Ephphatha “Be Opened” (Hope for the New Year)

January 11, 2023 By Jones LaRonda Leave a Comment

Years ago, I remember attending a Christian conference in New Orleans, LA. My sister had invited me to join her and the Christian campus ministry she was a leader in at the time and of course I gladly joined. The main theme of the conference was primarily focused on the truth that Jesus is the remedy for everything. After a week of hearing amazing minsters speak throughout the entire conference, there was one word that stood out to me more than anything…Ephphatha.

“It sounds kind of funny honestly! What does it mean?” These are a few thoughts I had after hearing this word. In Mark 7:31-35, we find “Ephphatha” tucked away within the passage of scripture:

Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region to Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee. Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him. And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue. Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” this is, “Be opened.” Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.

I had previously read the scripture where “Ephphatha” is found, but I did not remember the words that followed…”Be opened!”

Within the scripture, we see a man that was deaf with a speech impediment being brought to Jesus. I absolutely love that people were brought to Jesus all throughout the gospels. They must have believed that He was able do something about their situation 🙂 Afterwards, we see that Jesus takes the man aside from the multitude and heals him. The man was formerly deaf with a speech impediment but is now able to hear and speak! Oh what an encounter with God can do!

“Ephphatha”…”Be opened!” Simple yet powerful! I believe God’s desire for the body of Christ is to be hearing and speaking, not deaf and mute. May we do what God has said to do in His Word and proclaim the Good News! May we be about our Father’s business! “Ephphatha”…”Be opened!” As we go throughout life, let us “be opened” to being used by God! As you study the Bible, see yourself doing the works that Jesus did in the Bible. See yourself laying your hands on the sick and them recovering! See yourself opening the eyes of the blind! See yourself raising the dead to life (because hello…God has not changed)! See yourself winning souls for the Kingdom of God! I encourage you to step out on the promises of God and do the Word! Be blessed!!

Heavenly Father, I pray that our eyes are opened even further to the truth of Your Word! I pray that we have greater revelation of who we are in Christ and the plan and purpose You have for our life! I pray that we be opened to being used by You God! In Jesus Name, Amen!

Don’t Believe The Lie

November 25, 2016 By Jones LaRonda Leave a Comment

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! I’m sure most of us are familiar with this popular phrase. I remember visiting Vegas for the first time as a 16 year old and being amazed at the sights. The water show at the Bellagio, Treasure Island, Caesars Palace, and CircusCircus are a few of the attractions I remember seeing. I was in Las Vegas for a summer camp at UNLV and remember going out to sight see with the group one day.

After walking around during the day and checking out various attractions we all meet up for dinner at one of the casinos and later went to go see a Lance Burton magic show at the Monte Carlo. This was the first professional, well the first ever, magic show I had been to so I was really interested to see what it was like. Upon walking in the lobby of the Monte Carlo, there was an amateur magician at a table entertaining people with a few small tricks. I recall watching them very closely so that I could pick up on any kind of flaw and call it out. Yeah yeah…I was that person lol. Finally it was time to go inside to watch the show so I went to find my seat. At the beginning of the show, there were a few smaller acts by other magicians and then I remember the main magician, Lance Burton, coming out on the stage. I honestly don’t recall all of the tricks that he did during his show but I do remember his performance being bigger and more daring than the first couple of acts. Of course I watched all of the performances closely looking for even the slightest flaw but I found none. I was amazed! Although I tried to rationalize in my mind how certain tricks could have been done, I didn’t figure it out. The show really was amazing!

Vegas was tons of fun (in the most PG way possible…perhaps just the G) and I didn’t even think about the time I attended that show in the past until the Holy Spirit recently started revealing something to me. He gave me a visual of a lesson He was teaching me and reminded me of the magic show in Vegas. He showed me that a magician relies on deception to be successful. If they are able to deceive their audience the magic show is a success. Similarly, Satan relies on deception to be successful. He’s a deceiver (Revelation 12:9) and the father of lies (John 8:44). If he is able to deceive his audience, you and I, he succeeds. The success of both a magician and Satan hinges on the ability to trick our mind and make things that aren’t true or real appear real. This is mind blowing because we operate and literally live based on the truth we believe. If you believe a lie, you will operate your life around that lie because that is what you believe to be true, although it is actually a lie…crazy huh?

This revelation reinforces why it is so important that we fill our mind with the truth of God’s Word and believe it! Not the lies of the enemy! That’s why the Bible tells us to meditate on God’s Word day and night! We operate on the truth we believe and we need to make sure the truth we believe is aligned with God’s Word! Deception from the enemy starts with a lie! Most of the shortcomings I’ve personally had, I can trace back to a lie I believed. Even Adam and Eve were deceived into believing a lie (Genesis 3:1)! I find that many times the enemy likes to attack our identity. To make us unaware, or have unbelief, of who we are in Christ! Check out Jesus experience with this in Matthew 4:3-4. Satan’s job is to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10)! That’s what he does and he will seek to do this by any means necessary. So, the next time the enemy tries to deceive you with a lie replace it with the truth of God’s Word! Believe God’s Word! DON’T BELIEVE THE LIE!

Are you ready?

June 22, 2015 By Jones LaRonda Leave a Comment

The story of Noah and how God instructed him to build the boat reminds me of the storms we face in life. Whether you are able to survive the storm or not depends on your obedience to God. Build your boat before the storm comes. How? By seeking Him. Remaining in Him. By studying and obeying His Word. It rained, or the storm lasted, for 40 days and nights in the story of Noah. This represents the number for trials and tribulations in the Bible. The boat represents our foundation or our trust in God. As the storm waters rise you too will be able to float safely on the surface like the boat in the story of Noah if you are adequately prepared. Imagine trying to build a boat with rising waters…yea a mess. God gave Noah detailed instructions for building the boat before it even starting raining. If he would have decided to do his own thing he would have drowned along with his family. God gave us detailed instructions for surviving as well…His Word! It’s interesting how our obedience to the Word also has an impact on our families (or future families).

What are you waiting on?

June 21, 2015 By Jones LaRonda 2 Comments

A few months ago, as I was studying the Bible I ran across a familiar scripture and God really spoke to me. I’ve heard this scripture recited many times and even seen the verse printed on numerous Bible case covers but this particular day as I read the scripture a word was illuminated before my eyes and caused me to study further.

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” -Isaiah 40:31 KJV

‘But they that WAIT…..’ (Isaiah 40:31). Have you ever stopped to ask what it means to ‘wait’ as mentioned in the verse above? What does it look like to wait on the Lord? Honestly, growing up I viewed the word wait as mentioned in the above verse the same way you would view anything else you would normally wait for. We wait in traffic. We wait in long lines to make purchases. Waiting is something most of us are far too familiar with. But what exactly does it mean to ‘Wait on the Lord’? According to The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of The Bible by James Strong, the Hebrew of the word ‘wait’ in Isaiah 40:31 is “Qavah” which means- to bind together (perhaps by twisting). To wait, look, wait for, look for, gathered, collect. This word stresses the staining of the mind in a certain direction with an expectant attitude…a forward look with assurance.

I love how the Hebrew definition of the word says ‘to bind together (perhaps by twisting)’ and how it stresses the straining of the mind in a certain direction with an expectant attitude. When we wait on the Lord we aren’t to just merely sit and wait. That would be quite lazy in a not so good way. We are to be saturated in God’s Word. What are you tying yourself to? God’s will? His Word? Or the problems of this world or your current situation? How about worldly wisdom? What is your mind set on? While studying this scripture I was reminded of the importance of our mind. Seriously! It’s important that we are careful about what we allow our mind to think on.

‘…upon The Lord…’(Isaiah 40:31)

Our minds should be set on The Lord! He is The Word! Get in His Word! We should be setting our minds on Him, things that are pleasing to Him and things that are consistent with His Word! When we set our minds on The Word, we set our mind on The Lord! ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1 KJV).’ The Bible tells us in Colossians 3:2 (NIV) to ‘set [our] minds on things above, not on earthly things.’ God knows how important our mind is and even more how important it is that we are careful of what we fill it with. He tells us to meditate on His Word day and night in Joshua 1:8 NIV. And one of my favorite verses, ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will (Romans 12:2 NIV).’ As we allow God to renew our minds He changes the way we think. It really amazes me how important it is that we watch what we fix our minds on. What are you feeding yourself? What are you thinking on? ‘Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things (Philippians 4:8 NIV).’

Interestingly “Qav”, the first part of the Hebrew word above means- a cord, especially for measuring, a rule, also a rim, a musical string, or accord. This reminds me of the verse in Ecclesiastes 4:12b NLT, ‘…a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.’ When we set our mind on heavenly things or things that are pleasing to God and saturate our mind with His Word we can’t easily be broken. We are better prepared to go throughout each day and take on things that may come our way. With our mind saturated in God’s Word we are strong, just like that triple-braided cord. The part of the definition that mentions ‘especially for measuring’ is interesting in regards to the measure of our faith! How can we have faith in something we don’t believe in? That’s not a part of us? As we ‘wait’ on The Lord our measure of faith will be increased because our mind will be strained toward the will of God and His promises with an expectant attitude!

So, what are you waiting on?