Jude 2 --- Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Today has been a lot of prayer with the Lord to see where we're we'll be studying next. Logically the next book in the Bible would be Jude. I read through it twice, but it just wasn't where the journey was headed. I finally stopped trying to figure it out and just gave it to Him. I trust Him, so I will not lean on my understanding of it. Instead, I'll acknowledge Him in it and look for the straight path He opens up. Until then it's sitting at His feet and being in His presence.
The one verse that did jump out from Jude today was verse two.
Jude 2 --- Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
Not just Mercy, Peace, and Love, but all those be MULTIPLIED to you. That's a way to greet your brothers and sisters. LOL.
Multiplied in the Greek is plēthynō and means: abound, multiply, to increase, be richly allotted.
Abound: to be present in large numbers or in great quantity: to be prevalent
Multiply: to increase in number especially greatly or in multiples
Increase: to become progressively greater (as in size, amount, number, or intensity)
Richly Allotted: richly-in an elaborate, generous, or plentiful way…allotted-assigned or distributed as a portion, share, or lot.
There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of mercy, peace or love going on anywhere, let alone being multiplied. However, God is good, and the darker times get, the brighter the light and love of Jesus burns inside those who genuinely choose to carry it to the hilltop and take it out from under the basket.
In God's Word you can clearly see there is nothing going on now, that wasn't going on back then. Sure, they didn't have oil and gas prices to deal with but the unrest, selfishness, hate in the world and even inside churches, it was all there. I suppose it's why Solomon wrote:
Ecclesiastes 1:9 --- That which has been is that which will be [again], And that which has been done is that which will be done again. So there is nothing new under the sun.
I don't say any of this from a negative or defeated place. Not trying to be morose or doom and gloom, in fact the exact opposite. What just hit me is this is why followers of Jesus Christ need to KNOW how He walked, what He said, and what He did more than ever before! This is not a time to throw rocks back and forth with the world, this is the time for us to MULTIPLY mercy, peace, and love (agape love of course)!
When I started this recap, I didn't know where the Lord would be leading our next journey into, but now it is quite clear to me. We will begin our next adventure tomorrow in John's Gospel. If we're going to multiply mercy, peace, and agape love, there's only one example that we're commanded to follow:
1 John 2:6 --- Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
The "should" in that verse is also translated as "ought" in some, but in the Greek its opheilō and it is a command that means: to owe, indebted. So, it isn't just some add on feature of your Christian walk, it IS your Christian walk.
Okay, that's all for today! If you need prayer or someone to listen, please reach out. You are not alone!
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