Month: June 2025

Life and Death

A short stroll through Romans 8

I am grateful that You are Spirit!

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Romans 8:6-11

Me: Good morning, Father!

Abba: Good morning, Jon!

Me: I think Romans 8 may be my favorite passage of scripture.

Abba: What is not to like? No condemnation, freedom, righteousness, life, peace, adoption, heirs, glory, hope, help, purpose, deliverance, and protection, just to skim the surface.

Me: The benefits you have given us in Jesus are truly boundless! Thank You! I love You!

Abba: You are welcome! I love you!

Tiger Lilly with Visitor

New Chick Hatching

Now!

I am grateful that Your creation reflects Your loving care for us all to see!

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

Revelation 12:10

Me: Good morning, Father!

Abba: Good morning, Jon!

Me: This is a marvelous verse, Father! Can You please tell me something about its temporal language? It uses words like “have come”, “has been”, “now”, and “accused”.

Abba: I Am glad to point out that “has been” is applicable to the accuser.

Many have speculated as to when this “now” is referring. In Job 1:6 and 2:1-2, Satan’s access to heaven is mentioned. He accuses both Job and I that Job only honors Me because of the blessings I bestowed on him.

Jesus said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” (Luke 2:10) Though the English translation of this verse seems a strong past-tense rendition, this is not so in the original. Rather, it emphasizes that it was an event, something that happened at a particular point in time.

Consider how Revelation 12:10 links a moment (now) with salvation and the power of the Christ, with Satan’s casting down. In Revelation 12:7, leading up to verse 10, “war in heaven” is the setting. Verse eleven in Revelation 12 says this:

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.

So, this victory, in which you stand, was won by Jesus at the cross. And the victory enfolds all who put their trust in Him. The Accuser, then, has no more standing to accuse those who have repented of their lives of sin and put their faith in the work of the sinless Son.

For He says:
“In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.”
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

2 Corinthians 6:2, Isaiah 49:8

While a person has breath, there is a moment – now – when it is possible to enter in to the salvation provided. None knows whether another moment is coming.

Me: Hallelujah! Thank You Father! I love You! Thank you! Thank you!

Abba: You are welcome! I love you!

Demolition

Sometimes an improvement starts with a mess. Resisting change is resisting even the possibility of an upgrade.

June First Slips

It is the first of June. I can hardly believe it. We have been a littler cooler on average this spring.

slip one of thirty-one

The sweet potato slip above is one of thirty one that I planted in the garden today. They have been “hardening off” outdoors during the day in 4″ pots of potting soil for a couple of weeks. I am able to plant them without disturbing the roots at all by this method.

The Mother Slip

The sweet potatoes in the plastic tub above produced all the slips that I potted up. The tub is setting on a heating mat (set for 80F) in the basement under a high intensity LED grow light. Some start sweet potato slips in a jar with the potato supported by toothpicks. I have had much better results with the tubers horizontal in a tub of garden soil.

When the slips get to around 4″ tall, twist them off of the parent. This year I placed some in water until they developed roots, then put them in pots. Others, I placed in the pots directly. The pots were all kept well watered by keeping them in restaurant bus tubs with an inch or so of water in the bottom. I couldn’t really tell the difference between the two methods. Next time, I think I will skip placing them in water first.

The ability to propagate these is a gift from God. I am grateful for all the plants that He created to be food for us! He is truly Jehovah Jireh, God our provider!