Foundation of Belief

Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." (John 4:48 NRSV)

I should not try to avoid it. I feel conviction when I read these words and I want that conviction to do its full work in my heart.

It is easy enough to point the critical finger at people back then and note how faithless they were, given all the miracles that Jesus performed. But that is from our perspective much later and even then it misses the whole point of this book. I am really not that much different than this man who was struggling to believe in Jesus for I too am very prone to want to see evidence before I am willing to trust the heart of God.

If I am honest enough (and that is more difficult than it may seem at first) to perceive the way I relate to God in my requests to Him, I would likely see that much of the time my focus is on getting answers that will accommodate the plans I have made for my life. I often ask for things to fill in where I cannot make things work for me or to supply the things I can't afford myself. Or I may be asking God to help me make a life-direction decision but am afraid to let Him probe deeper into my heart to expose selfish motives or skewed attitudes about what I think about Him.

That means that possibly a great preponderance of my prayers may be too shallow, too focused on my externals, the things that make me uncomfortable that I want to be made comfortable. I want God to fix my problems, remove my evil urges but without taking me through possibly very painful experiences that expose deeper roots that are feeding those urges. I just want to be free of them so I can get on in life with less pain.

But of course this is quite inconsistent with the way God relates to me. He is not interested in a patch, an imposed fix or a repair job that does not include the full solicitation of my will in cooperating with Him. He wants me to be fully aware and making choices all through my healing process. He wants to reveal to me more clearly the deeper motivations that have long been hidden from my sight when making life-impacting decisions. He does not want to be a vending machine to supply my desires, He wants to be an intimate friend, a wise Father more intent on developing maturity in my life than in making me comfortable.

Yet I have this intense desire to have my questions answered immediately. I want a sign from God like Gideon so I know if my impressions are really from God. But like Gideon I may then question even that and begin to second-guess if I am hearing correctly and ask for yet another one. God may accommodate me at times as He did Gideon, but is this the kind of life a Father really wants their child to live? Is a healthy relationship between parent and child one where the child remains afraid to make any decisions in life without deferring all of them to a parent? I am not saying we should ignore our parent's wisdom or not seek their advice, but if a person becomes so dependent on having their parents make every choice in their life so they don't have to think for themselves or learn responsibilities we view that situation as very sick after awhile. It becomes obvious that it is turning into an unhealthy dependence, a cop-out, a way of avoiding growing up and becoming accountable.

Does learning to take personal responsibility mean that we no longer depend on or trust good parents? Not at all. We can in reality make our parents very proud of us by stepping up to challenges as we are equipped by our parents with capacity to use our minds and the knowledge and experience we have gained from both them and in our own lives. It is the job of our parent's, not to make us blindly dependent on them for every little choice in our lives but to train us to use the right equipment in our own brains to properly relate to situations in a mature way. That is what raising children is supposed to be all about though today it is rarely seen anymore. We can certainly always use wisdom and counsel from people who can act as parents and elders in our lives, but we must also learn to mature and gain wisdom ourselves so we can benefit others.

But in relation to God most of us are still very much like infants. The sad part is that we seem quite content to remain that way all of our lives. We want God to hand us food and milk on demand and to never be expected to grow in knowledge and wisdom and accountability. And even as we demand that our needs be met, at the same time we often doubt whether God really cares about us enough to provide for us. All of this dysfunctional reasoning reveals a sick condition of the heart, a condition of unbelief shown by our unwillingness to believe that God cares about us and desires to bless us far beyond our wildest imaginations.

Think for a moment of how we would feel about a teenager with good parents who demands that their parents constantly “prove” to them that they still love them. It is not hard to imagine that for there are plenty of examples all around us. But what is really going on here? In fact, what is usually going on in a similar situation when a teenage boy asks his girlfriend to “prove” that she really loves him? All sorts of alarm bells start going off in the minds of mature adults when they see that kind of scenario, and properly so. And yet how much are we like that when it comes to our belief in the love and care of God for us?

Whether the things that I want God to do for me or give me are good or not so good misses the point. It is the fact that I keep wanting Him to “prove” Himself to me continually as the condition upon which I am willing to trust Him that creates such a serious problem. We think that a sign would produce belief in our heart, but in fact that is not the source of real belief. Instead, this kind of mentality is really exposing our choice of continuing to live in unbelief that His heart is willing to care about me. How would I feel if someone treated me that way all the time and refused to trust my motives unless I did exactly what they wanted me to do? Yet I struggle to see that I treat God that way much of the time.

I can see a little better what Jesus is talking about here, but there still seems to be a heavy cloud that shrouds my awareness of this contaminating influence in my spirit. I want this fog, this darkness over my spirit and heart to be cleared away so I can see my true condition and repent. Like this man in the story who found himself exposed and suddenly realized how much he really didn't trust Jesus, I want to see more clearly why I am afraid to trust when I am in dire circumstances that threaten me. I want to develop a more deeply rooted level of faith that anchors itself in God's heart, in God's Word instead of resting only in the shallows of the externals.

Maybe this is like the difference between building a house on firm bedrock or constructing it only on shifting sand. The first house on rock may also be surrounded by deep sand just as the other house, but because its foundations are deep down past the externals, past the sand that is so obvious on the surface and fastened securely on what is much deeper underneath, then when the storms of emotions come it will be far more likely that this house will not shudder and shift and collapse but will be secure and calm and filled with peace and joy.

Struggles of the Heart

So Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe." (John 4:48)

Who was this man that Jesus spoke these words to? It says only that he was a royal official and that he came from Capernaum. I am not sure of the potential implications of the use of this word royal here. In our times to say that a person is royalty would often imply that they are biologically related to a king or queen. But with the title of official it could also easily mean someone appointed as part of the political government by the king and not necessarily related to him.

Either way, this person was clearly identified with the political government in some way. That meant that he exercised authority and power over at least some of the people in his region and in those days that likely meant collaboration with the Roman occupying government forces that were extremely suppressive and often even brutal in their use of force against the rebellious nation of the Jews. Anyone even remotely connected with such an oppressive government was generally hated intensely by the average Jew. That introduces an interesting dynamic into this story as this whole thing took place in Galilee, quite clearly a region filled with many Jews who hated the government. It is also thought that the Jews in Galilee were viewed as lower class Jews by the aristocratic socialites located in Judea.

Although the Jewish leadership was deeply resentful of the Roman occupying forces, many of them were also somewhat in collusion with them themselves, although they did not want the common people to believe it. They knew that the only way they could stay in power and maintain control over the Jewish nation themselves was by permission and tacit cooperation with the king appointed over them by Rome. Herod was the king at that time and he was one of the most corrupt and wicked men ever to govern that has ever lived. He thought nothing of killing anyone, even his own closest relatives and his favorite wife if he had any inkling that they might be even thinking ill of him. His only desire was for absolute power and control over other people and his craft and cunning to maintain his position in the larger kingdom of Rome knew no bounds.

However, given that the Jewish leadership had to exist under such a tyrant, the Jewish leaders knew that they had to be extremely careful to not cross him for obvious reasons. Herod at one point had executed the whole ruling body of the Sanhedrin – equivalent to our congress – and he massacred them simply because he considered them a threat to his control. Thus the people currently in power as Jewish leaders were all largely submissive to Herod's domination but at the same time shared his thirst for power in their own hearts. They were just as desirous of maintaining ruthless control over others nearly as much as Herod but just did not have the resources to surpass his demonic ability to stay one step ahead of them.

This was a world in which authority and power were the main focus by all those wanting to be in control. Force and fear were the means of achieving and maintaining that power and the Jewish leaders generally related to Jesus throughout His ministry as an emerging threat to their status and position among the people. Thus, the events that are referred back to in this story that unfolded in Jerusalem at the feast was in the minds of the people an affront to the legitimacy of the power of the leaders. The main issue at stake as most people saw it was the issue of authority and who was authorized by who to do what. This was very clear in the question put to Jesus quite defiantly by the leaders after Jesus had run them out of the temple at that time:

The Jews then said to Him, "What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?" (John 2:18)

It is obvious in their question that in their minds they directly linked authority with external exhibitions of power. In the case of Jesus who was viewed as potentially the Messiah by many people, they felt that He must prove His validity by demonstrations of supernatural power before people should be expected to believe such an outlandish claim. How much has changed at all even today? Are we not still driven to thirst for supernatural demonstrations of power instead of basing our belief on the Word of God alone?

Now we see here in this story the emergence of a man who found himself caught up in all of this scene involving power and control, intrigue and violence that dominated the political world of that day. This man is identified as a royal official and as such likely could not separate himself from all the corruption that permeated every area of government. But at the same time he found himself in a personal crisis within his own family as his son was about to die from some sickness and the only hope he could see anywhere were in the rumors that this radical young man who had stirred up such a controversy in Jerusalem not long before was not far from his home and possibly had powers beyond what anyone had seen before.

This royal official was now caught between two worlds in a very real sense. His public office compelled him to relate to others in ways of the world and with the spirit of selfishness and force that alienated him from most of the common people. Yet as a father who cared deeply about his own son (unlike Herod the king who had already murdered some of his own sons and who was quite possibly this man's employer) this father was realizing that no amount of political force or clout could begin to save his son from imminent death. He found himself being trapped between two diametrically opposed realities and he hardly knew which way to turn.

What he had to do however was to take a risk as far as his job was concerned if he was to do anything realistic to save his son's life. But even this was an unknown because he may not have personally seen Jesus perform miracles; it is not even recorded in this narrative that Jesus had performed any such miracles as this yet. To come and ask Jesus to heal his son was a risk in itself in a number of ways so this man's heart was filled with many conflicting emotions competing for domination almost like the political world around him. Life in Palestine in those days was a constant competition for power and revenge and control and internally this man was feeling the same way as his emerging faith and practical realities competed to control of his heart.

In this state of mind he chose to make the trip to Cana not far from his home as a last ditch effort to find out for himself if there really was any truth to the rumors he had heard about this most unusual man. He most likely had heard about Jesus' escapades in Jerusalem not long before, scaring the corrupt priests and scandalous leaders and greedy merchants out of the temple in a most surprising manner and arousing their jealousy and anger in the process. Many people did not know what to think about this young upstart, but one thing was starting to become clear to many – this man was gaining power in a way very different than anyone had ever done before. He was gaining influence over the people without stooping to force and fear and intimidation which was totally unheard of and even absurd in the world in which they lived. This concept seemed absolutely bizarre to anyone wanting to gain more authority in those days and even yet today. But still it was obviously happening in the case of Jesus and this created a whole new mysterious dimension around the reputation of this young man who people claimed was indeed the Messiah.

As he made the walk to Cana this man's thoughts were consumed with fear, with grief, with trepidation, with questions. He could think of nothing else. All he could see in his mind was his son lying at home about to die and yet his reasoning also tortured him with questions about the sanity of what he was attempting to do. What would this encounter do to his reputation? How might it affect his career? What if this whole thing was just a hoax and he would only make a fool of himself for asking such a brazen request of a simply peasant man, a carpenter? Why did he even think Jesus would do this for him – if indeed He really had that kind of power. If he did believe Jesus could work such a miracle would that mean he would have to accept the rumors that this was the real Messiah? After all, this Man did not fit hardly any expectations that anyone had of the great Messiah who was supposed to come and deliver Israel from the Romans. And here this official was part of that system that the Jews wanted overthrown. So how was that all supposed to fit together?

I need to continue this story tomorrow.

What Kind of Belief?

...he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son.... The royal official said to Him, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus said to him, "Go; your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off. (John 4:47-50)

I just noticed this. I had seen before the sharp contrast between the willing, embracing kind of belief by the Samaritans based simply on the words and presence of Jesus compared with the stubborn resistance of the Jews who always wanted signs and miracles before they would consider believing. But I just noticed that this man finally switched sides when he realized that his own resistance might cost the life of his own son.

It says twice in here that the official was asking Jesus to come to his place to heal his son. Yet very clearly Jesus refused to comply with this man's request. I have overlooked that point before but I find it pregnant with meaning. If Jesus had accommodated this man's ideas of what needed to be done He would have in fact been reinforcing this man's unbelief. That sounds a bit strange at first but that is what I am starting to see now.

This issue of having the right quality of belief is very important to John I think. That is why he focused this whole book on what it really means to believe and what that looks like in real-life situations. Much of what we call faith and belief in God is really a counterfeit that is powerless to transform the life and heart as heaven desires for us. This is becoming clearer in this story.

This official must have had some level of belief that Jesus could heal his son or he would never have come with this request for Jesus in the first place. But apparently the kind of belief that he held was not of the quality that would bring honor to God. Jesus obviously saw a problem with what was going on in his heart or He would never have challenged him with this strong statement about wanting signs and wonders to induce belief.

Because of the deficiency in the kind of belief expressed by this official, Jesus needed to clarify to everyone involved that the belief we need to connect with God's true power is of a different nature altogether than what we often think of as belief. Jesus had just come from a whole city of people who had entered into the right kind of belief, a belief based on who Jesus was and acceptance of His words to them without questioning and haggling and disputing and doubting. Now He was among people who already had far more evidence of the presence and power of God in the life of Jesus than had the Samaritans and yet could not bring themselves to put aside their resistance and just embrace Him fully with their hearts and trust Him without demanding external exhibitions of supernatural power.

It is the classic tension between an external religion and the true internal spirituality that connects us with the heart of the Father. Both of these use similar language; both of them claim to bring salvation, to get a person into heaven; both of these talk about belief, but from heaven's perspective there is a radical difference between what we typically think of as belief and what Jesus was looking for in the hearts of those He was seeking to help and save.

This official came to Jesus full of fear, of consternation and of doubt. Fear is the breeding ground for doubt but doubt is incompatible with true belief. Real belief, faith that makes a difference in our lives is something that originates far deeper in the heart than the kind of belief most religious people deal in. Counterfeit belief puts the emphasis on the qualifications and credentials and the external demonstrations of power that entice us to invest our trust in someone. But real belief like that of which John writes comes from a completely different place internally. This kind of belief looks past the externals and chooses to believe in the motives, intentions and the loving concern that is found in the heart of the One we are trusting. True belief is choosing to believe, without outward evidence, that God cares about us and desires to bless us.

This kind of belief actually liberates the hands of God to do for us what He is severely limited from doing otherwise. This kind of belief, a belief that chooses to turn away from our natural doubts and emotions and fears and choses to trust His heart – this kind of belief gives God permission to unleash His saving power into situations that from our perspective are hopeless and terrifying. This is the kind of belief and faith that brings with it inner peace, power and bonding with the heart of our loving, caring Father.

This man experienced this transition of belief. When he saw that his doubting and fears could become the obstacles that could block the healing of his own son, he suddenly realized how his imitation unbelief might be viewed from the eyes of a caring, loving father. In his mind his own love for his son was greater in comparison than the love he was choosing to believe that Jesus had for him, and the shock of that revelation woke him up to the fatal dangers inherent in such belief. For in reality, that kind of belief is nothing but unbelief in disguise. When he realized this he was humbled and threw himself on the mercy of Jesus, and immediately the heart of Jesus responded with the compassion that He wanted this man to see all along.

Parallels and Belief

This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee. (John 4:54)

Yesterday I noticed that there might well be significance in the repeating pattern of places and circumstances in this story from the previous events mentioned in chapter two. When I wrote about that I had not yet even noticed this verse which reinforces that concept almost conclusively. In addition, as I read through this story of the royal official and his sick son I could not help but start to see close parallels with the previous story that happened in this very same town the last time around. At the end of this story John seems to try to put in one last emphatic clue that the two stories indeed are supposed to be compared and linked together more than just casually. There must be some very important lessons lurking just under the surface that can be easily overlooked without spending a little more time to contemplate and listen to the Spirit unpack these stories for us.

I want to look at the similarities between these two stories and then see what might emerge as important lessons for me. These will be taken from chapter 2 and chapter 4 without trying to detail all the references.

Juice for the Wedding Party	Healing for a loved son.
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee	After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. (that would likely be the third day)
the mother of Jesus was there	there was a royal official
both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding	the Galileans received Him he went to Him and was imploring Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death.
the wine ran out	there was a royal official whose son was sick... he was at the point of death.
"Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come."	a prophet has no honor in his own country
"Whatever He says to you, do it."	imploring Him to come down and heal his son (compare with Matthew 8:8)
"Whatever He says to you, do it."	"Unless you people see signs and wonders, you simply will not believe."
"Fill the waterpots with water." "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter."	"Go; your son lives."
"Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter." So they took it to him.	The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started off.
the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine	As he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was living.
the headwaiter called the bridegroom	his slaves met him
you have kept the good wine until now	he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better
This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory	This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come out of Judea into Galilee
His disciples believed in Him	he himself believed and his whole household

That is a fascinating list of both contrasts and similarities. I want to let this sink in awhile and ponder what all of this might mean, especially in relationship to my own journey in faith.

There are a few things that I do want to take note of right away, however. I find it very interesting, this comparison of Jesus' mother and the mention of a royal official. At first glance it would not seem that Jesus' mother would be linked with royalty until I begin remembering the fact that Jesus Himself is the greatest King ever. To be the mother of the King of Kings is royalty if ever there was royalty by association.

There is a great deal more under the surface within the story of the water to wine that is mostly missed unless the culture and expectations are appreciated better. The feelings and assumptions likely swirling around in people's minds at that event need to be linked to their past and their current circumstances. I recently listened to a teaching session about this story by James Wilder in his Munchies series where he shares significant insights into what may very likely have been going on in the minds of both the disciples and the other guests of this wedding in Cana. They have very significant implications here when this issue of royalty comes into focus.

But to sum it a bit, it is quite likely that everyone involved in that wedding party were intensely excited about the rumors that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. This intensity was so prevalent that it may have even tended to spoil the attentions that should have been expected to be focused on the Bride and Groom. There may have been some very mixed emotions on the part of the Bridegroom about the presence of Someone who was overshadowing and eclipsing the honor and attention that would normally be expected to be given to the him and his new wife.

Given this context it would also give added meaning to the part of the story where the Bridegroom is confronted about making a mistake in his choice of what wine to serve when. It was an assumption on the part of the headwaiter that seemed apparent to the servers given the evidence, but was not actually true. This could have had the potential of created mixed feelings about Jesus in the heart of the Bridegroom.

Consider it from his perspective. This young man shows up from the desert with a bunch of very thirsty companions and is invited by one of the women involved in the planning of the wedding to join the party without advance notice. Then this group of newcomers promptly create a crisis in the planning and resources by drinking far too much of the refreshments and causing the hosts to run out of supplies long before the party is supposed to be over. That, on top of drawing away much of the focus of people's attentions would only add insult to injury. Given all of those factors it was very likely a prime opportunity for grace to be displayed by someone to save the day.

But there is much more involved even than just all of that. If we can get much deeper into the minds and expectations of the Jews chaffing under the oppressive control of Roman occupiers, desperately wishing for a powerful king/messiah to appear and show the world who was boss and liberate their nation to make them the supreme rulers of the world, we might begin to appreciate the direction of imagination that would be going on in everyone's minds when Jesus is fingered as the one who is supposed to fill that role.

In addition to all that, it was part of cultural expectations in that time that the wealthy and powerful of the town were expected to help out with the expenses of such community celebrations. Since the whole community always joined together and celebrated for days on end consuming large amounts of food and drink, the Bride and Groom could not be expected to foot the full expenses for all of that. So it was common practice for the wealthier people in town to kick in and foot part of the bill and provide a significant portion of the party supplies – of course in return for some subtle IOU's on the part of the newly married couple. There were certainly typical political-like favors and expectations all mingled into these sorts of events and Jesus was coming right into the middle of all these unspoken dynamics.

If indeed He was the Messiah, the King that His disciples were claiming Him to be, then as a King He should fill the role that the powerful and rich always played in such events. All of these dynamics are part of the unwritten part of both of these stories that the people in John's day would have understood without the explanations that we need today. And all of these subtle factors also play into the issues swirling around the word belief when it came to Jesus. For to people in His day, believing might have meant something quite different than what we read into that word. Their belief in Jesus as Messiah would be strongly influenced by their preconceived ideas about the whole notion of what a Messiah was supposed to do and be for them.

But then, maybe we have far more preconceived ideas of what we think God is supposed to do and be for us that are just as confusing and frustrating as the false expectations that the Jews had for a deliverer to come and save them from the Roman legions. We now can see that they were so focused on a Messiah to save them from their external circumstances that many of them failed to have any appreciation of the real purpose and character of Jesus and the true role of a Messiah.

Likewise, I find it all to familiar today to feel myself and hear sentiments from others along these same lines. We want God to fix our problems, our external ones in particular. We want Him to bless us financially, to protect our reputation, to deliver us from people who hurt us and to make us important and famous and rich and popular or whatever else we crave. But when Jesus shows up as as humble, weak-looking plain man with no visible attractiveness or apparent power – the kind we want anyway, we find it very hard to feel faith welling up inside of us that this person could ever do all of the things that we want a God to do for us. So really, we are not much different at all from the Jews who struggled so hard to believe in the days when Jesus walked this earth.

Parallels

I am starting to see an interesting pattern emerging in this passage. It has to do with the similarities in the sequence of places where Jesus goes and the events connected with them. At first it may appear irrelevant, but I believe that there are many things that can be learned that we have never paid attention to before in the patterns that God designed into the life of Jesus. Events, places and truths all become intertwined in amazing ways that can cause truths and seemingly irrelevant facts to suddenly take on great significance if a person is careful to trace some of these meaningful links throughout the Bible.

What I am seeing in this story is a direct repeat of a sequence that happened not long before in Jesus' life. And the way that John writes about these things is undoubtedly intended to signal to an alert reader many cues that might be easy to miss in a cursory reading of these stories. But God has an amazing way of incorporating millions of links between stories that knit all of them together into an incredible tapestry of beauty and truth. We can discover many of these if we are willing to explore these connections.

Therefore He came again to Cana of Galilee where He had made the water wine. And there was a royal official whose son was sick at Capernaum. (John 4:46)

I see a direct connection here with the verses around the end of chapter one and the first half of chapter two. I don't think this is in any way coincidental, especially given that John gives a very strong hint in 4:45 reminding us of the previous scenario. At that time Jesus appeared in the story somewhere around Jordan where John the Baptist was baptizing people and begins to link up with some men who would quickly attach themselves to Him as disciples. Theologians have long been in confusion about where this all took place, but it was called Bethany beyond the Jordan. One source that I found that seems to have more validity in my opinion refers to a place that had this phrase as something of an obscure nickname and was not the same place as the traditional Bethany that is so commonly talked about in that region.

But another clue as to where this region may have been is the fact that Simon and Andrew both met Jesus there and their home was in Capernaum. Being fishermen it is possible that they could have been anywhere around the shores of Lake Galilee but would more likely have been not too far from the northern regions of the lake since that was closer to where they lived. As the story progressed, after Jesus hooked up with several new followers He led them to Cana where they all crashed a wedding party and drank up all the refreshments embarrassing the hosts and creating an emergency in need of a miracle.

The text then says that they all went down to Capernaum – Jesus, His disciples, His mother and even His brothers. Quite possibly they may have all camped out at Simon Peter's house as he was likely very excited to be on of Jesus' new disciples. What is interesting to me is that this same sequence of locations is again noted in the same order here in chapter four. Jesus has some significant experiences with people coming to believe in Him outside of Galilee, then afterwards goes to Cana and then we see Capernaum coming into the story again. What is starting to emerge as compelling is that as I compare these two sequences I begin to see a number of strong similarities in the things that are talked about and the attitudes of the people involved either as parallels or in contrasts.

Both of these stories mention signs and miracles.

Both of these stories come on the heels of people believing in Jesus easily and quickly.

Both of these stories mention the glory or honor of Jesus.

Both of these narratives revolve very much around the issue of belief in Jesus.

Both stories mention a short period of days; the first story involving a few days at Capernaum and the last the two days Jesus spent in Sychar before going to Cana.

Both narratives reveal the problems of open doubt and the desires for signs and wonders before people were willing to consider believing in Jesus.

Both stories have Jesus rebuking unbelief in people who should have had good reason to trust God more fully.

All of these similarities make good ingredients for possibly discovering some of the recipes that may make very delicious discoveries if I will contemplate them enough and listen carefully enough to how the Spirit may impress me to put them altogether.