Jewelry and Wine at the Wedding

Jesus transformed water into wine at the wedding (John 2:1-8).  Water is symbolic of the Word of God, and wine represents the Spirit of God.  Therefore, the union of the word of God with the Spirit of God creates new wine or a new spirit within me.  I am a new creature in Christ Jesus; the old life is gone, and the new life has started (2 Corinthians 5:17).  As a new creature in Christ Jesus, God gives me new clothes an inner and outer attire. God does not put new wine in old wine skins (Mark 2:22).

Zechariah 3:3
Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.  The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.”

God gives me a new lavish wardrobe of righteousness; however, I must put on righteousness and remove the old dirty clothes of my past life.  Usually, spiritual people or the servants of the Lord help me to change out of the clothing of the old life and dress up into the luxurious clothing of Christ Jesus.  In fact, the bible compares my spiritual renewal and lifestyle change to a wedding.

Isaiah 61:10
I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

The jewels of a righteous woman or man consist of lips of knowledge.  The mind of a person renewed with the knowledge of God speaks words of wisdom that transforms his or her life.  My life has undergone a transformation because I mediate and speak the word of God into my situation and circumstances.

The Spirit of God tells me to put on the sword of the spirit, the word of God (Ephesians 6:17).  Then tighten it up and clothe myself with splendor and majesty (Psalm 45:3).  The sword is an offensive and defensive weapon that is used in fighting battles against enemies.

Offensively, I use the sword of the spirit or the word of God when I am attacking a situation that I must conquer.  I am assertively mediating on and speaking the word of God.  In contrast, the defensive sword is used like the offensive sword; however, the aim of the defensive sword is to deflect attacks by enemies and prevent them from gaining any advantage over me.  When I knowledgably use the word of God as a sword, I have clothed myself with the glory and radiance of the Lord.

The Lord, Almighty God’s presence is everywhere and in everything that He creates; therefore, when I speak the word of God over my situation, God moves in everything and everybody concerned to work things out according to His plans and purposes for all (Romans 8:28-30).  The God of Infinite Intelligence cannot be mocked.  Every person reaps what he or she sows.  Therefore, I make sure that the words that I speak as a result of the meditations of my heart are pleasing to God and most beneficial to me.

Jewelry And A Woman of Honor

Jewelry honors the godly woman.  In the book of Ezekiel, God describes Jerusalem like a woman that He dearly loves.

Ezekiel 16: 11-14

I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck, and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.  So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth.  Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen.  And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord.

When the Israelites left Egypt, God instructed them through Moses to ask the Egyptians for things made from gold and silver (Exodus 11:2, 12:36).  Many of the things were jewelry such as “gold brooches, earrings, rings from their fingers, and necklaces” (Exodus 35:22).  The Israelites donated some of their jewelry to build and decorate the “Tent of God’s Presence” (Exodus 35:21 Good News Translation-GNT).

The Bible says in 1Corinthians 6:19 that my body is the temple of God.  I do not belong to myself; I belong to God.  God adorns His temple in opulence, which the book of Revelation describes.

Revelation 21:10 GNT

The Spirit took control of me, and the angel carried me to the top of a very high mountain. He showed me Jerusalem, the Holy City, coming down out of heaven from God and shining with the glory of God. The city shone like a precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal.  It had a great, high wall with twelve gates and with twelve angels in charge of the gates.

Moreover, the Apostle John, the writer of the book of Revelation goes on to describe the temple of the Lord.

Revelation 21:22 NIT

I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is its temple.  And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.

The psalmist also describes the holy dwelling place of God.

Psalm 46:4-5

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.

Then the Apostle Paul gives an exact description of God’s dwelling place, God’s temple, God’s house.

Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV 1984)

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.  In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.  And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

The temple of God is holy and beautifully decorated with jewelry on the outside that reflects the jewelry on the inside.  I am the temple of the Lord a holy dwelling place of God in which the jewels of God are displayed.  The outside jewelry represents an inward awareness of who I am in Christ.  I wear bold, bright, colorful earrings, necklaces, and bracelets.  The jewelry on the inside of me consists of a mind full of spiritual understanding and discernment that leads to a life worthy of the Lord’s presence: a holy, respectable, and Spirit directed life.  

As I integrate the teachings of Christ Jesus into my daily life, my life evolves into a Spirit directed life.  Then the jewels of the Lord are reflected throughout my character.  The jewelry that I wear mirrors the image that I have in my mind.  Christ Jesus produces within me a self-image that He sanctions and honors--the beauty and splendor of the Lord.

Beauty: Ears Jewelry of the Soul

The ears are the jewelry of the body.  Ears hear and allow creative words of beauty into the inner mind .  Creative words of beauty may be represented by dazzling bright and colorful stones, crystals, and beads set in precious and semi-precious metals such as gold, silver, and platinum.  Vibrantly colored beads and stones may also be set in inexpensive and elegant non-tarnishing materials. The ornaments of jewelry attached to the ears by studs, hoops, and drops express the inner consciousness of the wearer.

The ears represent my consciousness, which is the gatekeeper of my inner mind or sub-consciousness.  My conscious mind allows words that uplift and build me to increasing levels of spiritual development into my sub-consciousness.

Jesus said in John 10:1-2 that the man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.  The watchman opens the gate for him and the sheep listen to his voice.

Christ Jesus is the man who enters by the gate.  For Jesus said in John 15:7 “If you live in me and my words live in you, you may ask what you will and it will be done for you."  The words of Jesus or the truth of God enter into my mind through my ear, the gate.  The teacher of God’s truth is the watchman who opens the gate of my understanding.  I am one sheep who hears and accepts the truth of the Bible including the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).  Furthermore, Jesus said, “The words that I have spoken unto you are spirit and they are life” (John 6:63).  The words that Jesus speaks to me are spirit and life; therefore, the words that I speak to myself are spirit and life.  For Jesus said that “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36).

Beauty: Lips Jewels of the Heart

I wear jewelry to enhance my physical appearance, yet one word from my lips may increase my beauty far beyond the rich, bold color of a lipstick or the striking sparkle of a gold lip hoop. The Bible says that “Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel” (Proverbs 20:15 AMP).  My lips adorn me beautifully when words of knowledge flow from them into my circumstances.

My lips release the jewels of my soul—the words that I speak.  The words that I speak adorn my presence with beauty and peace. These words that come from my lips are deliberately spoken to create and maintain order in my life.  As God spoke and said let there be light and there is light everywhere (Genesis 1:3 AMP), so I speak and say let there be light in my environment—the light of spiritual knowledge and understanding (2 Corinthians 4:6 AMP).  I express this light when I live in Christ continually and speak words that build up my environment and not tear it down.  These words include praise and adoration of God and positive affirmations of who I am in Christ.  In Christ, I am more than a conqueror (Romans 8:3 AMP).  I defeat the world through my faith in God—that is, whatever I need to defeat in my world, I know that it is defeated because God always causes me to win in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 2:14 AMP).  I win if I don’t give up.  I win if I am not stirred-up by what I see.  I must have the mental strength to relax and wait for whatever I want from God.  There is a process involved, and the process takes time.

In the process of time, the words that I speak from my lips honor and glorify God. Beautiful jewels stream from my lips and dress up my atmosphere like dazzling diamonds around my neck and glittering rhinestones on my dress.  These jewels come from my heart because I live in Christ Jesus and His words live in me.  Consequently, the words of Christ transform the way I think and the words that come out of my mouth (Romans 12:2 AMP).  I ask for what I desire, and what I desire is given to me (John 15:7 AMP). Great productivity comes through me because the teachings of Christ live in me. Therefore, God is exalted and respected because I demonstrate that I am a follower of Christ, and the beauty of God within me is further shown as the jewels of God flow out of me through the jewel of my lips.

References

John 12:35, 44-45; 15:1-8
Romans 8:3, 12:2
Galatians 6:9
2 Corinthians 4:2-6
Matthew 12:33-37

Beauty: A Fight to the Finish

How can I be beautiful when I feel defeated?  Beautiful pertains to that which gives me the utmost level of satisfaction mentally and physically.  When I feel unsatisfied, the effects permeate from my mind through my body.  I may look good even though there is something about me that is not quite right.  Usually, others can sense that something is wrong as well. I am out of balance.  My mind has a thought in it that should not be there.  I am going to have to fight to get the thought out of my mind to restore my equilibrium.

In 2 Corinthians 10:5 AMP, the Apostle Paul tells me that the weapons that I fight with are spiritual weapons that empower me to “Refute arguments, theories, reasoning, and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God.”  Moreover, I have the power to lead thoughts and not just follow whatever thought “pops” into my mind.  The Apostle Paul further says, “…and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One” (2 Cor. 10:5 AMP)
Now, I must be ready and willing to bring my own thoughts under control. All negative thoughts belong to me; therefore, I must bring them into submission and obedience.  I must stop thinking the negative thought immediately when I realize that I am thinking it.  Then I must replace that thought with what God says I should be thinking.

Philippians 4:8 AMP says that “whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things—fix your minds on them.” In other words, I must stop dwelling on the negative; I must stop thinking about what if this or that. What if I don’t get this money?  What if I don’t win this case?  Instead I replace those thoughts immediately with thoughts like these:

God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to me in abundance, so that I may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need, be self-sufficient—possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation (2 Cor. 9:8 AMP).

And

I am more than a conqueror through Christ who loves me (Romans 8:37 NKJV).

This all sounds good, but I must work to train myself to think correctly especially if I am conditioned to think about whatever comes to mind.  It is a fight to say no to negative thoughts that are contrary to what I really want.  It is a fight to look at what I believe and not what I see with my eyes and feel in my body.  This is why the Bible says to “Fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12 NKJV).  I must take hold of the eternal life that God has given to me and act like the spiritual being that God created me to be.  I know that God has given me everything that I ask for (John 15:7-8 NKJV), but there is a process involved in me receiving it, and I must be patient through the process.  Therefore, I fight to the finish.  I don’t give up when something does not come to me in five minutes or five months even five years.  If I want it, and I believed that I received it.  Then I will remain faithful to the promise (what I desire) until my faith moves it from the spiritual realm into my physical world.

Sometimes I have chosen to remain faithful to the negative, and that is exactly what I receive.  The Bible says that God is not mocked: whatever a man sows that is what he reaps (Galatians 6:7-9).  Therefore, if I have faith in the negative by constantly thinking about the negative, I receive the negative whatever that may be.  I do not stay in the negative long.  I learned to move quickly from a negative state of thought into the positive state of thinking.  Thinking positively leads me into mental and physical satisfaction.  The psalmist said, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11 NKJV).

I want pleasure and the beautiful things in my life, and they all start and end in me.  Beauty is a faith fight.  I fight the beauty fight to the finish so that I remain in God’s light.

Wine and Beauty

According to the writer of Esther, King Ahasuerus’ quests choose the type of cup and the amount of wine they consumed at the banquet.  King Ahasuerus placed no restrictions on wine consumption; in fact, quests drank in accordance with the law; quests were not ordered or forced to drink the wine in their cups (Esther 1:8).

Cups hold liquids, and the golden cups represent the enlightened consciousness of each individual drinker.  The liquid or wine in the cup symbolizes the Spirit of God, and God does not force His Spirit on anyone.  The Gospel of John says, "that as many as received Him, He gave the power to become the Sons of God" (John 1:12).

According to Luke 22:17, the Bible states “And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks He said, Take this, and divide and distribute it among yourselves;” The cup contained wine which symbolizes the blood of Jesus Christ, and the blood symbolizes life—the Life of Christ, eternal life (John 17:2-3).  Therefore, each disciple who willingly drank from the cup symbolically accepted the life of Christ.  This spiritual principle is illustrated by King Ahasuerus and his quests.  Quests were invited to the banquet and given freedom to drink wine with no limitation.  Another Biblical example of this principle is located in Genesis 2:15-17.  God placed Adam in the Garden of Eden and told him that he could eat as much as he wanted from any tree in the garden except for one.  In the last book of the Bible, the Holy Spirit invites all people to “come and take and drink the Water of Life, without cost” (Revelation 22:17).

The Water of Life changes me spiritually.  When I drink the Water of Life, I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord.  I trust in Him and all of His ways, and the ways of the Lord that I make active in my life makes me beautiful.  “Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;” (Psalms 34:5 NLT).  Moreover, Ecclesiastes says “How wonderful to be wise, to analyze and interpret things. Wisdom lights up a person’s face, softening its harshness” (Ecclesiastes 8:1).

The Bible says not to get drunk on physical wine, but a person should be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18).  King Ahasuerus demonstrated this admonition (Esther 1:10).  On the 7th day of the banquet, the king was in an introspective state, and the wine he consumed, his communion with the Spirit of God, filled King Ahasuerus with spiritual joy, and in this high spiritual state, he wanted to show everyone at the banquet his wife’s beauty—that is, the feminine side of his nature--the hidden power within.

The hidden power within or the feminine principle establishes beauty and peace within a person through the Spirit of God.  Under Christ’s spiritual influence, the hidden power of the heart progressively raises consciousness to heights of majesty and glory as exemplified by King Ahasuerus (Esther 1:1-8). The hidden power of the heart elevates beauty to a place of admirable excellence and compelling attractiveness.  This type of beauty is available to everyone in Christ Jesus.

Beauty Produces Fruit

The Book of Esther shows the mind of an individual who possesses the mental consciousness to produce the beautiful and excellent.  King Ahasuerus produced a wondrous and impressive empire.  He spent six-months showing his rulers the splendor and beauty of his kingdom (Esther1:4).  The beauty and essence of his deep spiritual intelligence and understanding are displayed in the banquet that he prepared for everyone present in the capital city of Shushan (Esther 1:5).  The seven day time frame for the banquet demonstrates King Ahasuerus’ intuitive and deep reflective nature.  Moreover, the palace garden symbolizes King Ahasuerus spiritual state in which he produces divine ideas which his sub-consciousness transforms into the objective world—abundant fruit.  The hanging tapestries in the garden represent the depth of his spiritual understanding. The furniture and the flooring that King Ahasuerus and his quests sat and stood upon symbolize the spiritual foundation of truth.

Truth is beauty.  God is truth and beauty.  Therefore, the beginning of beauty is God consciousness. My mental state determines the level of beauty that I produce in my life.  My ideal conception of beautiful must be internalized in my sub-consciousness to be externalized in my outer or objective world.  Those thoughts that I mediate on that produce within me the highest degree of pleasure transmute by the power of God within me into physical qualities, people, circumstances, situations, and any other objective representation of my subjective or internal mental consciousness.  God gives me exactly what I ask for in prayer—those deep inner thoughts, attitudes, and ideals.

Bible References

Luke 17:21

Exodus 26:1

1 Chronicles 27

Exodus 39:27

Matthew 17:2

Psalm 31:5

Hebrews 6:18

John 1:14, 14:6

Psalm 27:4

Isaiah 45:17

Beauty and Harmony

The book of Esther illuminates my mind on the inner and outer forms of beauty.  The prophetic writer opens the book revealing the spiritual nature and beauty of King Ahasuerus and his administration.  King Ahasuerus ruler ship over 127 provinces symbolizes the majesty of unity, the Infinite One out of which all things flow.  In the capital city of Shushan, King Ahasuerus undergoes change and transition as he completes one cycle of life and enters a new and exhilarating beginning.  Before his present cycle closes, King Ahasuerus brings all of his rulers and nobles to the capital city to see and experience the wealth and luxuriousness of his magnificent empire for six-months, 180 days (Esther 1:4 NIT).

After six-months, King Ahasuerus served a seven-day banquet in the courtyard of the palace garden to everyone who was in the capital city of Shushan at that time.  The decorations of the courtyard included blue and white curtains made from fine cotton linen, which were tied by cords of fine purple linen to silver rings on marble columns. Opulent couches made of gold and silver were placed in the courtyard, which was paved with white marble, red mosaic glass, dazzling mother-of-pearl, and shimmering blue turquoise (Esther 1:6 GNT).

Quests were served wine in cups made of gold, and each person received only as much as he desired (Esther 1:8). King Ahasuerus’ mood was joyous because he consumed allot of wine, and he wanted to show-off the beauty and crown of his queen, Vashti. Therefore, King Ahasuerus sent two groups of seven men, seven high-ranking officials and seven eunuchs’s to deliver the command to Queen Vashti, and then accompany Queen Vashti to the banquet as King Ahasuerus commanded.

Queen Vashti said no.  She refused to obey the command of the King and come to the banquet; thereby, not allowing the King’s rulers and people to look upon and admire her beauty and presence.  Queen Vashti refused to show the successful marriage between her and King Ahasuerus--that is, a harmonious consciousness and sub-consciousness.