that other site]

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, NEWwoman, For Your Prayers and kind words of affirmation For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[TianaHighrider]

Thank you, Blessings and Prayers up ❤ 🙏
Wishing you a Very Happy Thanksgiving Holiday.

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Thank You, TianaHighrider, For Your Prayers For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

"He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

God Bless America.

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

Hallelujah and Amen

ML/LTOS

[Hiskid]

Amen