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!

The Way of the Righteous

January 11, 2022 By Jones LaRonda Leave a Comment

“To the right there? Do you see it?” This past summer I had the privilege of serving as a leader at a youth summer camp with my church. The campsite was beautiful! Imagine being in the country with tall oak trees gently cascading down rollings hills, a lake perfectly reflecting gleamers of the sun, and miles of trails. Yes it was beautiful! One particular morning, I woke up early to go on a run. During the run, I noticed the greenery on the right side of a set of steps I had to go down to get to the trails. “Leaves of three, let it be.” This is a phrase I was taught to easily identify poison ivy and lo and behold there it was…”To the right there? Do you see it?”

As I was recently scrolling through my phone, I came across this picture I took of those exact same steps. It honestly reminded me of Psalm 1:1-3….

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
-Psalm 1:1-3

The degradation within this passage of scripture can visually be represented with the steps. Blessed is the man…

Step 1- Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly
Step 2- Nor stands in the path of sinners
Step 3- Nor sits in the seat of the scornful

“To the right there? Do you see it?” It is interesting that poison ivy can easily be identify by three leaves because here we see three characteristics which identify the blessed man or the way of the righteous. Degradation happens over time…it’s a process. Imagine a person walking in the counsel of the ungodly. They are moving at least but eventually they get comfortable. Now they are standing in the path of sinners and are not moving at all. Eventually, they get comfortable standing and decide to go ahead and sit in the seat of the scornful. Uh oh. Do you see the degradation? I imagine this person didn’t wake up one day intending to go down a path different than the way of the righteous. It is a result of choices made over time as they became more and more comfortable.

Two more characteristics that we can see of the blessed man are…
1.) His delight is in the law of the Lord
2.) And in His law he meditates day and night

This person is intentionally seeking God. Delighting in the Word and consistently meditating the Word. I love the visual we are given in the Bible to represent this person. It says,

He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth it’s fruit in it’s season,
Whose leaf also shall not whither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
-Psalm 1:3

That sounds like a promise to me 🙂 I believe that as we continually choose God’s way (the way of the righteous), we too are like this tree planted by the rivers of water (drawing from God, our source). We are bringing forth fruit in it’s season. Our leaf also shall not whither. And whatever we do shall prosper! Do you see yourself doing this? I can! Together let’s choose the way of the righteous 🙂

Of course, I had to include a picture of the lake as well 🙂

What Are You Wearing?

November 30, 2020 By Jones LaRonda 2 Comments

“Did you hear that? The sound of thousands of feet passing nearby just outside the city gates. What is that?” These are a few of the questions I imagine Blind Bartimaeus asking as he felt the dust on the road swiftly being moved aside by the feet of the multitude. Could this be Him? Jesus, the one I had heard of before? I can see Blind Bartimaeus, filled with hope, slowly drawing closer toward the large crowd and asking, “What is happening?” After hearing that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by, Blind Bartimaeus cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47)” Then many from the crowd yelled at him telling him to be quiet. But don’t they know this is Jesus? Don’t they know this is the promised Messiah? He is able to heal me? This is my only chance. I must cry out louder! “Son of David, have mercy on me!” Unsure of whether Jesus had heard his cry or not, I can see Bartimaeus getting desperate. But then shortly afterwards, some people from the crowd tell him, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you! (Mark 10:49)” Jesus is calling for me! Well, I won’t be needing this old thing! So,

throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you? The blind man said to Him “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.
(Mark 10:50-52)

As I was studying the Bible recently, I couldn’t help but to notice multiple references to the garment or type of clothing that characters wore throughout the Bible. From linen and purple to sackcloth and ashes, I realized that people didn’t put on certain types of clothes just to “wear” them. The garments one wore seemed to give insight into the condition of the person. The clothes had meaning. They told a story.

So here, in the story of Blind Bartimaeus, we can see that the clothes he wore while he was blind give us insight into his condition. Throughout the Bible, we can see that it was common for beggars to wear a certain type of clothing. Given the condition of Bartimaeus, he was unable to work jobs that required physical labor so he became a beggar. But Jesus heard his cry and we can see that Blind Bartimaeus was healed! As we further examine this story, notice that Bartimaeus “threw aside his garment” in the process of rising and coming to Jesus. It appears as though Bartimaeus displayed faith by the very act of throwing aside his garment as he went to see Jesus. He believed he would no longer have need of the clothes which signified that he was a beggar. So, by faith, he cast those garments aside. I can see Bartimaeus saying, “Healed people don’t wear beggars clothing. I believe that I receive.” So, Bartimaeus threw aside his garment and received his sight! We can even see faith displayed in the words that Bartimaeus spoke and his attitude. He was persistent in asking Jesus to have mercy on him. Even when many from the crowd told him to be quiet, he cried out louder. He didn’t let other people stop him from receiving. Faith is a firm persuasion…to be fully convinced. Bartimaeus had faith that Jesus was able to restore his sight so he didn’t give up in his pursuit. He was persistent and maintained an attitude of faith! I love it!!

In the Bible, we can see that priests, lepers, widows, mourners, and more each had certain types of clothing that indicated their status. You knew the condition or status of a person simply by observing the type of garments they were wearing. As I studied the story of Bartimaeus, I was reminded of Jesus “rising from supper, laying aside His garment, and wrapping a towel around his waist” in John 13:4 right before he began to wash the disciples feet. Jesus took on the form of a servant. This was a visual display of the new commandment Jesus gave to love one another unconditionally. It was an example He gave us to follow. Also, in Isaiah 61:3, we can see that God gave us “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” That’s good news!!

There are many items throughout the Word that we are told to put on or take off. God really cares about the clothing we are wearing 🙂 We are told to…

put on “the whole armor of God” (Ephesian 6)
put on “tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering…and love” (Colossians 3:12-14)
be “clothed with humility” (1 Peter 5:5)
“put off our old self” (Ephesians 4:22)
“lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us” (Hebrews 12:1)
put off “anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and filthy language” (Colossians 3:8)

Now that I think of it, the way we dress could give insight into our condition…insight into our status. Redeemed…Delivered….Loved…Healed…Righteous….A Child of God! Are you choosing to put on love? What about kindness or humility? Our decision of what we chose to wear as we go throughout life can determine whether people see God in us or not. That’s huge! It looks like The Word of God is a great personal stylist for help deciding what to wear and what not to wear 🙂 Who knew God was so interested in clothing! Psalms 104:1-2 even tells us that God Himself is “clothed with honor and majesty…covered with light as with a garment.” So beautiful!! I encourage you to pause, reflect and honestly ask yourself the question, “(Insert Your Name Here), What Are You Wearing?”

Whoa Baby, Look How Much You’ve Grown

August 20, 2020 By LaTosha Alexander 4 Comments

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven…A time to plant and a time to harvest (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2).

Have you ever considered how much plants and your life have in common? Last year I received a unique birthday gift from my husband. It was a blue pot that had soil in it. My husband told me that bulbs of my favorite flower had been planted in the soil and would grow over time. For an individual who knew very little about properly caring for a plant, I was excited yet skeptical about how successful this process would be.

I remember taking trips to the porch frequently to water the plant. Other days when water wasn’t needed, I would go outside just to see if there was any progress in the growth process. Personally, the hardest part for me was waiting patiently and watching for some sign of hope to show itself above the soil. Days passed, weeks passed, and even a couple of months passed; however, my plant successfully grew. I was so excited and would often say, “Whoa baby, look how much you’ve grown.”

This summer my attempts with planting did not go as well as last year. It’s ok, I’m still learning. I’ll just try again next year. Although my pursuit of growing plants this year was unsuccessful, I still learned some valuable life lessons through planting.

One sunny day I remember staring out the window at my pots with freshly planted seeds. I was so grateful for the sun because it had been overcast and raining every day for almost a week. My plants, that had yet to sprout, could finally get all the food and nurture they needed. Again, came the process of waiting patiently for a sign of hope. I frequently wondered if anything was happening beneath the soil, but of course, I knew the answer would be revealed in time. During that very moment God reminded me that just because I couldn’t see below the soil, it didn’t mean nothing was happening. He also pointed out to me that all plants don’t grow at the same rate. Some plants need more time and nurture to fully grow and develop. Either way, it takes faith and hope to believe that change is occurring even when I can’t see it.

This moment wasn’t just about a plant, it was about life. I reflected on seeds in my own life that I had recently worked so hard to plant; praying and hoping that one day I would see the results of my labor. Despite all of my hard work, many days I felt like nothing was happening and wondered if it was all in vain. It’s amazing how with time and patience, some of the seeds that I felt were growing the least were in the process of manifesting the whole time.

My reflective question to you today: What seeds in your life are you tired of waiting on to fully develop? What seeds in the soil of your life do you need to look at and say, “Be patient, give it a little more time?” Have you been anxiously waiting to see the results of a seed planted in your life called faith, authenticity, patience, timeliness, consistency, self-awareness, courage, health, balance, etc.? You may not be able to see every seed in your life quickly grow and manifest right before your eyes; honestly sometimes you may not notice any change at all. During those moments remember that just because you can’t always see below the soil it doesn’t mean that nothing is happening. When you least expect it, you will realize your hard work was not in vain, and just like my planting season last year, you will surprisingly and gratefully look at yourself in the mirror with a smile and say, “Whoa baby, look how much you’ve grown.”