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Life Around "The Fire"
Life Around "The Fire"
Experiencing The Kingdom Of God Through Unexpected Paths.
What if an ancient book could illuminate the complexities of modern life? Join us as we explore a spiritual journey that begins with the accidental discovery of "the Books". This episode promises to reveal the timeless relevance of the Bible, not just as a historical text, but as a living guide full of wisdom and insight that speaks to our deepest human experiences. We delve into the significance of sharing these divine truths with others and how such a spiritual transformation can influence our everyday lives.
As we turn our focus to the kingdom of God, we unravel the mysteries surrounding its spiritual reign and manifestation on Earth amidst turmoil and change. A prophecy hints at an upcoming financial upheaval that could transform global dynamics, much like the biblical events that unfolded in a single day. By drawing parallels to stories such as the siege of Samaria, we underscore the power of faith and God's intervention during times of adversity, reminding us that His kingdom will ultimately prevail.
Finally, we uncover a tale of mercy and redemption through the story of four lepers who learn the profound importance of sharing blessings. Their journey from self-preservation to community care highlights the theme of inviting others into God's kingdom, even in the face of doubt and skepticism. As we anticipate a financial shift towards the righteous, the conversation centers on trusting Jesus to provide for our needs and relying on His promises and justice. Join us as we stand together in faith and love, praying for the revelation of God's glory across the nations.
Loving Yeshua/Jesus, Loving people... Come as you are and you will be loved!
Feel free to check out our website by typing in lifearounsthefire.com or Life Around The Fire ... We think you'll find some beneficial stuff to look at and apply to your life.
Shalom to you and your home.
I guess it was a little over 50 years ago that I was just rummaging around my mom and dad's house one day our house, we lived on a farm outside of Hibbing, minnesota in fact, and I was looking around, just snooping around, doing stuff, and I came across this big book and I come to find out that the name of the book was called the Books Kind of an interesting name the Books. It had within it 66 different books and letters that contained a variety of stories and information. That was pretty old and I remember looking at it and reading it and it absolutely made no sense to me at all and so I just kind of put it away and didn't really think too much about it. But one day I had a very profound experience with God, literally, where God transformed me from the inside out. I was right around 13 years old and he really radically changed me, unlocked something from within me and imparted things to me, and it was a real transformation and in fact it was at that point in time that I became what is known as born again. I was born again, spiritually born again. I was born into the kingdom of God, literally. It was a definite event that took place and a transformation. So as a result of that experience, I remember kind of having this appetite one day to go and find that book called the Books. And so I found it and it was written in a very. It was written in a way that was old English and a little bit difficult to understand because it had thee thou, a variety of different communication points, and the way that it was written was archaic. It was old but even so, funny thing, I understood it for the first time in my life. I read it and I'm like I understand what's being written. I understand what's written here. Not that I understand it, I like it. I was hungry to understand and learn and just get more of it into my life, whereas before I'd heard I was kind of bored.
Speaker 1:The books right, the books, or you translate it in one word it's called Bible, b-i-b-l-e. Literal translation is the books. It's a collection of books that contain stories and letters and a list of other things in it that actually are pertinent to our lives today, even though it was written throughout a period of time that the last entry was made 2,000 years ago. So we're talking about some very, very, very old volumes of material, but they are timeless. I'm not even joking, they are timeless. And some of the stories in them are so relevant today that it's important for me to continue to look into them, because they continue to unfold, because I found out that this is literally God-breathed, not man-made God-breathed. Yes, god breathed, not man made. God breathed. Yes, men put it together, but God breathed upon people in the penning of these stories, these letters, of this literature.
Speaker 1:It's powerful, man. It's sharper than any sword, any knife, any razor blade. It can divide things so much that it can actually divide between our soul and our spirit. And that's a fine line, man. It is that sharp.
Speaker 1:It is good to teach us, to correct us. It is good to project things. It is good to reflect on things. It is good to project things, it is good to reflect on things. It is wise, it contains within it wisdom, knowledge, understanding, guidance. It's a lamp, it's a light, it is both universal and personal.
Speaker 1:The Word of God, the written Word of God, the Bible.
Speaker 1:Who would have thought? Right, the book. But it takes spiritual eyes and spiritual ears, a spiritual awakening to not only just read it but to understand it and apply it. But God gives that to us, and he gave that to me, and so I've been passing along some of these truths that have come to me to you, because, first of all, god loves you and wants you to get as much of this as possible, and he uses people like myself, which is of and by itself mind blowing. I'm like the least likely candidate for that type of thing to take place through, but nonetheless he does it.
Speaker 1:And so it's pertinent to today's podcast episode, because we've been focusing in on the kingdom of God, for quite his reign, his realm, the way that it's about the life of God, how God does things, how he thinks, how he operates his realm spiritually, but it's being made visible to us on earth. His plan, his plan, is to reveal his kingdom to us and through us on planet earth, so that it would cover the earth like the waters cover the sea. The knowledge of the glory of the Lord, his kingdom would be manifest across nations until it consumes all the earth, and then heaven and earth will join together as one, and earth will join together as one, and God will use that as his crowning jewel for what he's created. It's his plan. It's going to take place. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when and how, but we are in it right now. We're in the unfolding process of that right now. Right now, as we speak, you are in part of that process, powerful man, I'm in it, we're in it. We're in it right now and it's going to come to a culmination, a completion, and it's good, but in the midst of it, there's a conflict, there's a war going on. There is a war, spiritual war going on, there are natural wars going on, there's tension, that's going on, but God is going to prevail and his kingdom is going to come completely on earth, as it is in heaven, complete. It's going to be here, complete. Right now. It's here in part, but it's growing to us and through us.
Speaker 1:And so in a previous podcast and I'm getting to a point here in the previous podcast, just a couple days ago, we mentioned something. I mentioned something concerning an international event that's going to be taking place within the course of the past excuse me, not the past an international event that's going to be taking place within the course of the next six months. Projecting forward, within the course of the next six months, we're forward, within the course of the next six months, we're going to see an international event take place. That's going to be a financial one, and something's going to be exposed that's going to cause an international financial crisis, a domino effect, and it's going to really be significant and there's going to be a shift, a financial shift. That's going to be taking place across the nations and it's going to happen in seemingly a day, but we're looking at it within the course of the next six months, something's going to happen, it's going to be exposed and then there's going to be a change taking place in a day and that type of thing is actually something that goes on more frequently than we might even think when things change in a day.
Speaker 1:Things change in a day. Changes lead up to something, but they change in a given day. Changes lead up to something, but they change in a given day. Jesus died on a given day. He rose again on a given day. He ascended into the heavens on a given day. He's coming back on a given day. There comes a day, and there is coming a day now in which there's going to be a shift taking place.
Speaker 1:And why are we mentioning it? First of all, because God loves us and I really I had to challenge myself Am I sharing these things because it makes me look good or it's impressive, because sometimes, you know, I mean there are things that we can share and it makes us look good, and that's not really healthy if we do things that way so that we make ourselves look good. Now, that might be the consequence or the result of something, but, that being the motivation, not good. And so I had to challenge myself because I'm not above that in my thinking. Unfortunately, I looked and said God, I don't want that, please. And I challenged myself and no, that's not the motivation. The motivation is out of love and out of obedience to inform you that a change is coming and when it happens, it's for the glory of God, and that's part of understanding things. A for the glory of God, and that's part of understanding things a little bit ahead of time. So when it does happen, you can say, oh no, no, this is good, this is God, it's for the glory of God. Praise be to God, because it's part of him bringing things to a conclusion.
Speaker 1:But there's a story in this book that I'm talking about in the Bible. It's found in 2 Kings. It's a book in the Bible, 2 Kings, and in 2 Kings, chapters 6 and 7, primarily, chapter 6 and 7 talk about a particular point in time where the Syrian army, or the king of Assyria at the time, laid siege around one of the cities in Israel, samaria. He laid siege around it, he built the siege, wouldn't let anyone come in and wouldn't let anyone go out. He was starving them out because he wanted to conquer it. And it got so bad. And by the way that stuff still goes on today so bad. And by the way that stuff still goes on today, tactics and ways of warfare lay siege around a place and starve people out. A lot of it takes place without our knowledge and oftentimes within the very same area.
Speaker 1:The Middle East lay siege of a city, starved it out and then conquered it and used the people as slaves to go do the same elsewhere, continue to build an empire. Well, this king by the name of Ben-Hadad had ordered a siege to go around Samaria because he wanted to conquer it and there was a prophet by the name of Elisha that happened to be living in the area. And it got so bad, so desperate. In the city people were starving to death that they actually were. They were practicing cannibalism. They were sacrificing babies to eat. Now, I know that's hard talk, but that's real. That's how desperate they got and even like the head just the head of a donkey was being sold for like a year's salary. Money was of nothing. They would take your eyeballs, the brain, anything that they could eat. They were starving to death and the people were desperate.
Speaker 1:And is it the way that it is often? That that's when people turn to God. You'd think that it wouldn't have to get that way, but it often gets that way. It got that way in America when 9-1-1 took place. Just an inrush of people entering into new churches and new commitments, and it didn't last but three months, but because of a crisis. Well, this crisis brought people to a place where they were turning to God and they asked Elijah, who's a prophet, you know pray, what's the word help? And Elijah pray, what's the word help? And Elisha answered their question when they presented it to him in chapter 7. I'm going to read from chapter 7, going forward.
Speaker 1:Elisha answered listen to what the Lord says, not just what he says. Listen to what the Lord says by this time tomorrow, by this time tomorrow, in a day. Right, and things change. Things change in a day. Listen to what the Lord says by this time tomorrow you will be able to buy in Samaria 10 pounds of the best wheat or 20 pounds of barley. For one piece of silver Ha, the personal attendant of the king, said to Elisha that can't happen, not even if the Lord himself were to send grain at once. You will see it happen, but you won't get to eat any of the food. Elisha replied. The guy said there ain't no way get to eat any of the food. Elisha replied. The guy said hey, no way. Even if God opens up the heavens, even if he could do it himself, it's not going to happen. No way. Except Elisha said this is what the Lord says. And the guy thumbed his nose in front of the word of the Lord. Elisha said you don't want to be doing that, don't? You can do that to me, but I'm saying this is what the Lord says. So verse four excuse me, verse three For men who were suffering from a dreaded skin disease called leprosy were outside the gates of Samaria and they said to each other why should we wait here until we die?
Speaker 1:It's no use going into the city because we would starve to death in there. But if we stay here we'll also die. So let's go to the Syrian camp. The worst they can do is kill us, but maybe they will spare lives. So as it began to get dark, 20 hours again, right. So as it began to get dark, they went to the Syrian camp. But when they reached it, no one was there. So they said we're going to go. We're going to go to the Syrian camp. They might kill us, but so what? We're going to die anyway. Or maybe they'll say here's some meat, it's for their lives. So they camp they might kill us, but so what? We're going to die anyway. Or maybe they'll say here, here's some deed, it's for their lives. So they get up and they go, but when they go, there's nobody there.
Speaker 1:The Lord had made the Syrians hear what sounded like the advance of a large army with horses and chariots, and the Syrians thought that the king of Israel had hired Hittite and Egyptian kings and their armies to attack them. So that evening the Syrians had fled for their lives, abandoning their tents, horses and donkeys and leaving the camp just as it was. That's what happened. God caused a supernatural sound to take place that caused the Syrians or call me the Syrians, the Syrians, or call me the Syrians, the Syrians caused them to think that there's a big group of, there's a massive army that's coming and they're going to wipe us out. We don't want to get away. Let's get out of here. Yeah, the massive army was four lepers, four unassuming, least likely warriors.
Speaker 1:I'm going to stop here and say some of us probably have said it in our lives God uses people, but he can't use me. Why would he want to use me? God is God and God takes delight in using whom he chooses, and sometimes he chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, the weak things, to confound the strong, the broken down people, to confound those who feel they've got it all together. God has a way. He has a way. He has a way of using you. He's going to use you. In fact, his purpose for you hearing this is to encourage you in knowing that he loves you and he's going to use you, just like he used these four lepers. He's going to use you.
Speaker 1:When the four men reached the edge of the camp, they went into the tent, ate and drank.
Speaker 1:What was there, grabbed the silver, gold and clothing they found and went off and hid them, wouldn't you?
Speaker 1:I mean, man, they ate, they drank.
Speaker 1:They grabbed the stuff, they hid it.
Speaker 1:Then they returned and entered another tent and did the same thing. But then they said to each other we shouldn't be doing this. Ah, man, isn't that good. We shouldn't be doing this. We shouldn't be doing this. Why should we just be doing this for ourselves?
Speaker 1:Now, these are people that had been outcasts. It would have been very understandable for them to say man, y'all didn't like me, then Kind of treated me like I was untouchable. Yeah, forget you, you go ahead and starve. Something about them experiencing the mercy of God caused them to be merciful. But then they said to each other we shouldn't be doing this.
Speaker 1:We have good news and we shouldn't keep it to ourselves. Woo, come on. We have good news and we shouldn't keep it to ourselves. Do you have? Has God saved you? He saved me, he's given me good news. He wants to do that to others. We have good news that he loves us, that we can be citizens of his kingdom, that he can break the bondage, that he can break that bondage of being literally starving out in sin. He can break it. That's good news. We can tell other people, we can actually invite other people to participate. It ain't bad news. It's not having to perform. It's saying I'm one beggar, tell another beggar where to find some food. We shouldn't be doing this. We have good news and we shouldn't keep it to ourselves. If we wait until morning to tell it, we're sure to be punished. Let's go right now and tell the king's officers.
Speaker 1:So they left the Syrian camp, went back to Samaria and called out to the guards at the gates. We went to the Syrian camp and didn back to Samaria and called out to the guards at the gates. We went to the Syrian camp and didn't see or hear anybody. The horses and donkeys have not been untied and their tents are just as the Syrians left them. The guards announced the news and it was reported in the palace.
Speaker 1:It was still night, but the king got out of bed and said to his officers I'll tell you what the Syrians are planning. They know about the famine here, so they have left their camp to go and hide in the countryside. They think that we will leave the city to find food and then they will take us alive and capture us and the city. Ah, he didn't believe them. He said nah, they sent these guys. They're just out there waiting. They're waiting there. So he was another one who didn't believe them. But one of his officers said the people here in the city are doomed anyway, like those who've already died. So let's send some men with five of the horses that are left so they can find out what has happened. They chose some men and the king sent them in two chariots with instructions to go and find out what had happened to the Syrian army. The men went as far as the Jordan and all along the road they saw the clothes and equipment that the Syrians had abandoned as they fled. Then they returned and reported to the king.
Speaker 1:The people of Samaria rushed out and looted the Syrian camp and, as the Lord had said, 10 pounds of the best wheat or 20 pounds of barley were sold for one piece of silver. It was true, the word of the Lord was true. It came to pass Exactly the way the prophet said. It happened. God is so good, god is so. He's so true to his word, he is so good. And it so happened that the king of Israel had put the city gate under the command of the officer who had his personal tenant. The officer was trampled. The guy who said to Elijah ah, you know, the heavens open up, it ain't going to happen. And Elijah said yeah, you're going to hear about it, but you're not going to be able to be part of it. The officer was trampled to death there by the people and died, as Elijah had predicted, when the king went to see him. Right, when the king went to see him, he was dead. Elijah told the king that by the time the following day, 10 pounds of barley would be sold in Samaria for one piece of silver, to which the officer had answered that can't happen, not even if the Lord himself were to send grain at once. And Elijah had replied you will see it, but you won't be able to eat it and get any food. And that is just what happened to him. He died, trampled to death by the people at the city gate. Wow, did you hear that? Did you get that?
Speaker 1:That story is in the book Of books, the Bible. What's the relevancy to that? Tell you what the relevancy to that is. The relevancy to that is this the four lepers were already outcasts and stood at the city gate. They decided to go to the enemy camp because they would die from starvation or disease either way. When they arrived at the Syrian camp, they found it deserted. They ate and drank, took valuables from the tents. They later realized that the people were dying of starvation in the city behind them. They told each other. They decided to do. They told each other that they were doing wrong. They decided to tell the people in the king's palace.
Speaker 1:What can we learn from the story? Here's what we can learn from the story. We can depend on Jesus to provide what we need when we need it. We can face our fears and troubles when we live in the good news of Jesus Christ. Folks, there's a hard time coming. Change is coming. There are some hard times coming. There are some financial things coming that are going to be difficult, but also, some of what's going to be taking place is going to cause the wealth of the ungodly unrighteous to be turned over to the righteous. I'll say that again. There's going to be a shift financially and some of the things that have been held up and held onto by the ungodly wealthy are going to be turned over to the righteous. In a day, change is going to happen.
Speaker 1:God's word is true. He is faithful, he is just and he is worthy of our praise. Let's pray, father, by the power of your spirit. I ask that you would cause this word to go throughout the nations, that it would have an international voice to it and it would ring true in the hearts and minds of men, women and children, and that you would cause faith to rise and that there would be obedience that would ensue and that there would be a demonstration of your spirit and of power, your kingdom would be manifest and that your glory would be made known throughout the nations, that your son would be exalted and that we would stand in awe of who you are and declare that God alone is God and King, and we stand here in the name of Jesus and we say so be it. Amen, amen, amen, amen.
Speaker 1:All right, folks, I love you. If you have any thoughts, questions, concerns, please feel free to drop us a line at lifearoundthefire at gmailcom. Life Around the Fire is all one word. All lowercase letters lifearoundthefire at gmailcom. Life Around the Fire is all one word. All lowercase letters lifearoundthefire at gmailcom. Or type in lifearoundthefire and look us up on the web. We would love to hear from you In the meantime, man, god bless you. Adios amigos.