Afflictions:
As in the New Testament, from the Greek word "thlipsis"...meaning a
pressing-in (almost to the point of crushing)...anything which results in a
burdening of your spirit by circumstances or persons.
Amen: may it be so.
Angel:
of those spirits in the spiritual
realm, "angels" are: "Are not all angels ministering spirits
sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?" [Hebrews 1:14] They are
messengers (Revelation 1:1. The Bible therefore indicates that the angels of
God have a restricted service. So what are secular people imagining (or what
spirits are actually there?) when they speak about angels in the 1990's?
Anxious: a divided mind (as between choices). Check out
anxiety
basis.
Apocalypse: A Greek word meaning revelation, applied chiefly to the book of Revelation by John: an uncovering; an unveiling; a revelation.
Apologetics: This is the study and execution of defending the person and the message of Jesus Christ....defending the beliefs of the Christian faith as well as forming the positive construction of a full-fledged Christian philosophy. Evangelism and apologetics are the twin pillars upon which the outreach of the church is built.
Apostle:
One personally chosen by Jesus, son of God, and sent with a special
message and/or commission. Peter's criteria (Acts 1:21-22): apostles were chosen
by Jesus to be with Him during his ministry on earth and personally acquainted
with the Lord's ministry from His baptism by John to His ascension. Under divine
guidance, the remaining apostles chose Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot. And
Jesus, Himself (after His ascension), chose Paul on the road to Damascus. Having
been sent by God, Jesus is the first and highest apostle (Hebrews 3:1).
Atheism: standing on the belief that there is no God...requires a reckless
arrogance and/or extremely strong self-faith that can be in such deep denial of
the testimony of the creation around us. Atheists are the most easily converted
from belief in no god into states of idolatry.
Atonement:
that special result of the reconciliation between a Holy God and a sinful
mankind brought about by the self-sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Because of
it, salvation is available.
Believe:
as to "believe in" Jesus...it
is much more than a calculated hope and more than mental assent to an idea. It
is not a surrender to a persuasive power; it is a surrender of your
"will". To believe, you must not only be willing but also want to
believe. No longer will your "will" be "on the
fence" about belief. You mentally declare to yourself, "I WILL
believe!" In this use, it refers to having or placing your TRUST in
Jesus...personally acknowledging THE TRUTH as "the truth". Immediately
or with belief growth, you mean that you have an assured reliance and confident
dependence on the character, ability, strength, and truth of Jesus. Arriving at
a state of "saving belief" (really and truly "believing")
can happen instantly at the moment of declaring belief or may take some time and
study in order to feel confident and solid in belief. No matter how much
evidence one wishes to collect and evaluate, one will never find overwhelming
positive evidence for "belief". Therefore, as Jesus declared, the decision
to believe will have to be
with the simplicity of the decision of a little child. Only an/the individual
and God can know if a person truly "believes", but no decision in
life is more important: a person either does or does not
"believe"...there is no in-between. "Saving belief" can then
undergo strengthening and maturing throughout life. Finally, that you would be
both willing and "want to" believe is a gift of God that goes to the
Elect [definition].
Benevolent:
an attribute of unselfish concern for the welfare of those He loves.
Bible: The word of God revealed by God, inspired
("breathed" by God) to those divinely appointed to write it down, and illuminated
to the believer by the teaching power of the indwelling Holy Spirit within the
believer. Those who are not truly believers may also derive great benefit from
the reading of the Bible; but, The Word of God will fall short of true
"illumination" of the reader.
[more]...
[re: commandments].
Bitterness: A state of mind of being bitter...distressed with resentfulness & vengefulness toward the offending person or situation. Bitterness is an emotional toxin or poison that we prepare for the offender & then drink ourselves. Bitterness injures the person holding the bitter frame of mind.
Blasphemy:
defiant divine irreverence.
Bless: God blesses men by imposing his perfect attributes
(such as omniscience and omnipotence) in favor on them. Men bless God by
celebrating and ascribing to Him all those perfect attributes that are His. Men
bless men by predicting, hoping for, praying for, and speaking out for the
blessings of God onto that man or women. When you are "blessed" by
God, you are filled with more than "happiness" and
"joy"...like a much deeper and fulfilling contented happiness.
Bond servant: see servant, below.
Born again Christian: one who is a true saved believer and follower of Jesus of Nazareth, having been made (born again) into a new creation by the incoming & indwelling of the Holy Spirit into his/her heart.
Canon: the agreed-upon & set "measuring stick" writings or the "standard" writings by which other writings are evaluated.
Care: A Christian should "care" about others. As a baby believer, one learns to care about Jesus and about those who are attractive and lovable. With further maturation, the ability to "care" both widens and deepens. This use of the word "care" goes back to a Latin root which means "chatter". This suggests that the attention Jesus would have us pay to others moves across a spectrum from the fellowshipping of "chattering with each other" to the laying down [putting on hold...setting our interests aside for awhile...even dying] of our lives for others.
Christ: the official title of the One anointed by God as the savior or messiah.
As "King" David is the title of a king, Christ Jesus is the title of
the savior of mankind. The title went to God, himself, coming to mankind in the
person of Jesus of Nazareth. Often spoken of as "The Christ".
Christian/Christianity:
| a
Person/people who believe Jesus is the savior and "believe" in
such a true way that they are baptized by the Holy Spirit into a "born
again" condition, leading an active person-to-God relationship through
a living and on-going relationship with God through Jesus. |
| a
Person/people who believe Jesus is the savior. This belief may be no deeper
than that of following a family custom of "saying" one is
"Christian". Some who attend Christian churches do so out of habit
or as a way of belonging to a group; they may not have given any real
thought to what they actually believe. The main divisions of the Christian
Church are: Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and Armenian. |
| Christianity:`
a history and system of doctrines and beliefs underpinning a
"world-view" or "religion" which can be studied in
comparison to other philosophies, world-views, or religions. |
Church: a church is a building in which worshippers gather to worship God. But,
THE CHURCH is the worldwide sum of all
true believers in Jesus Christ of Nazareth who constitute a living body through
whom Jesus does His work on earth.
Confession:
Agreeing in prayer with God...not just admitting it...that what we have done is
not in keeping with His righteousness. The born-again believer is already
"saved," and all people have been forgiven; but the act of confession
invites God's restoration of any damage the sin has caused or set in motion in
the relationship with Him.
Conscience:
A person's conscience...believer or non-believer...is the God-given capacity
enabling that person's mental awareness to distinguish between right and wrong.
But this conscience must be "programmed"; how was/is yours programmed?
See how here.
Consecration:
the setting apart of a person/persons or thing for the worship or service of
God.
Contrite:
the state of being broken in spirit by a sense of guilt or a sense of sorrow for
one's sins.
Conversion:
In the Christian arena, this refers to that moment in the mind of an individual
when (aroused by the testimony or effects of an individual or event...one of The
Elect...prepared and "set up" by the Holy Spirit) a person decides to
place his trust in Jesus by accepting the gift from God of salvation. By
accepting, one turns from darkness to light...the "eyes are opened".
After conversion comes...hopefully but not for sure...regeneration (if the
convert "receives").
Conviction:
noun...State of being brought to belief or understanding that something applies
to you. "I heard the sermon and have become convicted of my
sinfulness!" Having a conviction about something is far "heavier"
than having an opinion about a matter: no one is ever willing to die over an
opinion about a matter; Christians by the thousands, however, have been willing
to die for those beliefs powerful enough to be designated
"convictions"
Courage: a virtue which...in our context...pertains less to rare hero episodes
and more to a state of being able to live life with an absence of fear. You live
fearless because you have mastered the fear through your relationship with God
through Jesus, gaining confidence and trust through faith.
Covenant: an agreement (testament) or bond and originally was in the Hebrew sense of a bond between God & God's people. Beyond the simple legal sense of a contract, a covenant between people of God goes in strength to the point of being a sin before God if the covenant is broken.
Creed: a carefully & concisely consensus written statement of the faith (such as Apostle's Creed, Nicean Creed, and Athenasian Creed).
Cult: A cult is a group of people polarized around an
individual with a magnetic personality, who deviates from orthodox Christianity
by distorting the central message of the Bible by additional revelation or by
introducing their personal aberrant understanding of primary biblical doctrines such as
the person of Jesus Christ, heaven, hell, salvation, atonement, the virgin
birth, etc.
| Occult:
Secret or hidden knowledge. This knowledge is not discerned by the five
senses and is therefore, supernaturally received through the practice of
divination. |
| Witchcraft:
The use of scripturally forbidden supernatural powers to manipulate people
and events. Commonly known as the "craft of the wise" or
"Wicca", the worship of nature and the feminine energies of
"mother nature". Witchcraft is manifested in two opposing views:
white magic, and black magic or witchcraft (see Deuteronomy 18:10) |
| White
Magic: the use of supernatural power to manipulate a person or an event to
bring about good. The practice of divination is used to bring about
"positive" results such as knowledge, healing, etc. |
| Black
Magic: the use of supernatural power to manipulate a person or an event to
bring about evil or destruction. Manipulation is achieved by use of rituals
and the casting of spells. |
| Satanism:
unlike witchcraft, Satanism is the worship of Satan, formerly known as
Lucifer, and the practice of Black Magic. Satanism is a reaction against the
Christian church and the Word of God in particular. Satanism is a
demonic
mindset that promotes a
do-what-you-want attitude and is ultimately the worship of oneself. |
Curse: to be cursed means to endure God's judgment on sin.
Death: The Bible indicates that the only things that last eternally are souls and the Word of God. When you die, your body will biologically cease to exist as a living organism. But your soul will leave (the Jesus-saved will become absent from the body and present with the Lord in Heaven, God's chosen of Israel...certain Jews...go to Abraham's bosom, while the unsaved go to Sheol) your body, and that body degenerates in its grave. The souls are thought to be in a sort of "limbo" (think of going under anesthesia...they ask you to count to ten...you make it to two & then it seems like the nurse coaxes you back up at 3...even though it was a 2 hour operation). The Bible speaks of the dead as asleep. Upon the return of Jesus, ALL of God's humans will be "raised" from the grave...probably not at the same time; and then comes the Judgment.
Denomination:
As with protestant Christian churches, these are the administratively man-formed
organizations of like-minded people who worship and work together. As seriously
studying believers undergo the discipleship of how to live The Way, different
areas of scripture are interpreted differently or placed at different levels of
order of importance. Probably a high percentage of the members of any given
denomination (for example, the Baptist, Methodist, or Lutheran Protestant
denominations) are only casually aware of the differences between denominations.
Many are critical of denominational differences; but, The Body of Believers is
formed of many (personal/individual; local church; denominational; greater
church) parts...which, in being varied, may be used of God in highly different
ways on earth.
Dispensation:
check this out
Divorce, marital:
a sending out, sending away, casting out (implying with little thought, notice,
or provision)...originally referring to the nearly thoughtless casting-out of a
wife by a husband.
Doctrine: A
formulated belief about a particular aspect or topic upon
which two or more persons declare agreement to believe.
Elect, the:
Those who are chosen, foreknown, and "set apart" (as if on a
checklist) for eternal life with God...set apart through Jesus by
election.
In a similar way, Israel was & is God's chosen (elected) people/nation. Jesus was
God's elect son, chosen to redeem mankind from sin. The Body of Christ, The
Church, is the elect people of Jesus, chosen for their life purpose of glorifying
God. The 144,000 of the Bible book of Revelations are Jesus-believing messianic Jews elected to
spread the Gospel through the tribulation period of 7 years (a time when
previous true believers will have gone already...the Rapture of The Church...to
be with Jesus). Biblically speaking , then, election refers to God's sure
choice of a person or persons to fulfill a divinely appointed purpose.
Endurance:
hanging in there...hanging on...refusing to quit; "tenacity" is
another step beyond endurance.
Epiphany:
an appearance, a showing, a flash of revolutionizing
insight; the epiphany season recognizes and celebrates that the visit of the
Magi pronounced the presence of God's new covenant of grace in Jesus Christ.
Evangelist:
advocate, ambassador, announcer, proclaimer,
"messenger" (of the Gospel). To evangelize is to be involved in
any aspect of "messengering" (in religion, taking the message of that
religion). It is a word highly associated with Christianity, and it refers to
one involved in taking the message of the Gospel [the good news of the eternal
salvation purchased by Jesus and available to any who will claim it ] of Jesus
Christ. A proselyte is a "newcomer"; so, to proselytize (in
Christianity) is to go beyond being a messenger and to engage in any or all that
might lead to a person becoming a "newcomer"...a convert to
Christianity.
Faith: God appreciates and loves being believed...having
us have faith in Him. When we board an airplane, we have faith that the machine
works and that the pilot and crew know what they are doing. Tony Evans says that
a child told him, "Faith is believing in something you know isn't
true!" Faith is sometimes confused with "positive thinking",
which it is not; and it has nothing to do with intense commitment,
determination, or effort. Do you lack assurance about The Truth? "The
World" says, "seeing is believing." True biblical faith is,
"believing is seeing." Hebrews 11:1 defines it, "Now faith is
being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." St.
Augustine is said to have said, Faith is the ability to believe in things unseen
but known to be true." In fact
all of chapter 11, the book of Hebrews, is often referred to as the "roll
call of faith". Faith is strengthened through the hearing of, the reading of, and
experiencing the works of God. As believers mature in their "walk",
they become more able to have some vision of what God desires to do in and
through their lives. And faith is acting and trusting God in harmony with that
vision. Faith is a deliberate, confident belief and reliance upon the perfect
character of God, a God full of faithfulness, whose ways we may not
understand. One pastor say, "Faith is when I decide to step toward God & I feel
confident that He will receive me and not incinerate me!" Faith is the heroic effort of the believer's life: God wants us to
risk it all in an abandoned, reckless CONFIDENCE...faith...in Him! Faith
is trust or commitment to what you think is true, and Jesus Himself is the
author and perfecter of your faith (Hebrews 12:2)! Check
out more!
Fatalism:
This "-ism" comes up in the consideration of God's attributes of
omniscience and omnipotence. "Fatalism" says that all things
"are" and, therefore, must "be"...so, all things are in
essence decreed...made so by "fate". The truth is, God has appointed
this and that, not because it must be so, but because it is best that it
should be so. Fate is blind, but the destiny of Biblical scripture is full of
"eyes"; God does nothing by chance but is always purposeful.
Father: At its most basic, this can just mean the biological male to an
offspring (paternity...one who begets). More complexly, it refers to all that
surrounds the status...the relationship...of "fatherhood"...the
one who raises you or brings you up as a child. In that sense, it can become
more personal, endearing, intimate, closer (not distant) and "bonded"
as in "Daddy"...the Biblical of "Daddy" being
"Abba". As William Barclay noted, "If God is our Father,
then our fellow man is our brother. The only possible basis for democracy is the
conviction of the fatherhood of God."
Fear: to reverence and/or take very seriously; to honor and respect; to not
treat lightly, casually, or flippantly (as in : "the fear of the
Lord"). As a reflection of this type of fear, you will see a believer stop
fighting against God's commands and turn to being delighted in God's advice,
convinced that God's way is the RIGHT way. "In the fear of the Lord there
is strong confidence, and his children will have refuge. The fear of the Lord is
a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death (King Solomon in
Proverbs 14:26-27)." In a chapter describing how wisdom calls, Proverbs 8:13 notes, "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and
the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate."
Feelings:
the conscious recognition of emotional cues, signals, and responses from within
a person. Feelings may arise out of memory of real experiences. The danger is
that they may arise out of imagined, distorted, or ingrained beliefs that are
not accurate...the feelings, thereby, being illogical and unreasonable. Feelings
can be on a spectrum from very subtle to extremely powerful. While a very
important part of the fabric of living a life, fickle feelings aren't
trustworthy as a guide to decision making in life.
Fellowship: the ongoing process of spending time together in the activities of believer families and the activities of the church.
Fidelity: a
virtue covering far more than sexual matters, it broadly has to do with
"keeping the faith" in our relationship and walk with God through
Jesus...by faith.
Flesh: the natural part...the "natural self"...of each person's life that stands in opposition to God [see this], usually manifesting itself by challenging the restrictions that God has set for mankind's own good...that window in human nature to a person's soul through which Satan tempts (temptation is not a sin...James 1:14-15) and entices lust which affects your spirit (God speaks through His Holy Spirit to your personal human spirit). Other uses: (1) true Jehovah-Godly marriage brings two truly together..."one flesh"; (2) at the Lord's supper, Jesus, saying to "eat His flesh", meant for the believer to continually relate and abide in Jesus...and many think that Jesus is in the elements of the Lord's supper (consubstantiation & transubstantiation); (3)"The Word became flesh" means that God's Word became a human man as the specific Jesus of Nazareth.
Forgive: generally means to give up your right of revenge & desire to extract punishment for the offence...quit counting a "wrong" against the wrongdoer. But, know this spiritually:
The ability to give forgiveness is a virtue and very difficult for anyone to do truly & from the heart who is not indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Jesus warns of the dire personal consequences of an unforgiving heart [HERE]. Forgiveness has at least two aspects:
Say that we are friends, and you steal my valuable item (and I know that you did). I can forgive within myself and just buy myself another item. But you will lug around an internal burden of guilt until the day that you confess to me, and I accept you anyhow and forgive (and release you from the mental debt). For the sake of the divine fellowship of believers with God,
 | Jesus paid the redemptive, sacrificial price: |
| for all of mankind, and that redemption is actually personally effected/claimed upon saving belief and the fact of the new birth...being born again into the divine relationship of eternal salvation: a forgiveness that impacts eternity. |
The person can then gain future additional benefit with the constant unburdening (while still on Earth) that comes with his/her regular confessing (I John 1:9) of sins as he/she has them regularly revealed during his/her lifetime. For the sake of the fellowship between God & the believer, this process constantly releases the believer from the guilt of those sins.
The parable of the unmerciful servant makes it clear (Matthew 18:21-35) that a heavy price will be paid by believers who will not forgive other believers. But what Jesus asks may be just a way to make us realize that we NEED a savior and how thankful we are to have a savior...because there is no way we could hold to such a standard on our own will. See this website for some very moving accounts of forgiveness.
Gentiles:
all (not Jews) not descended from Abraham and Sara.
Generosity: a
virtue meaning to give willingly to others of what you have.
Glory: The Hebrew root word stands for importance; weightiness; heaviness; awesomeness. As to God, His unique significance and preeminence.
Glorify: do things to enhance something/someone very important to you; amplify,
hold up the importance of, show off, or emphasize their awesome importance. Glorification is the
state of being glorified...being held up as awesome. In effect, God says that
those close to him must glorify Him before all people (Leviticus 10:3).
Gospel:
Gospel = "good news". Here is the good news: (1) Jesus died to
pay the price for the sins of all mankind (savior), (2) Jesus affirmed/proved who
He is by arising from the dead, (3) Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is coming again to rule.
The original Greek word, "evangelion", means
"good news". Prior to its New Testament use, evangelion was most often
used to describe good news from the battlefield...a victory had been won when
this word was used. "God was reconciling the world to Himself in
Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:19)...these words being the essence of "the
gospel" message! Do you know the truth of the "good
news"?
Gnostic: one with a world view prizing "knowing" secret or special information that lifts one above the mundane & the all-to-human. A "knower".
Grace:
Unlike any other religion, Christianity is rooted in what God has done for
us. At the root of grace is what God has done & promises to do for
us! Grace is feelings, attitude, or actions toward someone in a
way or manner far better than they deserve. The grace of God is God's goodness
& kindness and free sovereign favor manifested toward the ill-deserving (all
humans)...to those who cannot possibly earn it (no human can earn it). Grace is God's
unmerited favor poured out on the undeserving. "Grace is the inexhaustible
supply of the goodness of God doing for us what we do not deserve, could never
earn, and would never be able to repay." There is never a
moment when the grace of God is shut off from the Jesus believer. His full and perfect
grace can not be earned and, yet, is fully available to all persons and
GUARANTEED to be delivered to all who will honor His goodness by believing in
Him the way He wants mankind to believe...through His son Jesus of Nazareth. The
first sovereign work of grace is salvation...the second, sanctification. Grace
gives the illusion of tolerance; and, if not properly interpreted, grace can be
incorrectly construed as a license to sin. Grace is the pipeline to the power of God!
Greed: a consistent desire to have more or demand the best without regard to
need.
Guilt: state of being wrong, in error, illegal, in sin. We are
"legally" guilty the moment we wrong or sin. Soul, heart, or spiritual
guilt builds quietly within, psychologically disturbing most (but not all)
people to varying degrees. Inability to personally shake off guilt, once it is
recognized, comes from a combination of failing to properly confess guilt and
from an inaccurate understanding of God and what He has done in
Jesus
Christ. Being saved believers, we will yet stumble many times. So, it is of
vital importance for the believer to remember that God has BESTOWED the
attribute of righteousness on the believer...we do not earn and re-earn that
attribute. By grace it is bestowed (yet not being a license to sin, either).
Beware especially of false guilt, one of Satan's favorite tools: it is the
condition of feeling guilty for something that we have not done (example: modern
southern Americans feeling guilty for the slavery that occurred 150 years ago).
On the other hand, even for the mature and active Jesus believer, guilt, though
painful, provides a very effective warning system to steer us away from
encountered sin, to convict one of a sinful act, to urge one toward confession
of the sin, and to aid one towards repentance from that sin.
Hallowed:
From the Biblical Greek "hagiazein", to treat as holy...set (higher,
not ordinary) apart, that is, to "hold sacred", to hold in reverence.
As to God, to give to God the reverence, the honor, the glory, the praise, the
exaltation, and the veneration which His character demands.
Happiness: Unlike joy, happiness is fickle and totally depends on a person's ever changing circumstances. The word refers to our overall sense of satisfaction with life at any given moment...depending on what is happening in our lives. joy and happy or happiness are not the same.
Hate: (1) commonly: intense dislike (2) sometimes in Bible: denied as
something of a highest priority (as in John 12:23-25...hate your life... and
Luke 14:26...hate your father and mother).
Heart: that center-core "self" within an individual
Hell: where souls go (or would have gone without the atonement of the death of Jesus) in the absence of being made righteous for Heaven with God. [more]
Heresy: doctrinal departures from revealed truth; the spreading of erroneous
information (for the Christian: spreading erroneous info about God, Jesus, the
Holy Spirit, and Christian matters). One who does such is an heretic.
Holy: designated in the position or status of being "set apart" (God, Himself,
is only perfectly holy; any human who is holy is only so through the declaration
of God...not by worthiness or fact) from all that is sinful. For the Christian,
the incoming indwelling of each believer by the Holy Spirit marks that person as
one set apart (holy) by God...one deemed by God to be in that position of being
holy.
Holy Spirit:
He is the "comforter" (Greek word Parakletos) or "paraklete"
entity of the triune God...God as His own personal representative here on
earth...the part of God to come alongside a person so as to lend strength and
encouraging support. [more]
Hope: A positive, wishful expectation for the future. True hope, real hope
comes from knowing the truth. It comes from seeing/experiencing, and/or
believing from historical/educational study, what is possible and believing that
it will come to pass.
Hour: in Biblical times, an hour was one twelfth of the daylight part of a day (see "time", below).
Humility:
the condition (and there is a whole spectrum of maturation
in it) of being humble and not thinking of yourself as being more important than
anyone else; humility lacks vanity; it does not require self-deprecation before
others; it is self-awareness that, in God's eyes and by God's perfect standards,
we all fall so far short that there is no divinely real difference between the
best of us and the worst of us. The opposite of
pride.
Individual: this implies a "person" with all the attributes that make them unique. See here; also "person" and "personality", below.
Idolatry:
the state of giving top priority to some thing or activity or "god"
other than the one, true God of Abraham. It involves: (1) constructing a mental
idea of a deity that bears little resemblance to the God who actually exists;
and/or (2)the giving of respectability to our own opinions of God formed out of
our own likeness; and/or (3) fashioning an idea of God according to our personal
inclinations and preferences.
Whether one dances around, or kneels before, a
little statue or not is the least relevant; the lowered priority (less than #1)
and/or inaccurate view (non-Biblical) of who/what God is represent the key
components of idolatry. To put it in words as easily understandable as possible:
top-priority faith and dependency on anything
ahead of God and His will represents a kind of (maybe unconscious and ignorant)
idolatry! Pray to be cleansed entirely of idolatry!
Integrity:
the state of your "togetherness"...whether you "have it all
together"...BUT, importantly, the word has to do with how well and smoothly
all of the "parts" of you are fitting and functioning together to form
ONE WHOLE "you"...how much your "you" is the same
"you" whether it be Saturday, Sunday, at work or at home, out with the
boys or at lunch with the preacher. It is the opposite of the type of
"compartmentalization of self" for which president Clinton is so
famous. By custom, and much more narrowly, we tend to use "integrity"
in reference to those who have "got it together" with their virtues on
a very high moral plane.
Jealous: desire to be #1 in the minds of a person or others as to any of a
variety of things; that emotion of displeasure with someone else's good fortune.
Jesus: is the savior of mankind, the son of God, being the second person of the Trinitarian God, the one born in Bethlehem and a resident of Nazareth. The name "Jesus" is from the Hebrew "Yeshua" which means: "Yahweh saves" or "Jehova's deliverer". Years later it became "Iesous" in Greek, and later being "Jesus" in English. As the prophesied messiah, in Hebrew: "Ha-Mashiah"...messiah, many Jewish Christians refer to Jesus as: "Yeshua Ha-Mashiah".
John: at least when applied to John the Baptist, the name means
"God is graceous".
Joy: This refers to a sort of state of mind operating in a positive and uplifting manner from a position of divinely granted positional strength, despite a person's circumstances. Because of "joy", one can rejoice even during severe trials. The divinely secured position from which one exudes joy is that of being a child of God through the true acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior: (1) there is, therefore, a personal relationship between the true believer and Jesus; and (2) the indwelling of the Holy Spirit serves as a wellspring of joy as you become more and more like Jesus. Joy is not the same as happiness.
Justice: receiving consequences which your actions deserve. Jesus satisfied the
justice of God by taking upon Himself the death penalty that sinful humanity
deserved.
Justification:
the process of assembling evidence to show that your
position is "right". A teenager tries to "justify" his/her
desire to stay up late on a school night. As to God and
"justification", it is a sovereign and divine act whereby an
infinitely holy God judicially declares a believing and still-sinning sinner to
be righteous and acceptable...judicially pronounced "cleaned up"... before Him because Jesus has borne
the sinner's sin on the cross and actually become the believer's state of
righteousness as seen by God..."just as if" (just i fy) the sinner had
never sinned. Jesus' willing and God-planned death on the cross completely
(there is not a single thing a human can add to what Jesus did...Jesus will be
all or none...no amount of "works" adds a thing) paid the price of
justification for the redemption all of mankind, for all past, present, and future sin.
Therefore, in doing so, Jesus performed THE act that a PERFECT God agrees with
and on which basis eternal afterlife salvation is "justified". IF/when an
"elect" person will use his/her free-will choice and make a decision to believe in Jesus
and that Jesus did it, the person will have a new life on earth. In John 19:30 Jesus declares the work of justification,
"It is finished." Justification is a available by the grace, alone, of
God...because of Jesus at/on the cross; and it is absorbed by the believer by
the mechanism of faith, alone; and the reflection/manifestation of such
conscious appropriation (acceptance and receipt of) of justification is
"works" or "doing" as an earthly Christian.
THE LAW: Commandments
issued by God to show us how perfect we must be....thereby showing the futility
of trying on our own...thereby finally to convince us, once and for all, that we
MUST have a savior...to lead us to Jesus (Galatians 3:24); and He sent Jesus as
that savior to save us. Condemnation is the opposite of justification.
Lie: a fundamental vice, being the loveless misuse of language, behavior,
and actions with the conscious or subconscious intentional and premeditated
design of deceiving another....never an accident or a slip.
"lost
persons": (lost; the lost) this
is a New Testament biblical term describing the spiritual condition of persons
who have not received Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. To the Jesus believer, this a
"tag" for sadly labeling...NOT for passing judgment...people who
either actually deny Jesus or who appear not to be actual true
believers...destined for an eternity separated from God. We cease to be lost
when our own internal spirit is made alive by being born again (John 3:1-21).
Thereby, the believer
can choose to involve himself in that lost person's life so as to be a
participant in the dynamic process
leading to a choice for Jesus...for eternal salvation.
Love: God is love. Jesus is able to transform a person into one who can truly love...He is the agent for implanting this divine attribute into mankind. This word has 3 big meanings. (1) Erotic (from eros) love is sexual love. (2) Filial (from Greek, philo..."I love") love is not about sex but about attachment to, and a particular personal affection for, a person. (3) Agape love is a high-minded virtuous devotion (Greek agapas) out of personal judgment and deliberate choice to be devoted to a person. And, see the 5 love languages identified by Gary Chapman [here]: giving/receiving physical touch, giving/receiving words of affirmation, giving/receiving acts of service, giving/receiving quality time, & giving/receiving gifts [short love essay here]. As to love for The Lord, such love is demonstrated by obedience. Death is the opposite of love!
Loyalty: an
essential ingredient in your relationship with our triune God...devotion to
God...a thing of the heart....a sort of steadfast, faithful love. It is a factor
which can grow and grow.
Lust: stimulated fleshly desire.
Magi: these were people from "The East" who brought gold
(symbolizing a lavish gift for a king), frankincense (a fragrance symbolizing
divinity), and myrrh (an embalming herb, foreshadowing His death) to Jesus as an
act of worship, making them the first gentiles to worship Jesus [see shepherd,
below]. Magi were experts in astrology and magic.
Meek: the condition, state, or attitude of bridled power...tamed strength. A
calm, gentle temper of mind, not easily provoked. Meekness is not weakness. The opposite of wimpy. The meek will
inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5, KJV).
Mercy: not receiving what (punishment) you justly deserve.
Minister:
a Christian servant to the local body of believers by way of an attitude that
those believers are superior to the one ministering to their needs. A chain of
command or organization is implied: from Jesus at the top (the Great High Priest
of God) down to each individual believer who is willing to take up his/her
ministry to others.
Name: In modern times, this word indicates that which one is called by...what
is your name? In Biblical times, the "name" summarized and manifested
the personal character of him/her who was named. As the "name" is
uttered, a major part of the verbal experience is the emotion...in a flash...of
the memory of all that the named person stands for. As to God, the Name of God
means the nature, the character, and the personality of God as they have been
revealed to us.
Obey, obedience:
doing what is asked or commanded. Obedience is the language of love to God...if
you obey Him, obedience expresses your love for Him. Jesus Christ is life's
Great Liberator; obedience is the threshold, and the Great Liberator knocks at
your door!
Ordinance:
"ordinance" and "sacrament" are similar, with sacrament
inclined toward the sacredness of it and ordinance inclined toward the divine
authority with which it was ordered or ordained......a divine vehicle through
which power flows.
Ordination: usually a ceremony & usually associated with a laying on of hands by those already set apart and vested with ministerial authority...an act of the organized church; no example of Jesus doing such.
Passion (of Christ): In the era of Jesus, a suffering or enduring of imposed or inflicted pain; any suffering or distress; specifically, the suffering of Christ between the time of the last supper and his death, esp. in the garden upon the cross. Our modern definition is more about a strong desire or drive.
Pastor: a shepherd over the congregation of believers, who.
| orders
the worship service and preaches the Word |
| provides
and oversees the care of the congregation (that local body of believers) |
| functions
as the head of that local body of believers |
Peace:
The meaning of this most-important word quickly comes to mind for most people
as: the absence of conflict and/or turmoil...even the absence of war...and the
removal of tension from a situation.. Jesus means much more in
John
14:27, however. But what about inner frustrations due to unfulfilled dreams,
unreached potential, or disillusioning circumstances? True peace is an internal
thing...it abides no matter what the external circumstances...and it can
dissolve all of that disappointment and frustration! It springs from an
innermost source. While other solutions can touch positively on that innermost
source, the complete enablement of that inner source can only be switched
on by the inner presence of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Only He can
deliver the true, inner peace that settles your mind and spirit!
Here's
how!
Penitent:
repentant, sorrowful, contrite, in a mood to make amends.
The penitential church wide period in the church calendar is the
Lent
season.
Perplexed: the apostle Paul used it to mean that point of feeling that "there is absolutely no way out" of the situation you are in. A more modern definition would call it a state of complex, tangled confusion about what to do about something.
Person: a being...this word encompasses human and spiritual beings. The Trinity = God in 3 persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit).
Personality: the manner in which a person expresses who they are in everyday actions. Gary Smalley has popularized four types [see as a parameter of components of individualness here].
Praise: appreciating someone's worth and value by telling them the ways and
attributes which you find so valuable. Linked also to thanksgiving and worship.
Prayer: the act of communing with God...becoming "one" with God...relating deliberately with God. God already knows what you need before you ask (Matthew 6:8). Some "how to" info [here]. Lord's prayer [here].
Preacher:
one who speaks publicly, giving a religious discourse, usually based on a text
of Scripture.
Predestined: set aside in a special category [here]
Pride: attitude of a "not-depending-on-God" type of self-dependency;
self-preoccupation, inordinate self-esteem, vainglory ; a putting of
"self" on the throne...in essence, the deification of self; C. S.
Lewis is said to have pronounced "pride"
to be THE GREAT SIN. [the MASTER sin]
Priest: A person with a double outreach ministry. He/she reaches out toward both God & man as a mediator, aiming to stand between the two and help bring them together toward unification. Priesthood would relate similarly.
Prodigal:
as an adjective [the prodigal son...Luke 15:11-32], it means extravagantly
wasteful and squandering of what one already has or is being given (money,
talent, position, opportunity, relationship). A prodigal person (noun) is one
who acts that way. The prodigal son squandered both his inheritance and position
until he found himself eating with hogs. Many a believer has a prodigal season
within their walk with Jesus (saved when young and squander the "saved
relationship" and position until turning back to the Lord in later life).
Promised Land:
All of that land promised by God to Abraham and his descendants
(Israelites/Jews), "From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the
great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the
great sea [Mediterranean] toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast
[Joshua 1:4]." Compared to modern-day Israel, this is a more vast
promise...but the people failed to obey God's details for a complete conquest.
Prophet:
one who is divinely inspired to communicate God's word to His people and to
disclose the future (such a disclosure is a prophecy) to them. Everything a
divine prophet declares will come true. They gave a divine perspective on
historical events. Old Hebrew law required the death penalty to anyone claiming
prophetic visions if the visions were in error or did not come to pass.
Prophetic status was not claimed lightly.
[prophecy
about Jesus]
Propitiation:
a sacrifice bringing forth grace. By His sacrificial death,
Jesus was a propitiation in the God-mankind relationship....causing God to be
propitious (grace filled) toward mankind...fulfilling the need for a perfect
atonement for the sins of all of mankind.
Rapture, the:
the sudden "taking up"...rapture...
of all those, dead or alive, who are "His (the sheep in the sheepfold of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth)" upon His sudden and unknowable time of
return...I Thessalonians 4:13-18.
Reconcile:
get it straightened out; get it worked out.
Redemption:
while in Biblical times it meant "to release on receipt of a ransom",
a modern view is the state of having been "bought back" (as from a pawn shop) or of
making your value activated (the value of a coupon is activated when it is
turned in); when Jesus died on the cross it was as if he caused a coupon, good
for eternal life in heaven, to be available forever after to every human
being...when a person reaches "saving belief" in Jesus, the coupon is
"made good", redeemed, for that person.
Regenerated:
a process (born again) triggered after conversion (deciding to accept God's
gift) in which one receives God's gift of salvation by remission of sin
and is aware that he has received something from God...he/she is different,
regenerated. Regeneration then triggers the process of
rehabilitation/sanctification. Though regeneration has happened, sinful inner
corruption still remains...we are in need of cleansing and perfecting. You
accept the gift; you receive the gift; you begin the change of your life into
The Way.
Religion:
Religion can be defined as a set of beliefs that answer the ultimate questions:
(1) What is humanity's primary problem? (2) What happens after death? (3) What
is ultimate reality?
There are many different religions. Some recognize a deity. Others believe in
nothingness. Some worship many gods.
What you believe in, whether in nothingness, many different gods, or some other
deity, is an attempt to fill the void deep within each person. Humanity is
uncomfortable with this spiritual void. People are searching for the sacred.
There is a quest for inner peace and meaning for life...in an effort to fill the
aching void.
Religious:
The opposite of secular; a depending on God (the Christian depends on God by way
of Jesus as the "High Priest" who intercedes and has paid the price
for the individual Christian believer so that the believer has a right to depend
on God) factors in life as "The Way" of life.
Remembrance:
the recurring Biblical imperative to "remember" the past great actions
of God/Jesus....whether to a people or in your own individual family or
self...is not just so we will review the facts with gratitude and appreciation,
but to trigger decisions for renewal and to trigger re-realization of the
ongoing receipt of the benefits.
Repent: change
your mind about an issue, action, habit, etc. To repent implies that a decision
of commitment to change must be made. D. L. Moody is quoted as saying, "Repentance is the tear in
the eye of faith."
Reprove: admonish,
convict, find fault. The work of the Holy Spirit will include the reproving of
mankind (John 16:8).
Restraint: a
virtue having to do with our responsibilities of teaching and warning
others...as to spiritual matters...toward the gift of salvation. We give the
message without judgment or anxiety...we point to the wide-open door. We must
be creative and personalizing in the giving of the message so that they can hear
it; THEN, the hearer makes a choice.
Righteous: That which does right by God. By the grace of God, the mercies of God continually sustain and undercut any simple division of the righteous from the unrighteous (Romans 1:18-3:20).
Saint: a "called out" one...called out by God in your new birth as a
Jesus follower..."one set apart" by God through Jesus Christ...the
believer's new spiritual identity
Salvation:
that state of having your soul saved/rescued from eternal damnation; and, while
alive on earth, living a saved/rescued life as a person indwelt by the Holy
Spirit of the God of Abraham. That is, one is brought to the place where one is
able to RECEIVE something from God...the remission of sin. WHY did God save us?
Not because of our faith, but because of His perfect Love. HOW did we merit His
salvation? We didn't...it is totally undeserved and is available by His grace,
alone; we do not work our way into deserving salvation...it is not won by works.
Through faith and by God's grace alone (because of the finished work of the
redemptive sacrifice of Jesus on the cross of Calvary) the Jesus believer is
saved for eternity. Being a God of perfect purpose, we are saved for what
PURPOSE? God is intrinsically (by His perfect attribute of love) motivated to
"save" us so that He has a desired eternal set of relationships: He to
receive eternal worship, praise, and glory from us; and we are to be objects and
recipients of His eternal kindness and love. The
gospel (good news) message may
be a complex theological truth whose depth is inexhaustible, but God has opened
this door for the rescue of mankind in a way so simple that a small child can
"get it": "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved"
(Acts 16:30-31). As James 2:14-26 portrays, this state of being saved should
manifest itself, however, by doing and works. The truly saved are quickly
indwelt by the Holy Spirit and anointed by the Spirit with one or more spiritual
gifts given for the building up of The Church.
check
out a synthesis
Sanctification:
the condition in the believer...a life-long
evolution...whereby (and we progress along a maturing spectrum throughout our
believing lives) he/she has moved from Christian "conversion" (coming
to belief) to
"regeneration". And he/she has begun rehabilitation by deliberately
(exercise of free will) giving up his/her "right" to himself/herself
(self-centeredness) and giving that right over to the arisen Jesus Christ.
Thereby, he/she progresses to a self-identification which focuses more and more on
God's interest in other people...increasing in Christ-likeness and
Christ-centeredness. One must begin to think like a believer before one can
really act like (rather than to sincerely pretend) a believer. Sanctification means intense concentration on God's point
of view. It is the "being saved" and being baptized and being
regenerated, experiential salvation life on
earth. It is the process of cleansing, of rehabilitating, and of perfecting the
believer. It
is a Holy-Spirit-empowered impartation (in
a willing believer) of His (Jesus') attributes into the believer...not
an imitation of the attributes of
Jesus by the believer. It means being made one with Jesus so that the
disposition that ruled Him will rule us. Sanctification is "Christ in you".
[check
out a synthesis]
Secular; secularism; secular humanism:
the non-religious arena...a depending on the non-religious factors in life as
"the way" of life. Secularism doesn't necessarily deny God, but it is
the practical exclusion of God from our thinking and living. It is
"this-worldliness". God becomes a
remote or merely historical figure lacking contact with the real problems of our
day; and "humanism" suggests that the innate powers and potential of
"man" and humanity hold the solutions for societies.
Seek: to search for; and, as to the Trinitarian God of
Abraham, seeking has more to do with searching out a personal relationship
between yourself and God than it has to do with seeking knowledge about God. It
has to do with experiencing and
hearing from and seeing the activities of God.
Servant: one who is committed to cause someone else to succeed...one who is
moldable, obedient, and remains in the "master's" hand (ready and
available)...and one who remembers who is actually accomplishing The Work: God.
Shepherd:
people who tend herds of livestock...in Biblical days, the livestock being goats
and sheep. The shepherds, in "Shepherd's Field" between Jerusalem and
Bethlehem, who heard the angelic announcement of the birth of Jesus became the
first Jews to worship Jesus [see Magi, above].
Sin: Sin came into the world through the disobedience of Adam & Eve [a short story]. Sin is of two kinds:
| very far gone from original righteousness or the pure state at the time of their creation & open to the internal incoming of evil spirits; &, |
| in a state of fundamental aversion to God; &, |
| is without a holy spiritual life; &, |
| is inclined continually to actual/personal evil and; &, is so |
| until the heart is cleansed by the incoming baptism of the Holy Spirit. |
| a voluntary violation of a known law (commandments) of God by one capable of knowing right from wrong, which |
| is not to be confused with involuntary and inescapable shortcomings, infirmities, faults, mistakes, failures, or other deviations from a standard of perfect conduct that are the residual effects of "the Fall" of original sin; and/or, |
| includes attitudes or responses contrary to the spirit of Christ, which may properly be called sins of the spirit; and/or, |
| there are sins we commit (sins of commission) and sins due to failure to do things (sins of omission). |
| Personal sin is primarily and essentially a violation of the law of love. |
Sin is commonly thought of as active, willful, definite, negative rebellion against God...a great amount of it able to be characterized in absolute terms...beginning with the ten commandments. Sin has the immediate and certain effect of placing separation or hindrance in the relationship between the person and God. Sin...in both attitude or behavior...acts to dam up the self-realization of the flow of God's grace into a person's life. KEY POINT: there is no such thing as private sin...ALL sin is against God, first and foremost. No sin...white lies or other...is considered trivial! All sin has a root, and that root runs directly to a basic, unfulfilled need. Except for "pride", all sins cry out, "I have a need!" Pride cries out, "I need nothing! I can manage by myself!" The essence of sin is a shift from positive God-centeredness to self-centeredness...it is anything which detracts from the glory of God. Because it can, therefore, be so subtle and unrecognized, we need to pray to the Holy Spirit to search us and convict us of any unrecognized and unconfessed sin. KEY POINT: because we let the evil spirits in, those spirits act out the sins through us. Such evil spirits can be cast out in the name of Jesus! We are familiar with one small church used by God to help cast such spirits out.
Soul: Only two things on earth are eternal: the soul of each human and the Word of God. The soul is the non-material sum of a person's mind, will, emotions, and spirit. God speaks to your soul through the window called your "spirit"; Satan speaks through the window called "flesh".
Sovereign:
as referring to God: His absolutely supreme headship and power over all things.
He can cause to have anything done which He desires to be done. He does not NEED
your money, your commitment, your approval, your support, your vote or anything
from anyone. If He desires that a thing occur, it can/will be done...no matter
what. He is under no external restraint whatsoever. Yet...though He is the
supreme dispenser of all events...He has determined, from the time of Adam and
Eve forward, that an unknowable proportion of the totality of what a
"man" does will be according to mans' own free will.
Spirit: A person's internal spirit is the "window" through which God communicates with your soul. This spirit is like a radio or TV receiver of all information of the senses and brain thoughts...and it is somewhat self-tuning on its receiver dials...the receptor sites that are activated the most become the most sensitive...the most attuned...to their stimulants (righteous receptors vs. lust receptors, for example). A person is composed of a physical self, a soul self, and a spirit self (spirit being a component of soul). Demonic (sinful) and angelic (righteous) spirits (evil vs. good) can influence & entice your spirit to conceive a desire within you about which you make a decision or choice to act or not act on that desire. If a sinful thought stimulates your spirit lust receptor for that sin, you may ignore it; or, that thought might carry you away to conceive lustful thinking of you carrying out that thought...and you may go ahead and do the thing. "Sin of commission" (you "commit" a sin) is from the point of conception through the act of the sin.
Stewardship:
The natural state of man, in a world in which all is owned by God, is that man
has no eternal possessions. Mans' "ownership" of anything of this
world terminates at death. But the concept of stewardship goes further: this is
God's world; all in it belongs... in every respect...to God.
Everything...including our minds, talents, abilities, physical attributes, and
personalities...is on loan from God. Implied in the term "stewardship"
is that we must have the attitude of good and capable managers, heads,
overseers, and/or ambassadors of all that God owns and/or has temporarily gifted
us with.
Submit to:
as in "wives are to submit to husbands". The biblical meaning is that
one "put their things in order under"...[example]
Substitution:
the human race is acceptable to God, not because of any human merit, but because
of the death (as a propitiation...see above) of Jesus (who died, not primarily
out of sympathy, care, or love for humans) who did so out of love and
obedience to the Father (the Father having conceived of reconciliation through
propitiation). The sin of mankind (past, present, and future) had to be
paid for...God's perfect attribute of "justice" requiring
satisfaction. In obedience, Jesus...as our substitute...took/bore all of this
sin upon himself and died for mankind. By substitution, Jesus became the
atonement resulting in the manifestation of God's grace: God's grace is
expressed as a salvation invitation to any human, in any condition, and under
any circumstance who will believe that Jesus did this substitution for us and
ask Jesus to come into their heart and be their personal savior.
Tempt...temptation: a solicitation that catches your notice...a stimulation of your spirit receptors. Temptation is not a sin; having a thought about the sin is not a sin; but conception (thinking about you doing the sin) begins the sin which is completed when you actually "do" it. It is the choosing to enjoy and/or act on the desire that converts from temptation to sin.
Tenacity:
is much more than endurance...it is endurance combined with the absolute
certainty that what we are working at or seeking will be completed or
found. A stubborn refusal to believe that your effort will fail...that your
patience will not be rewarded.
Testament: a noun meaning a legal-like promise such as a will or agreement; a covenant. The Bible is divided into the Old Covenant (testament) & the New Covenant (testament).
Thanksgiving:
a grateful acknowledgement of benefits, favors, and helps bestowed on you by
someone. Related to praise and worship.
Theology: Theology is reasoned discourse concerning beliefs about God. So, there are as many variations concerning theological beliefs as there are people who recognize God: no two people maintain the exact same set of beliefs about God. And, even a single individual person's theology changes with time, experience, and study.
Thorough: done to a degree of completeness [more] & with attention to detail so as to be an effort of excellence.
Time: Mechanical or electronic clocks did not exist in ancient times; however, the people of Bible History still measured the time of day by "hours." The equivalent term for hour is first found recorded in the Scriptures in the book of Daniel, and later, in the words of Jesus, "Are there not twelve hours in the day?" (John 11:9). The term "hour" referred to a period of time, one-twelfth of the daylight part of the day. While daylight is longer in summer than in winter, and therefore summer "hours" were longer than winter "hours," as a general rule the first hour was equivalent to 6 to 7 am on a modern-day clock, and so on.
Tolerance: a
virtue...the personal condition of being willing to accept, relate to (without
displays of damaging rejection), those who are different than you.
Transfiguration:
the happening on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-13; Luke
9:28-36) wherein Jesus was
caused to shine like the sun; and, in the presence of Moses (the old
covenant...The Law) and Elijah (the prophets), Jesus (the new covenant) had his
deity verified by the voice of God which was clearly heard by three witnesses
(James, John, and Peter) and attested to by Peter in his last writings (II Peter
1:17).
Truth: As a noun, this word has to do with what is true,
actual, accurate, and correct. Truth has these characteristics:
| has universality: it is
the same for all and can not be private (only your opinion can be private). |
| is objective: it
corresponds with what is "out there". You can't just make up your
own truth. |
| is without contradiction:
qualified, honest, and truthful persons may contend the truth but can not
produce compelling evidence against "truth". |
| it can be known: while
truth may be difficult to elucidate or learn, it is inherently knowable. |
| originates in God: Jesus
is the person of "the truth", "I am the way, and the truth,
and the life." [quoting Jesus, himself, in John 14:6] And the Holy
Spirit is the power behind THE TRUTH! |
Virtue: personal, acquired attributes [here]...helping toward moral goodness... given
by God through Jesus so that our lives are changed in such a way that we reflect
the "right" of righteousness in such a way that we are salt and light
to a fallen world (Colossians I, chapter 1).
Walk: a persons "walk" is his/her daily way of living this life on earth.
Wisdom:
an attribute of being skillful to judge or discern while using intelligence,
sensibleness, and reasonableness. [getting
wisdom, a process flow chart].............[the
keys in Proverbs 1-4]
Works: things done for the advancement of the cause and Kingdom of Christ and giving & performing acts for others in the name of Jesus and to the glory of God. Works have the danger of becoming idols and sources for boastful pride both in the doer of the works and the congregation to which that worker belongs. Pressure to do works can become the source of both rebellion (I'm quitting...they are asking too much) and despair (I'm no good...I can't do as much as he does). And works can even be a doctrine of requirement to justify getting into Heaven in some religions.
Worry: from German "wurgen" = "to choke"; to strangle or choke the mind
or harass the mind with anxiety.
Worship: from the older English word "worthship" meaning pondering and praising the worth of the subject being "worthshipped"; actions of a positive inner "heart" response of love and positive feelings and commitment to someone/-thing. To worship means to awaken the conscience to the holiness of God. What/who do you worship?...hopefully only the triune God!
Yoke: as Jesus spoke of taking on His yoke, he had in mind the yoke placed on animals to help them submit to the pulling of the plow or the wagon (pulling a load)...submitting to toiling with the master. It symbolizes submission of the yoke bearer to the yoke giver. For a true Jesus believer to discard the yoke of Christ is like a bird deciding to discard its feathers!!
check
out this web site's site index
(posted March 1998; latest addition 17 December 2008]