Hi all,
"What we've got here is failure to communicate", is a line from the US prison drama film from 1967, 'Cool Hand Luke'. But it could be about Christians who are trying to serve God but haven't learned a key truth - He doesn't think like you and I do, so we must change our thinking to think like Him. Many are trying to get Him to think like they do about their situation, which is the basis for the failure to communicate.

Just Containers
Words are containers for the content of the heart. As a person pours their heart into words, we get to know that person. Have you ever met someone and known by the earliest exchange of words you would become friends? Their words revealed their heart.

But even as we get closer to another person and begin to know the whole of their heart and character through their words, miscommunication often happens. It can happen by taking a single spoken word out of context, or maybe what we hear is not what their heart intended to say, but we take what we thought they meant and run with it, causing misunderstanding.

Our son, Chris, has been home from the group home this past weekend. Mentally he is a 4 year old, though he just turned 34 on December 23. Last night he picked up his Children's Bible which he 'reads', telling the story of each illustration. He started with Adam & Eve in the garden and told us what each animal pictured said, how the lion roared and asked "What's for dinner Adam?", with a chuckle to himself. 

When he came to the picture of Jesus raising the widow's son from the dead, I asked Chris what Jesus said to the boy, to which he replied in his best deep and authoritative voice: "You disobeyed me dude!"

We all burst out laughing - Chris has such a sense of humor! But there are some Christians who might think Jesus actually would have said something like that to the boy, though we who know Him would reject that idea because we know Him and know He would not have said that.

Context
That's what happens when people take 1 or 2 verses - words - out of context and elevate them above the rest, ignoring or not knowing His heart. They become convinced He said this or that when in fact He is quoted out of context or didn't mean what they think He said.

If we have a good friend and someone tells us they said this or that, or did this or that, we might respond 'That doesn't sound like them'. That is because we know their words and their heart. The same is true when someone says God says this or that - so much of what's out there just doesn't sound like Him.

Now to Him
How the Father thinks is revealed by His Spirit within us, and that Spirit inspired the pages of our New Testament. So the pages of the New Testament are how the Father thinks, starting with the revelation of His Son, who said 'If you've seen me, you've seen the Father'. As we read His thoughts we adapt and change our thoughts to be like Him, then apply those thoughts to our life, changing our lifestyle and habits.

It is therefore SO important we get to know Him by His Spirit and the Word, for they are always in agreement, just as we want our heart and words to be in agreement in life. (II Peter 1:21, John 14:9)

Jesus cast out demons by the Spirit, and though He is the Word, He does nothing except in teamwork with the Spirit - He said He only did what He saw the Father do, spoke only what He had heard. The Word and Spirit agree in all things. So we don't just pick a verse and 'stand on it', we first commune with the Father and by revelation let Him lead us to a verse that speaks His heart for our situation. (Matthew 12:28, John 5:19, 30)

Going to the third heaven- what Father thinks about it
In Paul's time the sky was 1st heaven, outer space 2nd, and where God lives the 3rd. Paul said he was caught up to 'Paradise' (heaven) or 'the third heaven' in II Corinthians 12:2,4.

A lot of money has been collected and ministries built on saying if you come to their meetings you will go up to the 3rd heaven or they will teach you how to do that, but here is what the Father thinks about it:

"Don't say in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (Or to bring Christ down from above)" Romans 10:6

Can you see Jesus or go to heaven by being in the Spirit as John was in Revelation 1:10 and 4:2? Of course. Can you see the Lord as Ezekiel did in chapter 1, or Isaiah saw heaven in chapter 6, Daniel in chapter 7, or John seeing the Father on His throne in Revelation 4 after being taken in the Spirit? Of course. But every example in scripture has a common trait - heaven initiates the experience, not man.

If He wants to show you heaven, fine. But we are not to initiate an experience. Can we pray and worship and get ourselves into place to receive from Him? Absolutely. But He initiates visions and experiences in the Spirit. He says we aren't to try to bring Jesus down from above nor seek to ascend to heaven. So that's what He thinks. Will we change our thoughts to agree with Him?

Think about this - if you try to communicate your thoughts to a person but they are so set on what they think you know it does no good to talk to them further, don't you end the discussion and just move on? Then why does so much of our culture try to change God's mind about our situations instead of us learning how He thinks? It's the only way to talk to Him because He is truth and He can't vary from that. As they say, if you don't feel as close to God as you used to, guess who moved?

Don't get me wrong - He will bless people who try to ascend to heaven or bring Christ down to the extent He can, just because He is good - He will take hold of anything He can to bring good things into our lives - but it doesn't mean He endorses someone or a teaching. He made a donkey talk remember.

But why would the Lord be thinking and then writing to us not to think we should ascend to heaven or bring Christ down from above (pray to see Jesus/have a visitation from Him)?

Now the choice
This is why - Christ is already in you.

"Do you not know you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" I Corinthians 3:16. "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you...?" I Corinthians 6:19. "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:27

The truth is, God lives in you, so that is how He thinks and the perspective from which He speaks. You don't need to ascend to heaven nor bring Christ down to earth - Christ is in you already. So then you are faced with the lust for experiences rather than true faith and true solutions. Hmmm. Do you still want to think like Him, or do you want to stick to your thoughts, 'If only Jesus would appear to me I could ask Him...'?

The choice - do you believe the drab old, mundane Word of God you have 10 versions of on your shelf, or the flashy advertising from the TV preacher who appeals to your ego and need, and who manipulates money out of you? Or will you change your thoughts to agree with Him?

The real failure of the body of Christ and most preachers, is that they don't know Him. They are believers, but not knowers. If they knew Him truly, they would know the garbage they say He says isn't true. To know the Word without knowing Him who first spoke the Word, leads to error and an anemic and weak body of Christ.

If you want to commune with the Father, if you want to learn to fellowship with the Father and Son and know the Spirit in you and know that peace 24/7 every moment, if you want to walk through life with Him, you must realize He is in you and start to think like Him.

Next week we'll pick up with the 'open heaven' teaching and what the Father really says about it. Blessings,

John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
I was hungry for pizza one night and knew that Barb being Barb, would have some leftovers in the freezer. I opened the freezer and saw what you are seeing here. To my uneducated eye it looked like a gathering of unwanted food banished to the frozen Arctic with no particular pattern, like so many ice floes thrown together by unseen forces. But I knew her well enough that this confusing gathering of former popcorn and cookie tins and aluminum wrapped leftovers was actually highly organized according to her system.

She had said we had pizza in the freezer, but there I stood with open door, clueless. "Honey, WHERE in the freezer is the pizza?"

She responded, "It's in the pizza tin!" Hmmmm...."Pizza tin? Which one is that?" I asked, still staring into the Arctic wasteland. Without complaint she got up, walked to the freezer, grabbed the tall Christmas tin you see on the left, set it on the counter and said "Here, this is the pizza tin."

We've had that Christmas tin for years, a gift of popcorn long ago that found continued use warding off freezer burn of foods we've wanted to save for future meals. As I pried off the lid, behold, carefully arranged slices of pizza in zip-lock plastic bags were revealed, 4 slices to a bag, each bag neatly stacked one upon the other filling the tin. She is so thoughtful and organized and I love that about her. But I had to ask: "What makes this Christmas tin the pizza tin?", trying to connect the dots.

"Of course this is the pizza tin! Pizza is Italian. Italian flag colors are red, green, and white. This tin is red, green, and white, so this is the pizza tin!" I stood dumbfounded, it suddenly made perfect sense...now...lol.

Learning how the Father and Lord think
Sometimes the Lord's logic seems to be on another wavelength as Barb's was to me that day. Once she told me her process of thinking I understood it, though thinking like that wasn't natural to me. But it was logical to her, and once initiated into her system, I understood how she thought.

First thing to understand: We are invited to come up to His ways and thoughts
"His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts." This is often spoken to say we'll never know this side of heaven why He allowed something to happen. Don't get me wrong - There are mysteries we won't know until heaven. But using this passage in this way is not how it was written.

That passage from Isaiah 55:1-13 does not say God's ways are so high above ours He is impossible to understand. He is not saying the Christmas tin is the pizza tin you poor earthling if only you understood.

The chapter is about a man repenting and leaving his own ways and thoughts, accepting the invitation to come up to God's ways and thoughts:

"Look! Everyone who is thirsty, let him come to the waters...Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near...Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts, let him return to the Lord and He will abundantly pardon...for my ways are not your ways, neither are my thoughts your thoughts says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Did you notice
The Father is extending an invitation to forsake his ways and thoughts and come up to my ways and my thoughts!

We are told in Romans 12:1-2 to experience a metamorphosis in our lives by renewing our mind to think like He thinks, and then we "will be able to discern the good, well pleasing and fully finished will of God"

in our lives. He wants us to come up to His higher ways! We are His kids after all! Don't we want our kids to think higher thoughts and live in higher ways?

No more fleeces, no more 'If this happens to me I'll take it as God' to guess His will
In I Corinthians 2:9 it says our eyes, ears, and imagination cannot know what God the Father has prepared for us, meaning we can't discern His will by circumstances and natural means. But in v10 he says,

"These are the things God reveals to us by His Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of (Father) God." He continues in verse 12 saying, "We have received the Spirit so that we may know the things He has freely given to us."

Let die the notion you must divine His will by natural circumstances. Now you are His child, born into the family, and you have His Spirit inside so you can know by His Spirit in your spirt what He has prepared. 

Just that jump in thinking from looking for His will 'out there' in a theology of 'if this happens and that happens it must be God', to 'He lives inside me so I'll learn to sense His Spirit inside for direction', is coming up to His ways and thoughts.

Pizza tin or Christmas tin?
What did you think of Christians before you were born again? Your thoughts have changed from 'Those crazy fanatics who shelter themselves from the real world with the religion crutch' to 'My brothers and sisters I love you so much!' You've come up to higher ways and thoughts on this subject. You are thinking like God thinks on this subject.

What did you think of talking in a language you had never learned (tongues)? "Those crazy Pentecostals, those nutty Charismatic's - their elevator doesn't go all the way to the top! The lights are flashing, the bell is ringing and the crossing gate is down, but no train is coming down their track! Those weirdo's. Someone has blown out their pilot light!" But now - you speak in tongues and think that is normal. You are thinking like God thinks on this subject.

Christmas tin, pizza tin. You've connected the dots on things that were never logical before, but now make perfect sense. You've been initiated into the mystery of the kingdom of heaven. You know mysteries that are foolishness to the uninitiated, but are in fact higher thoughts and higher ways.

How does that airplane fly?
Have you ever realized Christopher Columbus could have flown to the America's in 1492? He could have, because the same laws of aerodynamics that allow birds and planes to fly, existed in 1492. But if we could go back in time to suggest to him he could fly, we would have been laughed to scorn at the least.

The higher ways and thoughts were all around him, but he was ignorant of them. He saw birds fly, but couldn't connect the dots to how man could fly, leaving thoughts like that to dreams and imagination.

Miracles aren't what?
A miracle is defined as an event described as inexplicable by the laws of nature, a violation of the laws of nature to bring about a good result, or an unexplainable 'act of God'. But a miracle is not a violation of the laws of nature, but that of higher laws superceding lower laws.

An airplane or bird doesn't violate the law of gravity to get off the ground, it uses higher laws to temporarily supercede the lower laws to fly. We can now think in the Father's higher laws that supercede the lower, earthly, carnal laws. We can think higher thoughts that supercede lower thoughts.

When you tell the truth instead of a 1/2 truth when you are caught, you are choosing the higher law of truth. When you turn away from porn and the lower desires of watching men and women of no honor, you choose higher ways and thoughts. When you respond with love to someone who has done you wrong, you choose higher laws. All these are in fact higher, though at the time are confusing to those who can't walk in them. They may take time to be proven to be higher ways and thoughts, but they will be proven so.

The Father wants us to see more to our lives than what appears to be a bunch of aluminum foil and tins with no apparent order. He wants us to understand what we are seeing and walk in higher ways and thoughts - to learn how the Christmas tin logically became the pizza tin....more next week, until then, blessings,

John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
Some years ago a few of us were helping a church family move to a new home. There were 3 of us trying to convince their refrigerator it could squeeze through the doorway, but it was wedged solidly in the door frame. With a mighty last push and grunt, one of the guys said, 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me' and out the refrigerator popped - with a little less paint on the side - but free to be loaded onto the truck.

Using Paul's quote in Philippians 4:13 of 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me' has been used to mean a final push, an extra effort when there is no energy left to expend, to resign oneself to the circumstances and muddle on through.

I've also seen this verse used by people who try to use God to make money. To them, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" means He will help them make a lot of money out of this next business deal if they can just hang in there and grunt their way through the process. In general it has been used every way except how Paul actually wrote it.

Just make it work?
Paul said he had learned a secret, 'mysterion' in the Greek, which means 'one who has been initiated into mysteries'. In Philippians 4:11-13 Paul said he had entered a new dimension in his life, he had been initiated into the mystery that he could be independent of his circumstance - "whatever state I am in, to be content", or self sufficient in Christ. He knew how to be hungry or filled, rich or poor, for he had been initiated into the mystery: He could do all things through Christ who strengthens him.

How do we become sufficient in Christ to the point it doesn't matter what swirls around you?

Have you ever felt like this?
I first saw this self-sufficiency in Christ no matter the circumstance in my mom, trying to raise 4 kids with minimal support from our dad and her job.

There were numerous times she came to the end of her strength, the end of her ability, the end of her wits, and just quit her efforts, choosing rather to rest and let the Lord handle the rest. She would face people and the situations - like calling the power company asking for a payment plan so our lights wouldn't be turned off. Talk to our priest about a small loan to get through the week. But she did so knowing the Lord would provide. She didn't shy away from dealing with situations, but she would deal with them knowing He had provided; it was just a matter of discovering how.

Initiation into the mystery that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you comes through being in situations in which you make a choice to end your own efforts, and just turn things to Him.

Pressures squeeze the life out
For instance, in II Corinthians 1:8-11 Paul writes of a time he was convinced he was going to die. In v8 he says he 'even despaired life', which in the Greek means he saw no way out, no way of escape, he was convinced he was going to die.

Also in verse 8 he says this was because he was 'pressed', which means 'weight', or we might say he was being squeezed by a great weight, similar to an olive press pressing and squeezing olives to get the oil from them. Paul was saying his life juices were being squeezed out of him by the situation. He said this squeezing was 'above measure', which means 'above and beyond' normal pressures. 

Later in II Corinthians 11:23-28 he listed some of the situations he had been through: Stripes on his back more than he could count, many prisons, 3 times beaten with rods (practice of the day was to beat the bottoms of the feet with rods), once stoned to death (Acts 14:19-20 raised from the dead), 3 times shipwrecked (we have record of one; Acts 27), a night and a day floating on the ocean awaiting rescue.

Besides what he experienced, he then lists the risks taken: Perils of water travel, robbers, threats by the Jews, by unbelievers, threats in city and country, perils among false brethren, and on top of all that, the continual daily burden of all the (house) churches who looked to him for leadership.

It wasn't the difficulties he went through that enabled him to reveal to the Philippians that he knew how to be self-sufficient in any situation in Christ, but it was how he handled these situations that initiated him into this mystery.

Faith is not work
In Hebrews 4:3, 10-11 it says "For we who have believed have entered into rest." and "He who has entered into His rest has ceased from his own works, as God did from His."

Faith is not 'believing' God as ongoing, but 'believed' God. For instance, when I was a teenager I believed in Jesus. I'm not 'believing in Him', I have already believed. Now I walk in what I have believed. I rest in what I believed so many years ago.

Faith isn't something we struggle and wrestle with God about, forcing Him or helping Him bring something into being in our lives. Faith is receiving revelation about the Father and/or His will, and choosing to believe in what you've received. Once received and believed, we rest.

Peter was in prison
Peter was to be executed in the morning. But Acts 12:7 says the rescuing angel, whose presence bathed the jail with light yet that light failed to awaken Peter, had to strike Peter on his side to wake him up. The variation of the Greek word used here, patasso, means to strike, and is used to describe the soldiers hitting Jesus on the face in Matthew 26:51.

How was it the light from the angel failed to awaken Peter, and it took a hit on his side to arouse him, and he was so soundly asleep he was on the street before he woke up and fully realized it wasn't a dream?

It was because in John 21:18 Jesus had prophesied to him how he would die and the circumstances: By crucifixion and when he is old. In Acts 12 they were executing by sword and he was still young, just a few years after the Resurrection. So he was able to sleep soundly, powerless and yet independently sufficient in Christ in that situation. He slept because he had believed, and now rested. That is where peace is found.

Similarly, just before his first of three shipwrecks, an angel appeared to Paul and told him in Acts 27:24, 'Fear not Paul, you must be brought before Caesar'. Because he believed and then rested in that word, the subsequent shipwreck and 2 others, and everything else he went through, he knew he would get through - because he knew he would appeared before Caesar. He believed, and then rested.

Applying this
In the early 1980's Barb and I faced situations we had no control over. Chris' diagnosis of brain damage, a business situation threatening to take our home and livelihood, a church situation where the pastor who hired me to become senior pastor abruptly changed his mind, leaving me in a holding pattern at that church.

We got to the point we couldn't pray another word, we couldn't think through 'if God did this and I did that', we couldn't rearrange the checkbook any more - and we stopped. We gave it all to the Father. We believed a core truth that He would provide for us, that He had a plan, that He would see us through. That was our initiation into the mystery that we could know abundance and lack, and be internally independent of circumstances in Christ.

What did we do?
The first thing we did was Hebrews 10:32-35 - we called to remembrance the former days and purposed NOT to throw away our confidence - He had a track record of providing for us and we kept those in our minds.

The next thing we did was to take Philippians 4:6-7 literally. I had noticed those verses were not happening for me, for I was as fearful and worry filled at the end of my prayer as I had been at the start. I realized I was disobedient to the outline Paul provided:

1) Be careful for nothing. Stop. Do not proceed to 2) In everything by prayer and supplication make your requests known to God. 3) The peace of God will guard your heart and mind.

I did not proceed to #2 until I got to the point I could have no care, no fear. Only then did I pray. That meant I sometimes wrestled with the fear and worry for 2 weeks before I'd pray. I'd wrestle while worst case scenarios' played in my mind, but each scenario ended with that track record He had of providing for us. When I came to a point of rest and peace, THEN and only THEN did I make my request to Him.

In that way, what Paul said would happen, did happen. The peace of God as stated in 4:7 did 'keep' or 'hem in' or 'guard' my heart and mind. Verses 8 and 9 happened too - I was able to think on good things and the God of peace was with me.

Externally it seemed we were perishing, but internally we had peace, joy, and confidence He would provide and walk us through each situation as we bravely faced each challenge. And He did. And He has. We had been initiated into a great mystery - we knew how to abound and suffer need, to be full and to be hungry, for we had entered a new dimension we've never left as we discovered this truth of initiates: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

New subject next week, blessings,

John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

Hi all,
When I entered Indiana University (IU) in the summer of 1976, I was invited to join the fraternity my dad had been a member of, Phi Kappa Psi, or Phi Psi for short.

I started the first semester of my freshman year as a 'Pledge', meaning I had pledged to become a Phi Psi and they had pledged to receive me - if I fulfilled the requirements. There were about 15 in my (freshman) Pledge class and a total of 95 men living under the same roof, with an older couple who served as 'house parents' and cooked for us, but we were pretty much self-governing, with upperclassmen being President, Vice President, etc.

That first semester included a lot of 'hazing', the ritualistic harassment of the incoming class culminating in 'hell week', which I might add, was appropriately named. The upper classmen treated us like new Marine recruits, complete with hundreds of push ups at a time, yelling at us nose to nose, telling us we were lower than a snake's belly and unworthy of being called a Phi Psi, and more.

After all, 7 time Olympic gold medalist, Mark Spitz, was a Phi Psi from that very house a mere 4 years earlier. Many 'Captains of Industry', doctors, lawyers, Olympians of various sports, CEO's and such were Phi Psi's. My roommate for a semester who was a junior at the time, later became Governor and then US Senator from Indiana - But we freshmen were mere Pledges, wannabe's, and were treated as such.

After that final week of hazing, those that saw it through until the end, were accepted and deemed worthy to have the mysteries of the fraternity revealed to them. We spent a week being taught by upper classmen and alumni how the fraternity was founded by 2 Christian men who wanted to spread the gospel and instill in young men the knowledge of God and His ways (How far their fraternity had fallen by 1976).

We were told of the founding, the secret meanings of the fraternity shield and what the Phi, Kappa, and Psi stood for in our fraternity, and swore an oath to uphold the ideals of the Founders (Which consisted of Christian and Biblical ideals so I had no problem swearing to uphold them).

I was elected Chaplain by the whole house, and with great formality and solemnity, our class was initiated into the mysteries of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. Yes there is a secret handshake, but I'd have to kill you if I told you, lol.

But what makes me a Phi Psi is that I've been initiated into the mysteries of the fraternity. Only Phi Psi's know those mysteries, the rest of the world does not. And each fraternity and sorority has similar mysteries to which only members have knowledge.

The Bible speaks of initiation into different mysteries, which I ended with last week. But first...

The Magi
In ancient Mesopotamia there existed a society of what we commonly call 'wise men'. In English they are known as the Magi. The word 'magi' is from the Greek word 'magos', and more directly the Latin 'magus' - the plural is 'magi'. It is where we get the word 'magic', and refers to a secret fraternity of knowledge to which others are not aware. They are 'outside' the fraternity, ignorant of the mysteries only members know.

I don't want to do a whole history lesson on the Magi or 'Wise men' as many English Bibles translate it, but will say they were a class of priests who we see as Daniel's peers (and enemies) serving the various kings of Babylon, Persia, and Media.

They were the ones who could not interpret the different king's dreams and visions, while God gave Daniel the meanings. They looked to the stars, acknowledging the Creator had put them in the sky as He said in Genesis 1:14: "Let them be for signs, seasons, days, and years." They specialized in the 'signs' part through astronomical observations. (Daniel 2:48)

Because of their secret knowledge, they had seen a star move into the constellation regarding Israel, and determined a new King had been born in Israel. No one in Israel knew the sign of the Star of Bethlehem, and even the wise men came to Herod asking where the new King was - but everyone except the Magi were clueless. All Israel and Herod saw the same stars and constellations as the Magi, but were outside the fraternity of knowledge to understand what they were seeing.

Scripture revealed the King would be born in Bethlehem, so the Magi headed there, and upon finding the family in a house gave baby Jesus gifts typical of the day for a King; gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Mt 2:11)

My point is that the Magi were part of a fraternity, marked by secret knowledge known only to those in the fraternity. It seems to be human nature to make these secret clubs, from boys climbing tree houses and refusing to let girls enter, to pricking each other's fingers and rubbing the drops of blood together to become 'blood brothers', to little girls not inviting another girl to their imaginary tea party while they told secrets of which boy likes which girl - secrets only they knew and refused to share with the other girl.

Back to Paul
But Paul spoke of a loftier set of mysteries he had been initiated into. His letter to the Philippians, most likely going to Lydia and the church in her house, was the warmest letter Paul wrote to anyone in the New Testament. Many believe Paul's good friend and author of Luke and Acts, Luke, married Lydia and stayed behind in Philippi with her. In Philippians we discover more about Paul's desires and struggles than we do anywhere else in the New Testament.

He continues letting us peer into his soul when he thanks for them for their financial support with this statement in 4:11-13 which we will examine in detail:

"Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased and how to abound; every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

"I have learned" might be better expressed as 'I have entered a new dimension'. The Greek word 'learned' is 'manthano' which is similar to 'mathetes' which means disciple. It refers to someone who has become a learner from (Someone) else, starting a new chapter in life we might say. It is used to express the thought they have come into a new season of life, but more than that, they have grown in knowledge in an area they previously lacked.

And what is that new dimension? He continues: I have learned in whatsoever state I am, to be content. This doesn't mean Paul could be happy in Rome or Ephesus, it means circumstance or situation he faced.

Paul had entered a new dimension - no matter what circumstance he was in, he could be 'content'. But don't think of this English word as content like we would use it today. This is not 'I'll go with the flow', or 'I guess I'll be happy' or 'It isn't they way I planned my life, but I'll be okay Lord'. NO!

It is the Greek word 'autarkes', which means "sufficient in oneself". It is made up of 2 words, 'auto', which means 'self', and  'arkeo' which means "to be sufficiently strong, to be enough for a thing" (Vine's). Putting the whole passage together Paul was saying this:

"Not that I am speaking out of need. For I have entered a new dimension in my life, whatever my circumstance are, to be self-sufficient, having enough for whatever I face. I know how to abound and how to suffer lack. I know how to be full and how to be hungry. For I have been initiated into a fraternity of mysteries which is; I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me."

And that's where I'll pick it up next week....blessings!

John Fenn

www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com