Luy Thua V – God’s Exponential Grace

Luy Thua V – God’s Exponential Grace has a story behind it that I could not have come up with if I tried. Holy Spirit is Teacher, as much as He is Comforter and Truth and so much more. I credit Him.

I noted the experience and sensed it was for the Teacher overview. Right on cue, I am in the classroom with Holy Spirit as unique to the Teacher grace gift. He is the Master Weaver of knowledge, wisdom, and understanding in real time. The lessons are plentiful in ways of God’s exponential grace.

This redemptive living story is a prelude to the next overview, the Teacher portion of our human spirit.

The Chalkboard of the Holy Spirit

In the autumn of 2020 (Covid fever – no; fishing fever – yes), my husband and I took a few days off and headed for the clear, cold waters of Priest River in northern Idaho. It was an October of early snow.

We arrived one day and departed the third, with a full day in between to enjoy. My spouse ‘gone fishing’, and me comfortably ensconced in a warm room with my laptop and some quiet time to write.

That morning I had a dream or a vision. Whichever, there was no denying the huge black chalkboard on which was written Luy Thua V. That was it. One frame with no other scenes to offer a hint.

With Luy Thua V emblazoned in my mind, I got up and cued the clues with no idea what it meant:

1. I suspected the phrase on the chalkboard held spiritual significance.
2. Luy Thua, whatever it meant, was in a language foreign to me which I thought may be Thai.
3. I recognized the V as the Roman numeral for 5 – which I customarily equate with God’s grace.
4. It was going to require some research on my part to identify it as nonsense or something very real.

I discovered just how real is Luy Thua V. Creator God is a mathematician (and Abba of family) bar none.

Luy Thua 

Settled in, I typed the chalkboard phrase into an internet search engine…and about fell off my chair. Luy Thua was not a product of my imagination. It came right up and turns out the language is Vietnamese (to which I believe Holy Spirit was giving a delightfully personal nod with the grace V added).

It is the phrase for, in its simplest form, the algebraic formula for calculating (solving) exponentiation:

Exponentiation is a mathematical operation, written as bⁿ, involving two numbers,
the base b and the exponent or power n – and pronounced as “b raised to the power of n”.

For example, instead of writing out 3x3x3x3x3, it is more easily written and read as 3⁵ –
“three raised to the fifth power”, which in turn simply means you multiply the number by itself 5 times.

I found in the pages I researched and read (with the ‘translate page’ option from Vietnamese to English), the upshot is that exponents (powers) are used to show how many times a base value is multiplied by itself.

This principle works in multiplying both an upward positive base and a declining negative base, depending on what you start with. In math, it is reflected as multiplication and division. It works that way in life, too, does it not? As one online source ¹ stated,

“Exponents have a tendency of appearing throughout our lives, so it’s important that students understand how they work moving forward.”

Lightbulbs of Grace

Lightbulbs started coming on as Holy Spirit Teacher steered my thinking toward the seven redemptive gifts. The equation that landed in my brain, soul, and spirit could be written like this:

Prophet⁵ ǀ Servant⁵ ǀ Teacher⁵ ǀ Exhorter⁵ ǀ Giver⁵ ǀ Ruler⁵ ǀ Mercy⁵

I thought of the seven redemptive gift checklists with their varied characteristics, both positive and not so much, and each gift’s certain areas of weakness or struggle. God’s exponential grace is His Gift to the gifts. How much grace do we want to receive; stand in; live out? Luy Thua V, fellow bearers of God’s grace gifts.

To further amplify this ‘redemptive gifts for the teachable’, I’ll finish this stroll through the very real activity of Holy Spirit’s ‘chalkboard session’ with a few bullet points for you and a personal God fingerprint for me.

Biblical Application

In keeping with some of my writings’ self-study approach, a few thoughts came that you may consider –

• Romans is a Teacher portion’s barnful of comparisons between hay, wood, and stubble (I Cor. 3:12). Add to your reading/study of Romans this life tendency of exponents, and Holy Spirit may turn up the light in your understanding too. Paul was a dying negative reciprocated ² into a living positive.

• In Matthew 18:21-22, Peter asks Jesus how often a brother shall sin against him and he forgive him. Hopefully, Peter throws out a flesh-gracious number: up to seven times? Jesus’ reply was one of such great grace proportion that all our flesh can do is wilt: “…but up to seventy times seven.”

On a ‘non-theological proof’ side, I have always heard it expressed up to 490 times. What if Jesus was speaking from the fullness of his Teacher portion in terms of exponentiation? You might want to grab your calculator and multiply seventy, seven times: 70⁷. Forgiveness full of grace and mercy. The kind and depth of grace only Holy Spirit can influence on our heart with the expression thereof.

• Never mind if you don’t like or are not good at math. You need not immerse yourself in algebra, trigonometry, calculus, or the like. The key in this post is to recognize the principle at play: the multiplication factor of embracing your design for redemptive living, ie. the base being any of the seven portions of your human spirit, increased by the power of God’s exponential grace (Rom. 6:1-4)

God had other ways of teaching Adam and Eve the power of exponents, solving the right problems He gave them to solve. Each of us is uniquely designed for His exponential grace. For some, it has little to do with solving actual mathematical equations. For others, it exquisitely does.

Personal God Fingerprint

When my internet search turned up that Luy Thua V from my ‘chalkboard’ was real, of the Vietnamese language, and that exponent or power is used widely in many fields, of which physics is one, I was stunned. In a good way. In a “You are so personal” way as I embrace my own design in this journey of life with Him.

The V for grace and the Vietnamese language was a gift itself. And more so since our oldest daughter is married to our Vietnamese son-in-law.

Luy Thua is also personal and significant since it has much to do with the field our daughter chose. She holds a master’s degree in Physics and a doctorate in Astronomy, an astrophysicist teacher and researcher at a state university. Our son-in-law holds an Engineering degree and works in computer data.

While impressive in the natural, it too is a gift knowing that Father God holds families and generations in His heart, as He bears them up with His everlasting arms enfolded strongly beneath. A steady resting place.

Next Up

Overview of the Teacher portion of the human spirit will follow this prelude of a ‘schooled by the Spirit’ redemptive living story. I invite and encourage you to engage with the materials and scriptures shared here and throughout this website.

Holy Spirit Teacher loves to teach the Teacher portion of those with teachable spirits. He is so engaging.

And even known to use a chalkboard.

~ Nancy

¹ https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/blog/exponent-rules/#worksheet (online learning with free printable exponent rules worksheet); end of article lists the seven basic rules for solving most equations involving exponents.

² reciprocated: in mathematics, a mathematical expression or function so related to another that their product is one; in grammar, a pronoun or verb expressing mutual action or relationship, exampled by positive each other or negative fight (definitions from Oxford online dictionary)