Well, this has been a hard few weeks.... mom-in-law, sis-in-law, Teknon, my friend M... all in and out of the hospital.... a cousin dealing with an abusive addicted mate whose been threatening her life and starving her... Hubbs and me got sick, too, praying and doing for everybody, learning new jobs, interviews for jobs, weather changing, finishing the deck staining... BUSY. It all seemed to go good, for the first few weeks of it all. Then, this last few days...we have had enough. We need to rest ! But, first we needed to notice each other again... being rocks for everybody, being the oxen who plw the fields, so to speak.. we neglected ourselves a little too much.
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Proverbs 14:4Amplified Bible (AMP)
View commentary related to this passage
4 Where no oxen are, the grain crib is empty, but much increase [of crops] comes by the strength of the ox.
1 Corinthians 9
8-12 I'm not just sounding off because I'm irritated. This is all written in the scriptural law. Moses wrote, "Don't muzzle an ox to keep it from eating the grain when it's threshing." Do you think Moses' primary concern was the care of farm animals? Don't you think his concern extends to us? Of course. Farmers plow and thresh expecting something when the crop comes in. So if we have planted spiritual seed among you, is it out of line to expect a meal or two from you? Others demand plenty from you in these ways. Don't we who have never demanded deserve even more? 12-14 But we're not going to start demanding now what we've always had a perfect right to. Our decision all along has been to put up with anything rather than to get in the way or detract from the Message of Christ. All I'm concerned with right now is that you not use our decision to take advantage of others, depriving them of what is rightly theirs. You know, don't you, that it's always been taken for granted that those who work in the Temple live off the proceeds of the Temple, and that those who offer sacrifices at the altar eat their meals from what has been sacrificed? Along the same lines, the Master directed that those who spread the Message be supported by those who believe the Message.
15-18 Still, I want it made clear that I've never gotten anything out of this for myself, and that I'm not writing now to get something. I'd rather die than give anyone ammunition to discredit me or impugn my motives. If I proclaim the Message, it's not to get something out of it for myself. I'm compelled to do it, and doomed if I don't! If this was my own idea of just another way to make a living, I'd expect some pay. But since it's not my idea but something solemnly entrusted to me, why would I expect to get paid? So am I getting anything out of it? Yes, as a matter of fact: the pleasure of proclaiming the Message at no cost to you. You don't even have to pay my expenses!
19-23 Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!
So, we took some time to feed and be fed with each other in reflection.... but, not before we fought over the emptiness we both feel. We done good, though, in the end. We found our way back to each other. View commentary related to this passage
4 Where no oxen are, the grain crib is empty, but much increase [of crops] comes by the strength of the ox.
1 Corinthians 9
The Message (MSG)
View commentary related to this passage1-2 And don't tell me that I have no authority to write like this.I'm perfectly free to do this—isn't that obvious?Haven't I been given a job to do? Wasn't I commissioned to this work in a face-to-face meeting with Jesus, our Master? Aren't you yourselves proof of the good work that I've done for the Master? Even if no one else admits the authority of my commission, you can't deny it. Why, my work with you is living proof of my authority!
3-7 I'm not shy in standing up to my critics. We who are on missionary assignments for God have a right to decent accommodations, and we have a right to support for us and our families. You don't seem to have raised questions with the other apostles and our Master's brothers and Peter in these matters. So, why me? Is it just Barnabas and I who have to go it alone and pay our own way? Are soldiers self-employed? Are gardeners forbidden to eat vegetables from their own gardens? Don't milkmaids get to drink their fill from the pail? 8-12 I'm not just sounding off because I'm irritated. This is all written in the scriptural law. Moses wrote, "Don't muzzle an ox to keep it from eating the grain when it's threshing." Do you think Moses' primary concern was the care of farm animals? Don't you think his concern extends to us? Of course. Farmers plow and thresh expecting something when the crop comes in. So if we have planted spiritual seed among you, is it out of line to expect a meal or two from you? Others demand plenty from you in these ways. Don't we who have never demanded deserve even more? 12-14 But we're not going to start demanding now what we've always had a perfect right to. Our decision all along has been to put up with anything rather than to get in the way or detract from the Message of Christ. All I'm concerned with right now is that you not use our decision to take advantage of others, depriving them of what is rightly theirs. You know, don't you, that it's always been taken for granted that those who work in the Temple live off the proceeds of the Temple, and that those who offer sacrifices at the altar eat their meals from what has been sacrificed? Along the same lines, the Master directed that those who spread the Message be supported by those who believe the Message.
15-18 Still, I want it made clear that I've never gotten anything out of this for myself, and that I'm not writing now to get something. I'd rather die than give anyone ammunition to discredit me or impugn my motives. If I proclaim the Message, it's not to get something out of it for myself. I'm compelled to do it, and doomed if I don't! If this was my own idea of just another way to make a living, I'd expect some pay. But since it's not my idea but something solemnly entrusted to me, why would I expect to get paid? So am I getting anything out of it? Yes, as a matter of fact: the pleasure of proclaiming the Message at no cost to you. You don't even have to pay my expenses!
19-23 Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!
This is the JOY set before me. That we WILL bring in those You have called us to, as long as we remember to feed each other in the process.... ministry... it IS taxing, Jesus.
You have inhabited a lot of the clay in my path these last few days. THANK YOU ! I need to see You in those around me. THANK YOU !!!
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Bow'nDown 
~~---->>> Love; from above and within, Shachah <----~~
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Strong's: 7812 [FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Original Word ~hxX: ~[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Transliterated Word ~ [FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Shachah [FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Phonetic Spelling ~ [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]shaw-khaw' Definition: to bow down, prostrate oneself before superior in homage; before God in worship;...[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]You're sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]So let's not sleepwalk through life ... Since we're creatures of Day, let's act like it. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]1 THESSALONIANS 5:5...8 ~The Message Remix[/FONT]
~~---->>> Love; from above and within, Shachah <----~~
<--~~~-->
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Strong's: 7812 [FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Original Word ~hxX: ~[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Transliterated Word ~ [FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Shachah [FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Phonetic Spelling ~ [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica]shaw-khaw' Definition: to bow down, prostrate oneself before superior in homage; before God in worship;...[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
<--~~~-->
[FONT=Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]You're sons of Light, daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]So let's not sleepwalk through life ... Since we're creatures of Day, let's act like it. Walk out into the daylight sober, dressed up in faith, love, and the hope of salvation.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]1 THESSALONIANS 5:5...8 ~The Message Remix[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Geneva, Helvetica]<--~~~-->[/FONT]
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