A divine spark. A flash image. A scripture suspended before me. This series shares soul-to-soul watchwords that I believe the Lord has impressed on me for this season, hour, moment that we’re in.

A red-alert word-image kicked off my New Year’s Eve, 2020.

“I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me.” —Habakkuk 2:1

© desireofmysoul.faith & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

READING TIME: 2 MINUTES.

WATCHWORD GIVEN: NEW YEAR’S EVE, JANUARY 1, 2020, MIDNIGHT PST PRAYER TIME

Strength. At midnight on January 1, 2020, my prayer time started off with a word-image, a red alert.

I saw the word STRENGTH running down vertically—with the letter S lying horizontally on its side, looking like the diacritical mark tilde: ~.

Then the word transformed into a sword—and back to just the word and then it became both: with the letters of the word STRENGTH forming the sword. The side-lying S formed the sword’s curved hilt or cross-guard (which protects the hands in battle). The rest of the letters formed the blade.

Since a sword is a biblical image for God’s Word (the Bible), particularly in Ephesians 6, I instinctively began praying for His Word to be my strength . . . within me and in my hand to do battle as He leads.

At first, I wasn’t sure if the word was for only my soul or for the body of believers corporately. But I understood one thing: it was a big heads-up. Getting through whatever was coming would take two things: His strength, His Word.

We must stand in Him, dig deep into His Word . . . for His Word is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path. It is the only way we will be able to decipher truth from the enemy’s slick deception and slippery lies.

While listening-singing praise to worship music, I was reminded of Psalm 1.

Blessed is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the Law of the Lord,
And on His Law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in its season,
And its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.

But when I reached for my Bible, it randomly opened to Psalm 21. These particular verses mirrored God’s strength-sword image:

Adonai, may the king find joy in Your Strength.
For the king trusts in the Lord and in the lovingkindness of the Most High, that he should not be shaken (falter).
How greatly does he exult with Your salvation.
Arise, exult yourself, Adonai, with Your Strength; we will sing and praise of Your Might.
—Psalm 21: 1 (2),8 14

CREDITS: Lighthouse with lightning photo by Michael Krahn on Unsplash.com.

A divine spark. A flash image. A scripture suspended before me. This series shares soul-to-soul watchwords that I believe the Lord has impressed on me for this season, hour, moment that we’re in.
 

This watchword shook my soul—and my physical surroundings.

 

“I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me.” —Habakkuk 2:1

 

© desireofmysoul.faith & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

 

READING TIME: 2 MINUTES.

 

WATCHWORD GIVEN: JULY 3, 2019 at 1:50 am PST

 
 

God’s powerful, immeasurable vastness astonishes me. Enthralls me. Frightens me. Humbles me. I am finite . . . from dust. He is the Great I AM.

 

Shaking. That was the watchword the LORD had me pray in those wee hours in early July 2019. The focus then and going forward—even into the end of 2020—has been Psalm 29.

 

The Lord had led me to pray, reflect, breathe in, and exhale Psalm 29—peering into the words, the meanings behind the words, and burrowing in-between the letters—over and over and over and over and over again. And I haven’t stopped.

 

Peering into these scriptures about His weightiness and holiness continues to silence me, moving me to repentance on new and unexpected levels.

 

Psalm 29 is for this time. An hour like none other before it in history, when the birth pains of what is coming alert us, awaken us from our slumber. Seven times the psalm speaks of the voice of the Lord, giving us a window into His depth and power.

 

Orthodox rabbis sense the shift toward end-time events. Messianic Jews/Christians recognize it from biblical prophecies. Whether God moves soon or, in His mercy, waits another decade or two or three, one thing is clear:

 

We have turned a corner,
and there is no going back to the way things were.
We are on His divine trajectory.

 

This is a soul-call . . . to deeper reverence for Him, acknowledging His might, the awe that is Him. The unknowingly knowable One. The hidden-yet-revealed One. The unseen-yet-seen-with-the-eyes-of-the-soul One.

 

So no matter what lies ahead for this world,
you’ll know where to fix your eyes.
You’ll know that He is on the throne—the one and only Mighty God.
He sits above the flood . . .
meaning kings and kingdoms come and go, but God reigns.
He alone is steadfast, the stability of our times.
He won’t be surprised or shaken by the turning of things.
Yet, promising to be your shielded cleft in the storm,
your strength, your blessing,
your peace and completeness . . . your shalom.

 

He alone deserves PRAISE and WORSHIP.

He alone is HOLY.

He alone is GOD.

He shares His GLORY with no one.

 

All of Psalm 29 appears at the end of this short post (next). But these particular images mentioned in the psalm spoke to me, stirred me, quieted me:

 

ADONAI’s voice over the waters . . . the GOD OF GLORY thunders . . . ADONAI over the rushing waters.

[His might hovering over His creation.]

 

His voice in power, in splendor, cracks the cedar, flashes fiery flames.

[The magnitude of His voice alone stills my soul. It was His voice that thundered over Israel’s enemies—panicking the Philistines (1 Samuel7:10) and breaking down the Assyrians (Isaiah 30:31).]

 

His voice rocks, shakes the wilderness, convulses the Kadesh desert.

[The sheer force of His presence changes everything. The desert quakes—the Hebrew likens it to pain (חיל), a woman in travail, as in Jeremiah 6:24. ]

 

During intercession, my prayers sought the LORD to shake the wilderness—shake us out of the wilderness, the wanderings, the soul’s wilderness wanderings.

 

Shaking us . . . with testings for faithfulness.

 

Just a few days later—during Friday night shabbat dinner at a rabbi’s house—that shaking took on physical dimensions. The glass chandelier swayed and shimmied, the artwork shook, the glass dining room table moved from side to side, as did our chairs. Kind of like a Disney ride.

 

An earthquake tremor, not that typical for Las Vegas. At least in my longtime living here. But I sensed that it was underscoring the Psalm 29 prayer—which continues to stand in the forefront throughout 2020’s tumultuous times.

 

PSALM 29: THE HOPE

 

When you read-pray the psalm (aloud even!), note the call to acknowledge GOD, assigning Him the rightful place in your soul/life, ascribing to Him power and glory—and to praise His power, might. And to pray, asking ADONAI for strength and shalom (a completeness, peace.)

 

A psalm of David:
Give Adonai his due, you who are godly;
give Adonai his due of glory and strength;
give Adonai the glory due his name;
worship Adonai in holy splendor.
The voice of Adonai is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
Adonai over rushing waters,
the voice of Adonai in power,
the voice of Adonai in splendor.
The voice of Adonai cracks the cedars;
Adonai splinters the cedars of the L’vanon
and makes the L’vanon skip like a calf,
Siryon like a young wild ox.
The voice of Adonai flashes fiery flames;
the voice of Adonai rocks, shakes the wilderness,
Adonai convulses the Kadesh Desert.
The voice of Adonai causes deer to give birth
and strips the forests bare—
while in his temple, all cry, “Glory!”
Adonai sits enthroned above the flood!
Adonai sits enthroned as king forever!
May Adonai give strength to his people!
May Adonai bless his people with shalom!

A divine spark. A flash image. A scripture suspended before me. This series shares soul-to-soul watchwords that I believe the Lord has impressed on me for this season, hour, moment that we’re in.

This image/word was given three different times over an eleven-month period. Believers are called to unity . . . even in a world whose division is growing.

“I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me.” —Habakkuk 2:1

© desireofmysoul.faith & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

READING TIME: 2 MINUTES.

WATCHWORD DATE: This word was birthed from one given much, much earlier (2016), but it became prominent the week of July 15, 2019

Division. Out of nowhere, an image appeared before me. I’d been sitting on my couch, reflecting on some national news when the LORD flashed a map of the US—with a big jagged split, slightly angled left to right, down the center.

About two weeks or so passed, then I received another image. It was similar to the first . . . except the center break in the nation-image was caved in, sunken, nearly deluged.

[Eleven months later—June 3, 2020—the image appeared again. The gulf in the division was even greater.]

SCRIPTURE WATCH: PHILIPPIANS 4:9

On August 2, 2019, two weeks after receiving the split-nation image, the LORD gave me this scripture two times from two different sources within moments of each other. The anticipated rise of a divisive season before me, this scripture underscored how to stay standing even in a turbulent season.

As for the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me,
practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.
—Philippians 4:9

Be steadfast

unshakable, disciplined, running with horses (vs. faltering to keep up with the footmen Jeremiah 12:5)

Walk in Him

yielded, humbly, serving, devoted to His Word and prayer

Stand firmly

no compromise, no wavering, no doubts

Act per His ways

nobly, righteously, purely, your faith in action

Keep your mind focused

on what is good, pure, right, lovely, just, true

As we do . . . regardless of what comes, no matter how the winds blow, our souls will have a lighthouse—His Word, His face, His faithfulness—to guide us into His safe haven where His strength enlivens and carries us through.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
—Isaiah 43:2a

CREDITS: Lighthouse/lightning photo by. Michael Krahn on Unsplash.com

Walking God’s bridge.

Unfettered.

Unmuted.

Dauntless.

© desireofmysoul.faith (.com and .org) & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

The soul . . . that’s the thing. The breath of God within you and me. Your soul partnering with the body to work out and work through its journey. Trudging up craggy slopes, resting along quiet waters, battling spiritual foes, pondering defeats, embracing victories.

Desire of my Soul explores that seesaw journey via the lens of God’s Word, traversing the Bible’s inner crevices, rappelling off steep cliffs into its living water.

The Bible is our instruction manual, history, present, future. God’s words through many spirit-led writers, drawing us into the hidden, His deep. Piquing our curiosity of what’s said and how—as well as what’s been left out.

It’s intentional travel. Unfettered. Moving along a divinely structured footbridge. Dauntlessly following God’s story, His telling, His plot and subplot threads. Connecting what God revealed along a Glory bridge formed with Judaic and Hebraic beginnings that stretch forward, harmoniously unfolding to its mirrored Messianic side.

Both sides of His bridge are unmistakably One. Intertwined.

Come . . . leave the mundane and embark on a journey where your soul will go to itself, within itself, and for itself, for a higher purpose in Him.

Connected upward, yet pulled downward.

That is the battle within your soul.

But it’s for a purpose. And it’s good.

© Desireofmysoul.faith & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

Combat zone series is the foundational post for soul basics.

READING TIME: 3 MINUTES.

Italians might wish a newborn“benvenuti alla luce”—welcome to the light—but whenever I see a baby, one of my first thoughts is “Welcome to the battlefield.”

The dynamics have begun. Within that little body lies a great commission . . . its soul’s journey, purpose, identity.

It won’t be easy because the soul-body (a uniquely fused form for physical/spiritual life) will engage in a no-holds-barred tug of war vs. resting in a holy balance.

I know that battle well. More than likely, you sense it too. It is, after all, the stuff within all of us residing on this side of heaven.

IN A BEGINNING

Mine, that is. One word kept popping up through my life: soul. And it’s been unshakably linked to my longtime awareness of God and my relationship with Him.

My earliest recollection of God’s presence . . . hearing Him on some level and having a deep desire to be with Him (and return to Him) . . . started around age four. I’d think of Him, spend time in quiet places outdoors to be with Him, and sometimes lie across the bed for an afternoon nap, asking if I could leave this world to be with Him.

But every time I’d wake up from my childhood hoping-to-be-with-God naps, there I was. Still here. I’d get sad and cry because He hadn’t taken me.

I believe that was my young soul reaching for what it instinctively hungered for: Him.

But it’s been a long and

w

i

n

d

i

n

g

road since then—with a hiatus or two (or more) from that earlier panting for Him.

A seriously real spiritual battle had pulled my soul in various directions, trying to eclipse Him and derail me from His plan and goodness, from the Light of the world.

But then . . . He stepped in. And the deep-dive into my soul’s restoration in Him began—again.

Those back-and-forth soul struggles can get frustrating, right? Understanding what’s going on behind the scenes of your soul’s battle can help.

So here’s the game plan for this series:

1. Scan the perimeter of what’s warring within and without.

2. Step into the soul-body tango—and your soul’s three nuances.

3. Learn five rules of engagement to finish your race well.

4. Consider the soul dynamic within a Fellini film—via a film noir lens.

WHAT’S WARRING WITHIN

Let’s discuss basics—some pretty amazing basics at that.

Your soul is breathed from God. It holds the identity of what God made you to be in Him vs. the illusion that whispers to you from the world and other sources.

An unseen God and an unseen soul. Both real, tangible in a unique and mysterious way. Both hidden, yet sensed, felt, and evidenced in this physical world.

Your God-breathed soul is called upward to Him—but its visible vessel, the body, is made from the earth (dust to dust) and is tethered to this world.

Like in a theatrical production, both players (soul and body) move downstage. The power struggle begins. The soul’s battle-heavy glory work ignites.

And a cast of characters join in and muddle your soul story with a gazillion subplots—many opponents on many soul-body battlefronts, spiritually and physically.

(1) the world—earthly, mundane, carnal, temporal pursuits

(2) your DNA

(3) outer impacts—cultural/environmental

(4) relationships—family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, congregant members, etc.

(5) life encounters/experiences

(6) your since-the-beginning-of-time adversary, satan

And let’s not forget free will. After all, humanity’s plan (way of thinking, choosing, thinking) is what got us in trouble to begin with—i.e. the Garden of Eden.

It doesn’t take much to stir up an inner battle that impacts your life with others and with God—instead of doing what the soul-body should be doing: stirring up its entire being to love and serve Him.

(1) our hearts (the seat of our emotions and thoughts) are deceitfully wicked—and so God searches the heart, tests the mind to give us according to the “fruit of our deeds” [Jeremiah 17:9, 10]
 
(2) standing before God’s holiness, our most “righteous” acts are like filthy menstrual rags. Our sins (missing God’s holy mark) cause us to be withered like a leaf, carried away like the wind [Isaiah 64:5(6)]
 
(3) our imaginings (rooted in our hearts) are evil from youth [Genesis 8:21b]
 
(4) none of us are righteous [Ecclesiastes 7:20, Psalm 53:3-4, Psalm 14:2-3, 1 Kings 8:46, among many others].

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Plenty, actually. But let’s take it gently. Getting more understanding starts with a grasp of your soul nuances based on what the Hebrew reveals.

READ PART TWO NOW. COMBAT ZONE SERIES: PART 2—SOUL NUANCES

PHOTO CREDITS

Light in cave crevices photo by Joe Gardner on Unsplash.com

[Combat Zone is a foundational post for this blog. The original article was created/posted in 2009, but for easier reading divided into four posts much later.]

Connected upward, yet pulled downward.

That is the battle within your soul.

But it’s for a purpose. And it’s good.

© desireofmysoul.faith & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

SUGGEST READING THIS FIRST. COMBAT ZONE SERIES: PART 1—YOUR SOUL

READING TIME: 3 MINUTES.

Ancient Israelites as well as those in the Second Temple period—including the first century with Jesus (Yeshua, his Hebrew name)—have long embraced a soul-body perspective.

Even philosophers from Homer to Plato and Socrates and onto the Hellenistic period and beyond have peered into this mysterious soul-body relationship.

This series explores that spiritual-physical interplay in daily life and pulls from the Bible’s Hebrew wording as a gateway to deeper understanding of biblical text.

And because film/literature can help visualize the human-soul story, I later on (in a linked post) lightly explore a character in a Fellini film, Nights of Cabiria, via this soul lens. An unconventional approach? Maybe.

So let’s roll up our sleeves and get to it.

DISSECTING YOUR SOUL

Looking deeper, inward

The first stop: three revealing Hebrew words for soul that are used interchangeably throughout scripture.

The words that I’ll discuss in a moment—neshama/nishmat, ruach, nefesh—magnify things for us in certain Bible passages, when considering the context.

And they do something else. They’re a tutor teaching us that the soul . . .

(1) is breathed from God
(2) is unseen like a breath or wind
(3) can rise (to the things of God) and descend (away from His goodness)
(4) houses understanding and thought
(5) has emotions
(6) has a desire to cleave (negatively or positively)
(7) has an awareness of self
(8) is eternal and shares responsibility with the body for its actions/decisions (thus one of the needs for a bodily resurrection—more on that in another post)

Now let’s unpack it.

Soul Nuance #1: Breath of life, soul, attached to God

Neshama [neh-shah-mah ]—soul, God’s breath of life [in Hebrew, nishmat chayim נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים] that He breathed into Adam per Genesis 2:7. That divine breath animated, enlivened the body and sparked the soul’s dimensions. It gave Adam’s body—as it does yours and mine—life.

Think of it. That breath is your closest contact with God, His soul to your newly breathed soul. It’s His holy breath (nishmat) residing within you. How miraculous. A profound, loving gift from the King of Kings, the Ruler of the Universe. The One who sits High and lifted up on His mighty throne.

Soul Nuance #2: Wind, breath, spirit, and also used for feelings/emotions, inner feelings

Ruach [roo-akh] rises and descends—designed to move (like the wind) with the flow of God’s divine presence, His Shechinah, dwelling within. You hear the wind, feel it, but can’t see it. In Genesis 6:17, God brought the flood upon all flesh having the “spirit/breath of life” (ruach chayim, ר֣וּחַ חַיִּ֔ים).

Genesis 7:22 uses ruach again to speak of the breath of life: Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life in its nostrils (nishmat ruach chayim be’apav, נִשְׁמַת רוּחַ חַיִּים בְּאַמָּיו) died.

And in Psalm 33:6: By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and with the breath (ruach) of His mouth, all their host.

Since ruach is also used for feelings/emotions and inner thoughts, consider this: As your life goes this way or that, upwardly seeking Him or not, so this ruach (spirit/wind/breath) rises, descends. So . . .

The question then is, will you hear His voice and follow Him, drawing the entire soul-body upward, aligning your inner thoughts with His, surrendering to Him and His leading?

Or will your flesh—which is tethered to this world, made from the earth, dust to dust—run the show and derail your soul destiny with God?

Soul Nuance #3: Life force, soul, self, a person, rested breath, living (breathing) being

Nefesh [neh-fesh], taken from the Hebrew root nafash meaning to rest, similar to Exodus 31:17 where God tells Moses what to say to Israel about the Shabbat and how He rested (nafash) after six days of creation.

Genesis 2:7 reveals that God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the soul of life/breath of life (nishmat chayim), so man became a living soul (nefesh chayim).

Want other scriptures? Read these after this post: three more scripture examples.

Like a glassblower, God’s action of exhaling a soul is like
the breath [neshama/nishmat] leaving His lips,
traveling as wind [ruach/spirit],
coming to rest [nefesh/nafash] in the vessel [our body].

—A poetic image about God breathing the soul into Adam (my inserts in red)—from the 18th century Italian-Jewish philosopher/writer, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto.

The nefesh is often translated as self, suggesting it has an awareness of the physical world and of the body. It also has a yearning, a desire, appetite, and a cleaving (attaching itself either negatively or positively), per some rabbinic thinking.

That self-factor with a desire to cling is an important characteristic. Especially if the soul (nefesh) cleaves to things/desires mirroring those of the downward-focused, earth-tethered body, because it can wind up blocking the soul’s upward call (God’s desire).

Now add in what Rabbi Pinchas Winston (a lecturer/author on Torah philosophy) basically describes about the nefesh in his teaching of Exodus 35-38: it [nefesh] sets out to control and manipulate its physical surroundings in an attempt to “create a sense of self-reliance and security.”

No wonder that globally-and-generationally-known rabbi (who was so much more)—Jesus, the Messiah—taught this 2,000 years ago about dying to that negative self and turning your soul and body to God, surrendering to Him, serving Him, loving Him:

“Truly, truly, I say to you,

unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,

it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

—John 12:24

READ PART 2b NEXT:

COMBAT ZONE SERIES: PART 2b—THE BODY FACTOR
 
 

RESOURCES

Hebrew wording based on Tanakh Hebrew for text and Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon.

Greek word for soul and spirit from Strongs on https://biblehub.com/greek/5590.htm

PHOTO CREDIT

Quirky man with magnifying glass photo by Marten Newhall on Unsplash.com

Combat Zone is the foundational post for soul basics. The original article was created/posted in 2009, but for easier reading, later divided into more posts.

The soul. The body. Let the games (and battle) begin.

© desireofmysoul.faith & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

Combat Zone is the foundational post for soul basics.

SUGGEST READING THE SERIES IN ORDER. COMBAT ZONE SERIES: PART 1—YOUR SOUL

READING TIME: 2 MINUTES.

U nlike the soul breathed from God, your earth-derived body has a different agenda. It has an appetite and cravings for our physical world/natural realm. (Hello, Garden of Eden debacle.)

As noted by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz—teacher/author, famed for his edition of the Talmud:

“The body is blind . . . it has the physical power but doesn’t have the understanding, the inner side . . . the soul, on the other hand, has all understanding [my note for clarification—it’s not visible but sees spiritually], but it doesn’t have the physical power to do it.”

Steinsaltz says the soul-body combination is powerful, being able to do everything: feeling, thinking, saying.

But it’s not that simple. He says with the creation of man, a lump of matter, of earth, God inserted a soul. That resulted in two different and separate entities whose usage later is far more complex—and in daily life takes on a more “symbiotic coexistence of two elements.”

Symbiotic in that the soul and body are working together and influencing each other . . . creating a type of combined entity.

You, me, today: This soul-body union can cause us to travel a rigorous obstacle course.

The question remains, will the soul get its earthly partner (the body) to look upward—or will the God-breathed soul be duped or falter and be pulled downward, eyes off God and His ways?

Introducing perhaps a more familiar term: In Judaic fashion, Jesus/Yeshua used the terms soul and body—as in Matthew 10:28 (ESV).

“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

New Testament writers [followers of Jesus, the Messiah], like pharisee-turned apostle Saul Paulus, later called the body’s world-tethered component the flesh—referring to the physical body and its self-driven characteristics.

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion [degrading, vile, lustful], evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” —Colossians 3:5 (ESV)

“For those living according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit [of God] set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit [of God] is life and peace.
For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it doesn’t submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” —Romans 8:5-8 (ESV)

But I say, walk by the Spirit [of God] and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
—Galatians 5:16-17 (ESV)

The dynamic-duo struggle, body and soul, is real. It’s part of the refining, spiritual, and God-designed journey down here.

But does it have to be so chaotic, such a Wild West ride? Depends. And that brings us to part three of this series—how to navigate the battle within and without.

 
READ PART 3 NEXT: COMBAT ZONE SERIES: PART 3—RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
 

Combat Zone is the foundational post for soul basics. The original article was created/posted in 2009, but for easier reading divided into four posts in 2020. Judaic scripture number references used

Connected upward, yet pulled down ward

That is the battle within your soul.

But it’s for a purpose. And it’s good.

© desireofmysoul.faith & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

[Combat Zone series is the foundational post for soul basics.

SUGGEST READING PARTS 1 & 2 FIRST: COMBAT ZONE: PART 1—YOUR SOUL and COMBAT ZONE: PART 2—SOUL NUANCES

READING TIME: 3 MINUTES plus end scripture list.

Symbiotic. That’s what some rabbis say about the soul-body dynamic. You are a God-breathed soul—its biblical references breath, spirit/wind that rises/descends, and a “rested” life force—clothed in a body that’s from the earth and tethered to this world.

Your soul is called upward, the body downward. And so the battle ensues, along with a host of other factors that complicate your soul story (mentioned in Combat Zone, Part 1).

Here are five rules of engagement to help you stay the course and finish the race . . . well.

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT #1:

SECURE YOUR POSITION

We’re teetering on a broken bridge. Since the Garden of Eden debacle where rebellion exposed our desire for self vs. God, the dividing line was clear. God alone is holy. There are none righteous among us per His Word, often shared in this series and throughout this blog:

Genesis 8:21b, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Isaiah 59:1-2, Isaiah 64:6, Psalm 14: 2-3, Psalm 53: 3-4, 1 Kings 8:46, Jeremiah 17:9-10, Romans 3:23, Romans 3:10, Romans 8:6, among others.

But God is love, merciful, and l-o-n-g-suffering. So He made a way to restore that relationship with Him. There were temporary measures at first—blood sacrifices that had to be repeated daily, annually.

But those were mere shadows of what was coming, the greatest gift . . . a one-time holy sacrifice. A doorway giving us access to the Father, ADONAI, our Lord, our Master.

Fulfilling the soul’s journey begins with receiving the restoration gift from God: Jesus (Yeshua, in the Hebrew), our promised Messiah, the Son of God.

From there, your soul grows and is transformed by letting your soul [neshama], its wind/spirit [ruach] rest [nafash/nefesh] within the fibers of His presence, His Word, His ways . . . being hidden in Him, where you’re surrendered. Total white-flag territory.

It’s where your soul-body gets into sync,
working as a whole with God, bowing before Him.

God’s way of restoring relationship with Him:

“I am the Truth, the Life, the Way . . . no man comes to the Father except through me.”

—John 14:6. The Messiah, Jesus (Yeshua, his Hebrew name)

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT #2:

HONOR YOUR KING, YOUR COMMANDER IN CHIEF

It’s our human default to lean on our own understanding and to even get caught up in the emotions and mindset of the world at large.

But a good soldier needs to stand under his commander.

This slight paraphrase of Isaiah 8: 12-14 helps draw some clear-thinking guidelines. I’ve fleshed out the meanings of “fear” and “awed” from the Hebrew for a better visual.

Don’t fear (be shaken, swept into conspiracies) what people fear
(what they call conspiracies) nor give strength to it
or be awed (shaken terribly, oppressed) by what awes them.
Let God be the object of your awe (trembling holy fear) . . .
consecrate Him.
He alone is to be your sanctuary.

FAITH vs TRUST

AH, THAT’S THE THING.

ֱHebraically, faith—emunah (eh-moo-nah, אמוּנָה—means a knowing or understanding of who God is. He’s great, awesome, creator, redeemer, father, lover of our soul, and has His hand in the details of the world.

ֱTrust—bitachon (bee-tah-khon, בטחון) with the root batach—means trust, leaning on, resting on. So you might know that God is who He says He is . . . but bitachon means you put that emunah (faith) into action.

God is the author and perfecter of our faith—and the holy fire fueling that faith into motion.

Case in point: The Lord gave me a vision (more than once) when I was at a difficult part of my life. There I was in the vision, standing on the precipice of a huge, wide chasm—with God calling me to the other side. My soul knew what He wanted . . . my faith to move in action, to step out, to trust that He would break forth the impossible. To trust that He’d let the unseen be seen, manifesting what was totally illogical to my human mind.

Honestly, I rather think He joys over those moments when we really have only one choice—Him. A Father who delights in revealing more of His character as He watchfully coaxes His children to learn more and walk higher.

And so, in the vision, trust moved one foot off the ledge and stepped onto nothingness. But in that exact nanosecond, part of a bridge appeared beneath my foot. With each trust-step forward, God allowed another piece of the bridge floor to meet my foot until I reached the other side. To a place deeper in Him.

It’s like God is saying to you and me in our 21st century lives: Get out of the boat. Not to waltz on the shore but to activate our bitachon/trust and walk on the water with Him.

When that happens, we can consecrate God as Isaiah 8:14 commands.
 

Setting Him apart from all else for our hearts’ sake.

Setting Him apart from all else for our souls’ desire and strength.

Setting Him apart from all else for our daily lives and circumstances.

Setting Him apart from all else and recognizing Him as our sanctuary.

Bottom line for this Rule of Engagement: Know (emunah) that He is your sanctuary—but bitachon, actively live and move as if He is your sanctuary. Your refuge. Your protection. Your provision. Your home. Your very breath. Because He is.

You are soul journeying to more than a place. You are heading to ha makom (ha-mah-kome), the place—only to discover that the place is God Himself. He is ha makom, the destination, the journey, the place of holiness.

Remember, for the spiritual battle, your nefesh—the Hebrew word for soul referring to the life force that can cling, negatively or positively—needs to obey orders.

Clinging to God means He’s in front and you’re behind Him. That’s how you stay in position. That’s how you follow and honor your Commander-in-Chief.

Psalm 63:2, 9 (1, 8). O God, You are my God, I seek You. My soul [nefesh] thirsts for You, in an arid and thirsty land, without water. My soul [nefesh] clings to your hind parts; Your righteous right hand upholds me.

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT #3:

KEEP YOUR EYES RIGHTLY FOCUSED

You are battling on two main fronts—the spiritual world (your soul against the principalities and powers of the enemy) and the physical world. Like in any war, things shift, take on different patterns.

Do you know what you’re really seeing—or is it a delusion, a camouflage? There’s only one way to hold your position while waiting for intel about what’s really going on in a realm you can’t physically see or physically touch. Stay mindful, focused, in God’s presence.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18

What is unseen . . . is God. Yet you are called to fix your soul’s eyes on Him, the Eternal One, to see more clearly in the battles down here. To not lose heart.

Although the body (“outer man”) is decaying and warring, your inner essence, your soul—breath from God/neshama, spirit/ruach, inner living substance/nefesh—is being renewed day by day in Him.

The next two scriptures reveal what your stance should be in battle . . . do what He has ordered to the best of your ability, then STAND.

Don’t leave your post. Stand, confidently, expectantly, faithfully in Him. Even (and especially) when the order is to simply wait.

“Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”—Joshua 1:9.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
—Ephesians 6:10-14a

READ THE LAST TWO RULES OF ENGAGEMENT NOW:

COMBAT ZONE: PART 3b—RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
 
 

PHOTO CREDIT

Sniper girl photo by Piotr Will on Unsplash.com

Combat Zone is the foundational post for soul basics. The original article was created/posted in 2009, but for easier reading divided into three posts in 2020. Judaic scripture number references used with Christian numbering in parentheses when it’s different.

Encouragement for your soul. The last two Rules of engagement to strengthen you for life’s battles.

© desireofmysoul.faith & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

SUGGEST READING PARTS 1 & 2 FIRST BEFORE PARTS 3 and 3b: COMBAT ZONE: PART 1—YOUR SOUL and COMBAT ZONE: PART 2—SOUL NUANCES

READING TIME: 3 MINUTES plus end scripture list.

Yes, the battle rages around (and in) us. But God is a mighty, mighty warrior—LORD of the battle. His ways always win. So breathe in His rest, comfort, stillness. His power, majesty, and loving faithfulness will never fail you.

And keep these last two Rules of Engagement in mind.

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT #4:

KNOW YOUR WEAPON

Be prepared—in season and out of season.

Go through basic training and refresher trainings with your weapon (the Word of God), just like a soldier needs to qualify for live-fire drills—and the real thing. Because this daily battle you and I are in is always the real deal.

SO STAY IN HIS WORD. It is life, it is renewing, it is Truth that will show you where to walk and help you not be derailed in your soul journey down here.

Check out this insightful passage from the New Testament (the Soul Nuances are inserted to help connect the dots for you) . . .

Hebrews 4:12. See, the Word of God is alive! It is at work and is sharper than any double-edged sword — it cuts right through to where soul meets spirit [dividing where those Hebrew soul/spirit words intersect—neshama, ruach/spirit, nefesh ] and where joints meet marrow [dividing where your vessel/body’s inner parts intersect], and it is quick to judge the inner reflections and attitudes of the heart.

PRAYER! Full-on, distractions blocked. Prayer is warfare in the spiritual realm. It’s where the war is won, really. With that, I’d strongly add worship since worship is battle—and it is prayer. The two work together, interlocked for intense spiritual fighting, using both simultaneously.

James 5:16 nails it simply: The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

So crank up powerful worship music, grab your Bible, humble yourself before the Lord, and get to it!

Sing-pray His Word through the attacks, valleys, and even on those mountaintops to keep a lookout and get prepared in season and out of season.

[Recommendation: My go-to music is from previous worship musician/singer/songwriter Rick Pino—from his warfare albums to his stirring songs before the Lord. I had the privilege of meeting him briefly after one of his musical events in Santa Rosa, CA when I lived in the Bay. God had used Rick’s music to get me through a deeply difficult time.]

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT #5:

KEEP COMMUNICATION LINES OPEN—AND STAY ALERT

This is soul-to-soul communication, yours and God’s. Report what’s going on, what you see, what you’ve done, what you need—and wait for God to respond and lead. Sometimes you aren’t to speak—just still your soul and listen.

Psalm 42:7, a downtrodden soul [nefesh per the line prior] calls out to God: Deep [tehom, תְּהוֹם, subterranean waters of the soul] is calling to deep at the thunder of Your waterfalls; all Your surging rapids and waves are sweeping over me.

There, in the deep part of your soul, humbled and hungry to reach His soul’s deep, is where holy communication is sparked, where you discover yet another layer of who He is, what He is, where He’s moving, how He’s guiding you, what He’s saying to you for this season of your life.

HIS WATERFALL OF REFRESHMENT FLOWS FROM HIS THRONE, RELEASING . . .

revelations

prophetic actions

words of knowledge

wisdom

discernment & understanding

provisions

His never-ending

L

O

V

E

mercy & grace

long-suffering

forgiveness

THAT’S HOW YOU CAN STAY SPIRITUALLY IN SYNC WITH HIM.

BECAUSE REMEMBER: THE ENEMY IS ON THE PROWL.

Always, as it so happens. So be ready for hostile fire. He roams the world to see who he can devour, derail, destroy.

Watch out for the big sweep: So-called spirituality—as the term is used in the world today—that brashly proclaims there are “many ways to God.” It’s another tool of the enemy. False roads leading to death, not God’s eternal life.

You won’t find God’s truth in . . .

~ rote mantras

~ transcendental meditation</p>

~ crystals

~ astrology & tarot cards

~ trance-like states, psychics, palm readers

~ or all the rest of the “New” Age and one-world religious systems

Same goes for fashioning your version of God . . . that’s called idolatry.

Securing your position in Him is about connecting with Him on His terms and His Word, not the world’s, not yours, not mine.

God has made His terms clear from Genesis onward, revealing His holy character, His holy desires, His holy ways.

READ THIS FINAL COMBAT ZONE POST WITH A FILM NOIR BENT. COMBAT ZONE: PART 4—SOUL VIA A FILM NOIR LENS

SCRIPTURES: BE ENCOURAGED

Exodus 34:6 Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth.

Lamentations 3:22-23 The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.

Deuteronomy 6:5 & Matthew 22:37. You are to love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Psalm 55:16-18, 22 . But I call to God, and the Lord will save me.
Evening and morning and at noon, I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice.
He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me.
Cast your burden on the Lord,and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

Matthew 11:29. [And Jesus/Yeshua said] Come to me, all of you who are struggling and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

John 4:23-24. But the hour is coming—indeed, it’s here now—when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

PHOTO CREDIT

Sniper girl photo by Piotr Will on Unsplash.com

[Combat Zone is the foundational post for soul basics. The original article was created/posted in 2009, but later divided into shorter posts for easier reading.

Connected upward, yet pulled downward.

That is the battle within your soul.

But it’s for a purpose. And it’s good.

© desireofmysoul.faith & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

GET THE SOUL BASICS FIRST. READ PARTS 1-3. START HERE: COMBAT ZONE: PART 1—YOUR SOUL

READING TIME: 4 MINUTES

Life has its ragged edges. The God-breathed soul in its earth-tethered body has a job to do. But things can get messed up, turned upside down, or totally d-e-r-a-i-l-e-d.

Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini may not have been thinking about the soul-body dynamic when he made Nights of Cabiria (Le Notti di Cabiria), but there is a parallel nonetheless.

CHARACTER’S SOUL

Fellini’s 1958 film is hauntingly compelling, a gritty window into the human condition. Protagonist Cabiria, a tragic-comedic, quirky personality wiggles into your heart, in the raw places. The uncomfortably-yet-so-real places we know but too often pushed down.

She is a . . .

darkened

lonely

wandering

soul

who wants to break loose of herself.

A lady of the night, but her true self— her soul’s identity—longs to be freed. Her plight could just as easily be yours, mine, or anyone else’s on the planet. After all, there are trenches and stench holes even in the finest high places and people.

Her life is a series of abuse, being used, deceived, unloved, lost, and nearly killed (twice) for her money.

From the beginning when her boyfriend pushes her into a lake and steals her purse to being set up and ridiculed at a magic show and on to the cruelest betrayal of a would-be fiancé, Cabiria streetwalks for her profession while her soul walks the inner streets of its journey, with slowly unfolding realizations.

Compared to her cohorts, there’s something distinctly different about Cabiria. They’re contently oblivious to their boxed-in existence. Not her. She’s clothed in an unexpected resilience. Dares to hope. Dares to find ways to be free from the civil war within and around her.

Swept along the Roman religious processional—priests, candle-carrying altar boys in garb, followed by suit-clad men and penitent, scarf- covered women drudging behind on their knees—Cabiria seeks religion as a cure and cries out for a miracle in her default, Roman Catholic style.

She stands, her face painful, nearly angelic, amid the lonely, the crippled, the children, the women and men, the poor, the forgotten.

Cabiria looks to a familiar source, her default religion, hoping to find her soul’s release. [pic from Federico Fellini’s Le Notti di Cabiria]

But the next day, she’s sitting with a few others on the processional grounds. Scattered debris surrounds her, the aftermath of the previous evening’s religious fervor.

A musician strums his guitar.

Teens plays ball.

Her friends eat, drink, dance.

The reality crashes in on her.

We haven’t changed.

Nobody’s changed.

We’re all the same as before, just like the cripple.

—Nights of Cabiria, Fellini film

Mise-en-Scène. Let’s look at the real elements in her story. Which, in the big-picture view, are not all that different from yours or mine on any given day.

She is breathed by God, yet her soul/spirit clings to the ways of her world-tethered body and follows it down spiritually deserted corridors—instead of clinging to Him. Over time, spiritual darkness consumes her soul, causing a spiritual chasm. Her soul can’t breathe or flow as it was designed to do.

Despite her religious attempts, a real transformation, that coming-full-on-to-God moment in her soul, isn’t happening. She’s still looking for something spiritual amidst something physical.

So when the cripple isn’t healed and her friends return to their worldly ways . . . hope is MIA, nowhere to be found. And her soul is right where it was before, unable to breathe in and breathe out the truth of God.

CABIRIA’S SOUL MOMENT

The invisible iron bars of Cabiria’s physical slave market pierce through her soul-body. She dreams of freedom, but is incarcerated emotionally and spiritually wherever she goes.

Her cries upward are genuine. But the earthbound religious exercises leave her chained, her soul in bondage.

There is only One who can deliver her, from the inside out. Will He step in, remove the veil, awaken her soul, letting her see His beauty, sparking a deep-calling-to-deep type of miracle?

We can all pretend to be cynical and scheming . . .
but when we’re faced with purity and innocence,
the cynical mask drops off and all that is best in us awakens.
—Nights of Cabiria, Fellini film

Toward the end of the film, Cabiria is manipulated and discarded yet again, left with mutilated expectations.

Her soul hits ground zero. Physically, she collapses on an elevated drop-off, deep waters below. All a deft portrait of her soul-life journey.

But then . . . a stirring. Emptied, teary-eyed, she pulls herself up and starts to walk through the wooded area.

Children and young people come out and walk with her, singing, playing music, happy, filled with life.

And hope. A different level of hope seen through a new soul lens.

A mascara-stained tear rests under one eye—and slowly her visage morphs. She looks around her and sees new life bursting from the young people and music. It’s then that she turns to gaze into the camera for a few seconds.

She’s showing us something—something deeper rising from her soul.

Saddened eyes filled with a thousand stories.

Cabiria . . . her soul awakening. [pic from Federico Fellini’s Le Notti di Cabiria]

Battle-scarred emotions . . . her spirit/feelings/inner thoughts (ruach in Hebrew) daring to stand.

A humbled soul . . . her previously self-driven life force (nefesh in Hebrew) finally beginning to remove itself from the worldly wanderings and tasting the “rest” within.

Then a frail smile breaks through . . . her breath of God, attached to Him (neshama in Hebrew) kindles her inner soul lamp.

And maybe . . . hope. The kind that can only come from the One who is truth, who gives abundant life the way He designed.

Go further with your soul story. Read the Combat Zone’s soul basics series for ways to maneuver your soul battle. Start here:

COMBAT ZONE SERIES: PART 1—YOUR SOUL

Connected upward, yet pulled downward.

That is the battle within your soul.

But it’s for a purpose. And it’s good.

© SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

READING TIME: 1 MINUTE.

Take a sec to read three quick examples of how the translated word “soul” is synonymously used for those three Hebrew words used in the COMBAT ZONE SERIES: PART 2—SOUL NUANCES (neshama/nishmat, ruach, nefesh) and even their equivalent in the New Testament Greek.

1. Job said, “As God lives, who has taken away my right,
and the Almighty has established my soul (nefesh, my life force, rested breath).
For as long as my soul (nishmat, breath of life attached to God) is within me
and the spirit (ruach, breath, wind) of God is in my nostrils,
my lips will speak no injustice and my tongue will utter no deceit.
—Job 27:2-4

2. The spirit (ruach, breath, wind) of God made me, and the breath (nishmat, breath of life, attached to God) of the Almighty keeps me alive.—Job 33:4

3. There also are poetic uses of these synonyms, like the metaphor in the New Testament’s letter to the Hebrews (4:12) that vividly underscores the laser-like intensity of God’s Word (active, alive, sharper than any two-edge sword) to expose our thoughts and intentions . . .

It can divide the “soul”—(Greek is psyches like nefesh for self, human person, the consequence of God’s blowing life into a person)—from the “spirit” (Greek is pneumatos, like ruach for breath, wind, spirit).

Meaning: The razor-sharp sword of God’s Word slices through (divides) the intricately connected nuances of the soul much like it can slice through our physical joints from its innermost part, the heart-of-the-matter marrow.

It’s real . . . with sneak peeks throughout the Bible to prove it.

© desireofmysoul.faith & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

READING TIME: 5 MINUTES.

Death. Is it a body decomposing into nothingness, trapped in a waiting-for-Godot moment—as Emily Dickinson portrays, rather derisively, in her “Alabaster Chambers” poem below? Or is it a future transition of the soul-body union into something far greater?

Safe in their Alabaster Chambers—

Untouched by Morning

And untouched by Noon—

Lie the meek members of the Resurrection—

Rafter of Satin—and Roof of Stone!
—Emily Dickinson, original first stanza;
later published in her third. version posthumously, in 1890

You probably have your take on the resurrection matter. But opinions and poets aside . . . the real question is, what does God say? In His words, the Bible. After all, it’s His creation, His rules, His story. The gist of His resurrection event unfolds like this . . .

Death isn’t the end. It’s another beginning. The soul is eternal.

God said to Moses, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. —Exodus 3:6, approximately 1446 BCE.

What was God saying?
I am the God of your father—not I was.
Your father’s soul is with Me. His soul is not dead.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have long past from this world,
and yet, their souls are alive.
I am their God.

But God doesn’t leave things suspended there, with the eternal soul separated from its earthly vessel (the body) . . . the design from the beginning was for us to enjoy an everlasting soul-body existence made holy unto Him.

That’s why an integral part of the what’s-ahead story is the soul-body reunion, coming at the end of (future of) days—called acharit ha-yamim in Hebrew, אחרית הימים—orchestrated by the hand of God.

He’s been telling humanity about that for thousands of years—and He’s given ten sneak-peek accounts of it to make this seemingly preposterous resurrection notion understandable to us, recognizing it as a valid upcoming event.

The links for the resurrection accounts are in the last part of this post, including a link to a brief timeline of some resurrection clues, starting with 1400s BCE/BC.

ALL THAT BEGS THE QUESTION

Since resurrection is a futuristic event, what is our life down here about?

There’s much to that answer—some discussed in this series and elsewhere on this blog. But for now, as one rabbinic source puts it . . .

This world is like a lobby before the World to Come;
prepare yourself in the lobby
so that you may enter the banquet hall.
—Rabbi Yaakov, Pirkei Avot 4:21
(Ethics of our Fathers, ethical/moral Torah teachings
from the Mishnaic 2nd century CE period)

Keep this in mind: There are no do-overs. No reincarnation to try it again. God’s Word is pretty straightforward about that. That’s why what you do down here in the “lobby” is critical.

It all comes down to this: God is sovereign. He sits on the throne as judge—both justice and mercy.

But for the mercy part, you need to be living according to His divine plan for your soul, His roadmap—not doing your own thing or believing your version of what He said.

RESURRECTION: SNEAK PEEKS

Explore each account via the links below. These resurrected people went on to live again . . . but eventually had to die again and now await the resurrection occurring at the end of days.

That is, all except one.

The Life Giver . . . and Life Changer.

The Restorer, Repairer, Healer.

The Redeemer. The Messiah.

There’s more coming up about that singularly unique resurrection story in this series. But now . . . those real-life resurrection accounts.

Real-Life Accounts

Real-Life Accounts Cont’d

The Resurrection Thunderbolt From Heaven

Rabbi Scholars Defend Jesus’s Resurrection

Why A Bodily Resurrection

His Righteousness Can Be Yours

Biblical timeline of resurrection cues and sneak-peek accounts

RELATED RESOURCES

McFarland, Philip (2004), Hawthorne in Concord, New York: Grove Press, p.149, ISBN0-8021-1776-7.

Royot, Daniel (2002), “Poe’s humor”, in Hayes, Kevin J, The Cambridge Companion to Edgar Allan Poe, Cambridge University Press, pp. 61–2, ISBN0-521-79727-6.

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13614-shulamite

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/shunammite-midrash-and-aggadah

https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/all-women-bible/Great-Woman-Shunem

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/107781/jewish/Ani-Maamin-I-Believe.htm

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-resurrection-of-the-dead/

Book of Acts timeline. https://biblehub.com/timeline/acts/1.htm/

Photo Credits

Resurrection/Tomb photo by jchizhe, purchased on iStock.com (Stock photo ID:1243063771)

Bible photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.com

Gavel photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash.com

Roll the Drums photo by Marija Zaric on Unsplash.com

Resurrection series initially created between March 30, 2016 – July 3, 2016, then later divided into various posts for easier reading