As we approach Holy week, I thought let’s ‘break bread words’ together that might give us meaning, understanding and love of living holy lives. Today let’s look at Holy! Let’s share what we know about it and hope to expand our knowing as we share our ‘bread words’ together.
News Worthy Bullentin:
1 Peter 1:15… “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, 16) for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 17) Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners.” Berean Study Bible
Holy for me and my limited daily thoughts in knowing Jesus Christ as Lord, Savior, Prophet, Priest and King would be; Holy, I’m set apart for sacred use.
I would like to share a photo taken by Allan Hunt, OBX, of paint strokes of the sky by the Holy One! . Please say a healing prayer for Allan as he is on a healing journey.
thedailylily.com 
What a tremendously beautiful photo “of paint strokes of the sky by the Holy One!”. Thank you for sharing the glory of it with us, Sara.
I pray for Allan Hunt, that the Lord will touch him with His mighty strokes of healing power; enabling him to fully recover and continue using his incredible gift of photographic art.
Thank you Debi! What a tremendous gift you have given a great photographer, Allan Hunt, of God’s creation. A prayer of healing and hope.
I read these words (below) just this am and I thought,yes, that’s just for Debi! I join with God in giving thanks to Debi for the beautiful creative work she does through live plants and blooms as well as art for the longetivity of the bloom.
“IN NAMING OUR GIFTS and experiencing ourselves as enough, we honor God’s work of creation. My spiritual director often asks me: “Have you allowed God to thank you?” Her question can remind us to create space to hear God’s gratitude for the ways we choose to share life with God. It can be difficult to let God thank us for the work we do,…” —Lauren Burdette
This Life That Is Ours: Motherhood As Spiritual Practice
The ‘break bread words’ word that I would like to share “that might give us meaning, understanding and love of living holy lives” is ‘work’.
As I thought on the blog, and looked at Alan Hunts photo, I thought of a flower picture and a quote from Sara’s book, “Dressing for His Glory – On Pursuing Excellence”. Both come from a chapter that has probably impacted my life more than any other of her many Biblical books. It is “Lesson 8 -A Flower of THE SUN” – The Work of the Lord”. The flower is a sunflower, containing the same vibrant hues as Alan Hunt’s picture. Sara’s quote is, “I’m a great believer in work. I find the more work I do, the more work I’m given to do.” Sara told us: “Sunflower: this flower abounds in the work of the Lord.”
The main Bible text for this lesson was I Cor 15:58 AMP: “Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose].”
The supporting texts were I Cor 3:8-15 and Psalm 62:11-12.
Sara also quotes advice in this chapter from Dr. Karl Menninger, famous psychiatrist, that I believe can be of great help in our struggles, pursuit of holiness and in fulfilling I Cor 15:58. She said he, “…once gave a lecture on Mental Health and was answering questions from the audience. Question: “What would you advise a person to do, asked one man, if that person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?” Most people expected him to reply, “Consult a psychiatrist.” To their astonishment, he replied, “Lock up your house, go across the railway tracks, find someone in need and Do Something to help that person.”
Debi, I love a book that never, ever grows old. I have that book, torn and ragged by my chair in every room of my home it seems. The new me has it in multi versions with commentators galore in my pointer finger. WOW the joy of sharing the Book of Eternal life with all that I’m allowed to meet, great and share is more awesome than a bite from the apple! Yippee! It’s an apple that loves my pointer finger!
I am so grateful to my sons for keeping me updated on my “Book” the Bible by an Apple computer and many other Apple devices that has changed my life in reading and study. Thank you God for technology. And two sons that keep me learning and growing in knowledge.
Debi, I can’t tell you how I love your quotes from old work books that never grow old either because look what you quoted, “ The main Bible text for this lesson was I Cor 15:58 AMP: “Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord [always doing your best and doing more than is needed], being continually aware that your labor [even to the point of exhaustion] in the Lord is not futile nor wasted [it is never without purpose].”
The word that caused me to rise and soar this morning was “always” did you hear it Debi, always. The thought I had is if you have pulse it’s in the always column!
And, certainly. Dr. Karl Menninger, famous psychiatrist, knew the always! Many great men and women have known and now know and they share from forever and always truth. What a mighty God found in The Bible in the New and Old Testament we know and we can all know! One of my favorite thoughts, ““But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.”Deuteronomy 4:29 NLT
WOW! What a joy to be a “chosen one”! Have you ever watched a child’s eyes being told they are going to Disney🤗 The ones I have seen begin to name their new names and move and live in their new Disney clothes. Whatever the latest movie or star may be. Here we have the best news to hail, we are a child of God and a big boxes of clothes beyond imagination. All we have to do is dress ourselves and the magic begins. Did you catch the love hugs and kisses you are? Holy and beloved.
“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.”
—Colossians 3:12, NRSV
“Today let’s look at holy! Lets share what we know about it” I thought I could start with the actual definition of holy, from the dictionary??:
“DICTIONARY
Search for a word
ho·ly
/ˈhōlē/
Learn to pronounce
adjective
1.
dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose; sacred.
“the Holy Bible”
synonyms: sacred, consecrated, hallowed, sanctified, venerated, revered, reverenced, divine, religious, blessed, blest..”
Tammy, thanks for the power words!
They sure ignite fire in the inner man and strength and energy to our daily task!
I chose from your list “Blessed”. And, starting my song;
“Chorus:
I am blessed
I am blessed
Every day of my life
I am blessed
When I wake up in the morning
And I lay my head to rest
Every day of my life I am blessed”
Whoa! I like your definition and words. Maybe tomorrow I will pick from our blessing words, divine!
How about the synonym, sacred?
“sacred
/ˈsākrəd/
Learn to pronounce
adjective
connected with God (or the gods) or dedicated to a religious purpose and so deserving veneration”. Would it be correct to say to be holy is to be connected with God or dedicated to a religious purpose?
Tammy, you’re A+pro with ‘break bread words‘ !
Sacred, I’m connected to God because I am holy👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
THE LAST SUPPER, breaking bread (words we are studying), is a meal in the midst of conflict where Jesus names the conflicts in the room, and then gives bread, the gift of forgiveness! We know Jesus washed feet as well. Awee, yes we are so connected to our Lord Jesus in ways we struggle at times to understand. Yet, He never changes and continues to love us His Beloved. ❤️
Sara, I love your creative description above of being a ‘chosen one’! You can just feel the excitement reading your words.
This statement of yours grabbed my attention, “All we have to do is dress ourselves and the magic begins.”
I thought about getting dressed and ready and ran back to your book, “Dressing for His Glory – On Pursuing Excellence” to see if there was something suitable in this wardrobe for the occasion. I found something in “Lesson 3, Image: The Beauty of Jesus; Flower: The Lily – The Trumpet Call”. The question under “God’s Desires for Us” was, “How does God desire to dress us from the following passages of scripture?”
Here are the answers found there:
“Psalm 149:4 “For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;
He will beautify the humble with salvation.”
Matt.11:28-30 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Eph. 2:4-7 “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Psalm 149:4 “For the Lord takes pleasure in His people…..
Debi, love your night devotion writing. Hey, I’m taking ‘pleasure’for my night thoughts. The Lord takes pleasure in me! Now that’s a great sleeping thought!
Thanks Tammy for sharing all the synonyms of holy…lots to think on!
One of the synonyms you shared that stood out to me was ‘sanctified’. I kept thinking of the scripture from 2 Timothy 2:21, “So if anyone cleanses himself of what is unfit, he will be a vessel for honor: sanctified, useful to the Master, and prepared for every good work”.
And that scripture reminded me of a poem several of us read, studied and shared at the retreat Sara led when she taught from her book, “Dressing from His Glory- On Pursuing Excellence”. The poem, ” Earthen Vessels (author unknown)” was our mid-term exam. I often think of the vessel in that poem and get encouraged.
Here are a few verses from the poem:
“Close to His feet on the pathway,
Empty, and frail, and small,
An earthen vessel was lying,
Which seemed no use at all:
But the Master saw, and raised it
From the dust in which it lay,
And smiled, as He gently whispered,
“This shall do my work today:
It is but an earthen vessel,
But it lay close to Me;
It is small, but it is empty
This is all it needs to be.”
….the poem continues with the Master filling and using this vessel to water His drooping lilies…it ends with this verse:
“Close would I keep to the Master,
Empty would I remain,
And perhaps some day He may use me
To water His flowers again.”
Debi, I have loved the poem that has fascinated many over time. I read somewhere more recently the title might have been, The Watered Lilies.
https://www.whatsaiththescripture.com/Poetry/The.Watered.Lilies.html
As we know we thedailylilies are The Watered Lilies. Would you say that’s a WOW!
“As we know we thedailylilies are The Watered Lilies. Would you say that’s a WOW!”
Yes, I would agree, Sara.
Imagine sitting downs with Jesus at the “last Supper, The Lord’s Supper”! We might be practicing our bread words with a nervous twitch hoping not to say the wrong words….yet, if we followed Jesus and His breaking of Words they were authentic. Spoken with a heart so open we might say, Jesus was/is an open book.
They had taken their places and started eating, what are the first words that we hear Jesus say? He says, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” He added, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me…” Mark 14:17-20
Whoa! As we are forever learning many and many more characteristics of
Jesus we learn here, Jesus was a master of words. Jesus knew their was conflict and more to come and what did He do? He named the conflict! Healing requires naming it and naming it Jesus did, Betrayal!
Today, the naming from an authentic heart of one man keeps the live virus vaccine after thousands of years available to heal the sin sick soul. . The naming and revealing the conflict becomes a soothe salve.
Betrayal became forgiveness and healing.
Interesting that this is a Word study. At Bible Study Fellowship we are encouraged to do a Word study as we sit and meditate on His Word. God must be raining down that we have need to delve into a Word to find nuggets we have not discovered yet.
Debi you quoted some lines from the poem, “Earthen Vessels”.
I have selectively chosen some of the lines to share a story.
“Close o His feet on the pathway
A earthen vessel was lying…
From the dust to which it lay…..
He gently whispered This shall do my work today
….It is small, but empty
This is all it needs to be”
When it was heard by a youth leader a friend of her’s was told by her doctor,“No Yard Work”. She thought, here are the youth I teach (earthen vessels) who are close to you but need to serve you. They have strength to do yard work, so let’s be the Master’s hand to help my friend. They came to the lady’s home carrying their shovels in hand, weeding, trimming, trenching, and mulching. Kindness and caring poured out. The lady was so appreciative and blessed and humbled to God for using this vessel, a Youth Group, to serve. This vessel is now looking again for the Master’s call to serve Him.
Aren’t we glad God has use of us and has not left us along the side of life’s road with nothing to give. Jesus came to serve so when called
you can count on it that He has fully equipped you. Hebrews 13:21
equips you with every good thing to do His will…
Jesus came to served and gave His life.
Rena, Seems we have so much more for “The Master” to pour out from us when we have mastered the gift of receiving.
Until one receives the gifts given in spirit by other flawed vessels we may struggle with compassion and understanding of another’s helplessness.
Rena your story above of those that came to do the yard work seemed to be a great example of ‘chosen ones’ appropriately dressed for work in the scripture that Sara shared above: “As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.”
—Colossians 3:12, NRSV”