But By The Grace Of God

So many times when I would see someone less fortunate then I, maybe in a crowd or on the side of the road, these very words would come to my  mind, " but by the grace of God, go I",  ICorinthians 15:10. When I would utter these words my heart would say, "that could be me, or my father or brother or son".   It both humbled and chastised me.  It reminded me to not to think of myself better or more important and also reminded me to pray for this person.  It didn't matter how they got to where they were in life because in my heart it brought me to my knees.  A profound sadness and thankfulness at the same time.  Anything that can have that kind of affect on me, deserves to have my full attention.  So then grace I felt, was a gift from God that is not earned and not deserved.  

Now let me tell you I believe we all fall short of deserving any good gift, but God can do whatever He chooses with His servants and I for one, am very happy that He is just and fair. I then put grace in a neat little box, with a big bow and checked it off my list.  So I am going along in life and things were shifting as they often do in prayer life and I was beginning to find it very hard to just naturally do the right thing.  I mean I thought I had it pretty much under control,  but lately, I was finding it difficult to do the right thing, right away. It was in the small incidents at first and then little by little I couldn't remember certain verses I memorized, I felt like my common sense wasn't making any sense. I was in a boat without an oar.  My wisdom and right thinking  seem to be flying out the window.  I wasn't happy or fulfilled, I was disgusted with myself.  To get to this age with so much water under the bridge to find out I never got rid of the old demons, to realize that they can  still can be conjured up felt very disheartening.   The good news is that I was aware of it, I mean I felt convicted. Though I must confess it just reminded me that I am totally powerless when it comes to old demons.  I cannot fight them on my own.

Then one day while watching one of my shows on TV a preacher spoke about grace and a light bulb went off.  He said that grace was the power the Holy Spirit gives you so that you don't sin, that is why you pray for it everyday in every situation where you are tempted to sin.  Wow, power to keep me from sinning, power to help me do the right thing even in spite of myself.  I felt so relieved that I had help and not just any help but the Holy Spirit who is the one Jesus left here to help us in the first place.  Why was I trying all this time to do the right thing,  when the right thing was to invite the Holy Spirit was standing in the doorway beckoning me to let Him in.  God already had Plan B in place the moment that sin (from Adam) entered the world, He knows us better than we know ourselves.    Hmmm, grace is my new best friend,  I love grace. 

  

The War Within

"If Anyone is in Christ he is a new creature, the old is passed away."  2 Corinthians 5:17. So many times, I have read that passage and yet I suppose I couldn't  really understand it. It is as though my,"prayer time"  and my so called, "real life,"  fought  continuously to be kept separate.  It was a raging war, one in which I didn't  really engage in, unless they collided.  You all know that moment when your conscious decides not to be polite, it  decides to speak louder than usual and there is this struggle  in your natural body to fight for your rights, no matter what.  Well, after doing my bible study this morning,  it occurred to me that I have spent too much of my time and energy, in what I call that "dead zone".  It was a dead zone because, I never seem to win the war, temporarily I would feel great, free and wonderfully happy.  But then some little memory would enter in,  just a little bit and the process would just continue and into battle I would go. I mean really, isn't it  ridiculous to be at war with yourself?    I would go willingly in that daily battle, buckled up with God's armor.   His word in my mouth, with the knowledge that Jesus died for me and He promised me that peace and love and blessings would follow.   If  I only believed.  Well,  I do believe with all my heart,  but I think somewhere deep inside I must also believe it was  for other people in  far off lands.   If my dear Lord and Savior paid it all, why for the life of me , was I fighting this losing battle every day to keep my mind free of negative thoughts.  I mean I just couldn't understand  how to forgive, whole heartily, without  battling the memories.  Eventually the memories would fade but every once in a while those memories would come back to haunt  me.  I wanted my inside to match my outside.  Quite frankly, something was wrong, because, I knew Jesus paid it all, so why was I still paying?

So I decided at this stage in my life to go into this, "dead zone," so that I could gain some insight on what this scripture was saying and how I could apply it.  While in  communion with God as I was letting Him speak, I let down walls and God spoke to me in something I read,  "Cease trying to forgive those who fretted or wronged you.  It is a mistake to think about it.  Aim at killing the self now -- in your daily life, and then, not until then, you will find there is nothing that even remembers injury, because the only one injured , the self, is dead.  As long as it recurs in your mind you deceive yourself if you think it is forgiven."  Wow, "as long as it recurs in your mind you deceive yourself if you think it is forgiven."

So in a nutshell, I just thought I was forgiving, but I wasn't handing it over to God, I was still holding on to just a little bit of the hurt,  in case I needed it for future reference.  If you are battling something in your mind , you are still trying to win this battle by yourself.  You are not allowing the new creature to dominate your mind.  Your mind  becomes your battlefield.   In and of ourselves we cannot forgive, the very act of forgiving means putting our hurts into the foreground and that injury becomes more instead of less. We cannot forgive  others, until we believe that we are forgiven, we cannot give something away we don't have in our possession. The new creature, this scripture is talking about, is created in our minds, through our beliefs.  Until we rid ourselves of our old self and become a new creature , we will continue the battle, but there will always be a battle.

I decided long ago not to do battle, I choose to hold no offense towards anyone.  I believe that love is the answer, it is who God is.  So when we can accept God's love for us, we bring God into the situation and that is  that is how we win the war, God's love for us will cause us to love others and see them as God see's them. 

We all fall short and  the world is not all about me.   I will choose to find out what is on the other side of that rainbow, I will remember to continue to let it go and let God, to enjoy this wonderful life and to get rid of the old baggage, (old self).

Well,  we really can't take it with us anyway.    Happy trails.


     

Can We change Our Nature?

Of course a  scorpion can't resist an action that comes naturally to it.  When it feels threatened it will sting.  Sometimes I feel like we expect people to act in a certain way, even though by their very actions  we see that  they are incapable of resisting that final sting. So when the turtle cried to the scorpion, "But you promised not to sting me.".  The scorpion replied, "Yes, I know .  But I couldn't resist.  You see it is in my nature to sting."  

We are each born with our own unique nature. Our nature reveals who we are to the world and those close to us.    In fact I personally believe that  our true nature reveals itself best when we do not have time to think about how we will be judged by others.  God honors our free will.  That is why even though He loved us first, He still waits for us to invite Him in.  When we use our free will to invite Him in, it will change our nature.   If  God honors our free will, how much more will He honor Jesus's presence in us?  The more we invite the presence of Jesus into our daily lives the more our nature, becomes like His.  His will for us becomes our desire.  The words in the bible become alive. All of a sudden when you hear,  "He will give us the desires of our heart ," it becomes something we can truly believe because we are experiencing it.  This is a very intimate exchange between yourself and God.  He is allowing you to feel how He feels.  To see others as He sees them.  It opens the door for Him to share other things with you.  It literally changes your life to have that presence inside of you.  How do we become familiar with Jesus's nature and His will?  The  only way I know of, is to read His words that are found in the Bible, so that those words become a part of who we are.  I pray my words do not diminish the profoundness of this revelation.    In my opinion, when Jesus prays "thy will be done," He is praying that we experience God's will to become our will.



My hope and prayer is that we can all experience God's will for our lives.  Also that we remember we all are born with free will and our human nature,  but it is what we do with it, that  truly allows us to live this life as God designed it to be.  

The value of seeking out God's will for our lives cannot really be understood without finding out who He is through His word.  This is  how we develop a  relationship with Him and begin to recognize His voice when He speaks to us.  What are you waiting for?

  "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love."  1 Corinthian 13: 12-13

There Was An Angel In Our Midst

Do we go with the majority or do we stay in the safety of our beliefs.  Do we speak up for what we believe or do we sit quietly and try not to throw pearls among swine.  How do we separate the sin from the sinner without compromising our souls.  How do we remain loving, when we want to just shake the dust off of our sandals, never to return again.


Our world today so confusing, so many new and unique cultures, beliefs, differences.  There must be that line that is drawn in the sand.  But I believe that line must be drawn before we reach the crossroad.  Way before we come face to face with a situation that is uncomfortable you find yourself reaching for something to take your eyes away from looking or your mouth from speaking and your feet from running.  I myself have always been a runner, I could outrun anything and everyone, I ran so fast, I even ran past myself, a couple of times.  But there are those moments that take your breath away.  Death!!!  It is so unsettling, scary, painful.  Yet how we will handle it is so much more important.  It is hard to be glib when speaking about profound loss and pain.  But this is my mom who left us and I must give her a tribute.  I want to say how much I admired her.  Her strength, innocence, little girl like qualities are forever engraved in my heart.  The violation I feel of her being taken away is so wrong, so selfish.  God needed her to come home.  I call her my angel because, she sacrificed so much for her children.  I never looked at her as a single woman taking care of four children, but that is what she was. She ran a business, she left us with more stories then we can shake a stick at.  She didn't complain, her release was playing cards, until she could no longer do that.  Ironic, even though my parents were divorced my dad did the same thing with his golf, he lost his battle for life when his game of golf got taken away, by the ravage of time.  So now we face life without them.

I am sure there will be a lesson through all of this.  Right now though, while it is still so soon since my mom's passing, here is what is working for me.  Take heart, don't loss faith, when you want to run, run to God, press in until He answers you, bang on His door until He opens it.  After you have done all of this, let Jesus comfort you and give you rest.  Death could not hold Jesus it will not hold any of His believers.  His grave is empty and our loved ones are already with Him.  What we cannot understand only needs our trust, our faith, and belief in God. God will reveal truths to us as we press into Him.  He does not tell us everything because we cannot handle everything.  Trust and believe.  What I think about most  is that, our loved ones  have wings now and will be able to go  anywhere you are as long as you carry them in your heart.  Mom and I spent the morning washing my car and watering my flowers.  Can't wait to see what we will do tomorrow. God Bless, be well.

Are You , "and Peter," Too?

"But go, tell his disciples and Peter, " He is going ahead of you into Galilee.  There you will see him," " just as he told you."   These are the words spoken by an angel  to  Mary Magdalene and Mary mother of James, and Salome.  The women had come to anoint the body of Jesus, they were not expecting to find a resurrected body.  When I became aware of  the, "and Peter," part of this scripture, my heart began to race.  With everything going on in Jesus' life, without missing one beat He once again confirmed that He was instructing  the angel to speak on his behalf.  By instructing the women to go tell His disciples and making a point to say ,"and Peter."  Jesus knew that Peter was feeling  horrible.  Here you have a man like Peter, who was already chosen to be the rock that God was going to build his church upon, prideful, stubborn, determined, loyal, and self sufficient.  This man Peter who promised Jesus that he would never, ever deny him.  Who made a promise to Jesus, and probably meant ever word of it.  But then, at the very first crow of the cock, until the third crow of the cock, Peter denied ever  knowing  Jesus, three times.  Yet Jesus purposely mentions Peter by his name, to emphasize that He had forgiven him. It was such a personal thing to let  Peter know, that  Jesus Christ had forgiven him.  This revelation was so empowering, and yet so indescribable that I feel like it  pierces  my heart and soul just talking about it here.  To think our God  would have gotten  on that cross even if  I was the only one here to save.


 I find myself too many times in that, "and Peter," situation. where I beat myself  up, and put on those old records, you know the ones  that tell me how unimportant and insignificant I am.  But now I know better, I know that God will allow those, "and Peter", times to allow me to rely on Him and not my own self worth.  To see that I am perfectly and wonderfully made and that the closer I get to him the more He is able to use me for the purpose that I was created for.  The more I live my life according to that purpose, the more beautiful I become, inside and out.  When He speaks to me and I began  hearing what He has to say about me through His word, I no longer have to play those old records, but rather I now have a new song.  A song that is filled with a bright future and wonderful plans, enormous imagination and hope.

To all the, "and Peters,"  out there,  if Jesus can personally send a message through an angel to Peter, will He not also do that for you?  No more excuses, Jesus has not forsaken or forgotten you, He is calling you to come see.  See, He has risen,  He is alive, no grave can hold him.  Now that is good news.

Take Heart We Are Living In God's Covenent

"If you are facing trouble today, TAKE HEART!  Be courageous and confident in Jesus Christ who you serve.  Because of His death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead."

Where does this confidence come from?  How can we be sure we are the saints that the bible talks about?  In my constant search for God's truth and in my daily walk with Him,something extraordinary occurred to me.    Now listen because it is so delicate, I fear it might get lost, in translation.

Covenants are very important to God, everything is based on God's word.  The power, faith, promises, healing, all and everything, all beginnings, all endings.  When God actually signals someone out of a crowd and makes a covenant with them it is huge.  Not only is it of the utmost importance but it is always paving the way for the ultimate sacrificial lamb, in the person of Jesus Christ.

 Ever since Eve bit into that apple when she was deceived by the serpent, God has been busy planning a way for us to come back home to Him.  Sin causes so much wasted valuable time and resources, but then that is another article.  Okay back to covenants.  Such was the case in the beginning with Abraham.  A covenant that spoke not of things that were, but of things that were to be.  Incredible things that seemed   impossible at the time.  Abraham was 100 years old when he was promised to be the father of many nations.  Sarah was ninety.  Impossible?  Yet, one year later his son Isaac was born and from Abraham we get the twelve tribes of Israel.  All through the bible, we get to see the end of the stories, but those particular stories started with a covenant, of which the end was unknown.  In the story of David,  the people of Israel no longer wanted to have a judge over them and they begged God for a king,( like everyone else had), so God gave them what they asked for. King Saul was not a man after God's own heart and proved to be a grave disappointment.  So God  in His infinite mercy and grace chose Jesse's son David, the keeper of the sheep to be the next king.  It would be fifteen years passed before God's anointed became king.  The journey to this kingship  for David, was not only filled with battles against king Saul (who out of jealousy was trying to kill him), but also a battle within himself, as God prepared him.  In spite of David's imperfections, he became a man after God's own heart. God always knew David's heart.

The point is, whenever there is a covenant in the bible, between God and man, there are three elements  that always accompany it, an outward sign, a sacrifice and a solemn oath.  Usually it starts with love, trust and obedience.  God would speak, man would obey by supplying the sacrifice, God would give His oath.

Now here is the part I can't wait to share with you.  In the case of our Savior dying on the cross, our heavenly father made a covenant with us.  You and I have a solemn oath from God, wow!!   Not only, did He love us first, but He sent His only Son, to dye on the cross for us, (God Himself supplied the sacrifice),  rose from the dead, (our sign),  then said, "whoever shall believe in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life", John 3:16, our solemn oath!!!  Till next time!!

Take Up Your Shield Of Faith

                                                    


"No weapon formed against me shall prosper",  Isaiah 54:17. therefore, forgive what others do to you.


What others do to you has no power over you, except for the  power you allow it to have, by harboring unforgiveness.  This happens once you allow unforgiveness  to take the place of your pain.  You have no idea how much power you  give over to your enemy by doing this.   I suppose if we can remember that we are not fighting a physical enemy but a spiritual one, that maybe we can feel more compassion for the person who has hurt us.  Because,  "Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour"  1 Peter 5:8.  We did not earn forgiveness, don't make others have to earn it.  Don't allow them to control you by holding them accountable to you.  You choose to forgive them and then stop talking about what they did to you.  When you start thinking about what they did to you, remember what Christ did for you.  " But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God.  To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps." 1 Peter 2:20  Whenever, we handle mistreatment with forgiveness, favor from God will show up to protect us.  Wow!


Talk to the demons that are behind the words others are speaking against you .  Recognize them, speak God's words to them, it is the only weapon that is needed to fight the principalities.  "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. ⁹ Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8-9


God's words, are, our shield of faith.  Don't let other people have control over you by expecting them to apologize to you, take your power back and choose to forgive by faith, and watch what happens.

You Have Entered The Comfort Zone

Sorry, that sounds like the title from an episode of the, "Twilight Zone."  But the  concept of a person  entering into a comfort zone where you can rest your weary body on the efforts of what somebody else does  is  kind of a twilight zone analogy.  I am from the generation of Baby Boomers.  We were not the generation of entitlements.  We did not expect something for nothing.  We worked hard and tried to do the right thing and hoped for the best outcome.

Lately, I am feeling a sort of  shift in my thinking.  I find that I am not beating myself up as much, I don't let the voices of the past dictate my future.  I now find myself making a conscience effort of refusing  to accept the lies I once told myself.  Lies like God wouldn't really send His only son to come to earth, to suffer, die and be buried, then rise on the third day,  just so I could go to heaven.  This occurred to me as I began to lean upon my Lord and Savior, in an effort to draw closer to Him and see less of myself. 

You see, there is nothing I can do to live in the kingdom of heaven while I am on earth.  Just like there is nothing I can do to get into heaven.  I mean, I  believe in heaven, but a heaven somewhere up in the sky, beyond the horizon, eternity, somewhere else.   I would get small portals, where I could see a sliver, hear a small still voice or  just briefly feel the presence of the Almighty and my mind would race with thoughts of,  " How did I make this happen?",  "What do I do to keep it?"  The thoughts left me with more questions then answers.  So I began to shake if off,  just  shake off the discouragement and by faith I began to challenge what I know.

What I know is, I trust my Lord and Savior.  I believe He is the incarnate of God, I believe in the Holy Spirit who Jesus said He would send to us as our comforter, comforter, hmmmmm!  I believe there is nothing I can do to get into heaven, and  believing in Jesus is the only way, as written in John 14:6, "I am the truth, the light, the way, no one goes to the father except through me."

Okay, so when in the Lord's prayer, Jesus says, "thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven",  this says to me that earth is mirrored after heaven.  This says to me that heaven is not some far off place in the future, but get this, it is right here on earth.  So getting to the, "Comfort Zone", is just believing in what we know.  If we know how to get into heaven, then kingdom living  must be the same belief process.  If we get into heaven on the merits of what Jesus did, by His stripes, by His fulfillment of following all 613 commands, by His bearing of all of our sins, and by the shedding of His precious blood upon the cross, then kingdom living comes down to that belief.  Living our lives based on that belief is faith.

Kingdom living, is living in the presence and the assurance that all of the promises that God our father, gave to His son Jesus, now pertain to believers.  Faith in this belief  is in the daily living of our lives as if all the promises are true.  Faith takes courage because it is out of our control.  We have to believe Jesus is real and that He is enough.  

I challenge you to step out of your own self induced comfort zone, in spite of fear, and to enter into a new comfort zone.  One that does not depend on who or what we are,  but rather, who and what Jesus is.  If you have the courage to step out, I tell you this, you will find rest in spite of fear, as you go from glory to glory.   Welcome believer, "You Have Entered The Comfort Zone".

I Want A Do Over

There I said it.  "I want a do over."  I mean don't you ever, just want to go back and revisit your past and change the direction you took?  To be perfectly honest, I can't (or won't ),  recall wanting to ever go back in time, except, maybe, lately.  I really am having a hard time with my mortality.  I suppose it is because I am getting older and I've experienced having my parents around well into old age.  My dad passed at 88 years old and my mom just turned 90.  The benefits of have that continuity in your life is precious, however there is a deep rooted fear of what would life be like when they are gone, after having them around for so long.  You also get to experience many issues getting older involves, though you won't always understand it until they are gone.  I still cry when I hear my father's concerns about getting old and  I was so gibe about it.  Saying such wonderful things like, "oh dad, that happens to me too, what are ya going to do."  That just kills me.  Anyway I am using that experience,  of what not to do with my mom.  Everything starts to change.  The relationship reverses and you find yourself hanging on every word, every memory, like never before.  Your parent is the same, but so different. You can hear  the urgency in their voice, you can feel the race.  You want to pick them up in your arms and run with them to the finish line. 

You know, we go so long growing up, growing away, being independent, not needing anyone.  Then full circle comes around and we grow old, we want to move closer, we become dependent needing help from everyone.  It seems to me, I should have spent more time getting closer to my family members, because in the end we just forgive them anyway.  I mean, we forgive strangers, why not our family members.  I would spend more time learning how to ask for help and being a help in return.  I would spend more time developing relationships and not just acquaintances.  I discovered on this, my journey in life, that developing relationships is an art.  Dealing with people God puts in our path is part of His purpose and plan for our lives.  Running from them requires nothing but a good pair of sneakers. 

I suppose it is to late for a, "Do Over", however it is not to late for a "Start Over",  I know I can't go back.  I can't get back the people I lost, but I can make sure I can take care of the people I have left in my life.  This getting older has some wonderful, delightful and exciting times ahead and I am going to make sure I can enjoy every minute of them.  God Bless!!

Mercy & Grace

Such simply words mercy, grace.  Did you ever wonder what they mean.  I have, I wonder about everything God says and does.  So when setting out to define these two words I knew I was onto something big.

Grace literally opens the gates of heaven to us, grace is getting what we don't deserve.  Mercy on the other hand, keeps us from Hell, mercy is not getting what we do deserve.

Let me ask you, "What brings you to your knees and makes you beg for mercy?"
 
I feel overwhelmed, unequipped inadequate to even think, that I could begin to define all that mercy encumbers.  Then I read this, "To all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God." John 1:12.    God, through Jesus gave believers the authority to speak through His word.  Here it is, mercy is why Jesus did what He did.  Without mercy God could not  even look at us.  Mercy is the reason we as believers can embrace eternity with confidence. Mercy is the reason God sent His only Son to this earth, to pour His precious blood over our sins, so that when God looks at us He doesn't  see our sins but the shed blood of His son Jesus.  Covering us, protecting us, saying in a way, "these are mine father."  Think about it, if your child, or someone  you love showed such a profound, unselfish act of love towards another person would you have the heart to turn down their request?   Wouldn't your heart just break and wouldn't you just want to cry out and say, "Abba Father, have mercy on him/her, have mercy on me."  I know mine would.

Now grace is unmerited favor from God.  Some mistake it as a license to sin, because if we repent, God will forgive us.  Without grace we would not be able to continuously sin, then repent, then be forgiven.  God doesn't give us just one shot at redemption He is the true author of the "open door policy."  Grace, however, is much more than unmerited favor. It is God's gift, it is His way of giving us a fool proof road to eternity with Him.  When we understand the magnitude of what a gift grace is, a synergy begins between yourself and God.  All of a sudden your dreams and desires, the ones deep in your heart, become God's dreams and desires. It is such an incredible union you cannot  fathom  if they are your dreams and desires or His. Grace is both the desire and  power to do, His will.  I John 2:17 says, "The world and its desires pass away, "but the man who does the will of God: lives forever.  God's enormous gift of grace, first gives us the desire to please Him and then the power to to it.

Mercy keeps us from Hell, while grace opens the gates of heaven.  What a good God we serve.

His mercies  are new everyday, like the manna He supplied to the Israelites when they entered the Promise Land, giving them  just what they needed for that day.  So it is with His mercies.  They are new everyday.  Whatever trial we may be facing we can be assured that  God's mercy and grace will always be sufficient for what we are called to do.

I pray that God gives you the desires of your heart and that you thank Him for the wonderful gifts of mercy and grace.  Until next time!

"Fear Not Only Believe"

I have avoided this article because it seems whatever I decide to write about, I am usually challenged about it.  Now some may say I may be  superstitious, well, if you follow me at all,  there some common threads that  persist in my writings.  Because I believe there is power, "in them there words,"  I must also believe, "there is power in them there words."  When I write an article about a particle subject, I am subject, (excuse the pun),  to  sort of a test.  Yikes, hate tests, love God.  Anyway, here we go again.

Fear is a horrible thing.  I really don't know what it is good for.  Well maybe, it prevents us from doing a dangerous thing for fear of pain and suffering, or because we learned the hard way  it can harm us, or maybe it prevents us from not protecting ourselves from potential  threats.   So, okay, fear in some forms is not all bad.  What I am talking about, is the kind of fear that paralyzes you.  This fear, has no benefits.  This fear destroys your life, it controls all of your decisions and leaves you helpless.  I really didn't realize to what extent I was being led by fear, because,  I pretty much stayed in my comfort zone.  As I got older and decided to receive unconditional love, I began to go out of my comfort zone, I realized, oh my gosh, what have I done.

It is a horrible thing to think that for most of your entire life, you have been controlled by fear.  Decisions you thought that were of you own free will, were not of your own free will.  Yikes, it is sobering.  I realized that fear is not only the kind  that makes you hold your breath until it is over, but the kind that makes you stop experiencing  the present, that is the one that is so harmful.  Let me explain.

When your fear is such that the present is just not bearable, so that you either go back to the past to where you felt something familiar,( thus relive it), or go so far into the future that the present is over, then that,  is the kind of fear that paralyzes you.  Now I understand that sometimes, we must do these two exercises for survival, I really do.  However, doing this all of the time, only brings you back to the same experiences, where we do the same things we've done over and over again.  Nothing will change or get better.  Like the dictionary says in it's definition of  insanity.  "Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again and expecting a different result."

In conclusion,  Luke chapter 8, tells about a man named Jairus who was attacked by fear. He knew who Jesus was, so he asked Jesus to come to his home to heal his daughter who was deathly ill.  Jesus agreed to go and while they were on their way, they were stopped by some of Jairus' servants, telling them that his little girl had died.  Jesus' response to it was to tell Jairus, "Fear not, believe only."

Now, from the account of the story, I think we can assume that Jairus must have already known of Jesus and of his healing power.  Sometimes when we are standing in faith Satan will try to interrupt that flow of faith with an attack of fear.  Now  fear can be different things for different people, jealousy, rejection, loneliness, pride, lack of self worth or plain old, "what will people think of me?"  What Jesus is saying is, "Don't doubt what you've already been believing."  In other words, "Keep on believing!!"  Do not give into fear, keep moving forward in faith, believing God's Word and expecting our miracle.  Jairus continued to believe Jesus and his little girl was restored to life!  What do you need restored?

I 'am The Blood Bought Child of the Most High God

Let me repeat that, "I am the blood bought child of the most high God."  "I am joint heirs with Jesus. I have access to the throne of our God,  Jesus' blood declares me righteous in the eyes of God.

Jesus said to the woman being stoned for adultery , John 8:7, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."  Then in John 8:10-11, "Woman, where are they?  Has no one condemned you ?"   "No one sir," she said.  "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared.  "Go now and leave your life of  sin."  Jesus says to me everyday, "go and sin no more."

As a parent when our children do something wrong, whatever it may be, I know in our house sometimes there was chastisement but all times there was the familiar saying, "try not to do that again."  The most amazing thing was that with children, after the ordeal is over, it is over.  The children are able to move on, like it never happened.  I believe God does that for us.  The only one who remembers our sins after we repent, is ourselves.  Sometimes we just hang them around our neck, letting them weigh us down, just in case we should forget them.  When Jesus shed his wonder working power, of His blood upon the cross,  we were not only forgiven of ours sins  but we became joint heirs with Him, we gained access to the most high God.  The receiving of His deity and proclaiming that we are the blood bought children of the most high God is our testimony.  Joint heirs with Jesus, think about that.  Jesus shed His blood so that our names could be written in the lamb's book of life.  So that we could have eternal life.  Even when Jesus was hung on the cross, one of the thieves said in Luke 23: 42-43  "Then he said, "Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom."  Jesus answered him,  " I tell you the truth today you will be with me in paradise."

Blood bought child of the most high God, yeah, that is who I am.

Faith, Hope & Love

Never in my life have these three words become so profoundly the foundation of my very existence.

1Corinthians  13:13 says, "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love."  But the greatest of these is love."

Though I have felt and believed in these words the correlation of them is another realm all together.  I now believe you cannot accomplish anyone of these commands without the others.  Let me explain.

Faith is how we tell God, we believe in not only Him, but also in Jesus.  John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son so  that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life."  Faith is leaning on God's words like they are nourishment to your soul. James 2:26 says, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead."   The works James is pertaining  to, is  our actual walk as we have faith in God's word. So our belief system does not rely on what is necessarily seen, but mostly on what is unseen, and totally on God's word.   Without it I do not believe we can have either hope or love.  I cannot imagine where else a person would put their faith. I know of nothing  that can compare to God.  He has never changed, He loves unconditionally, His arms are opened 24 hours a day.  He is gracious and kind, He is the beginning and the end.  If you travel to the deepest darkest part of you soul, He will meet you there.  He has prepared a mansion for you.  Look at God's artistry when you travel or look through a book, can you grasp the majesty of how carefully He cares about even the most remote places on earth.  If He puts so much care and value on us and our environment, can you even imagine what heaven is like.  His concern about every little insignificant detail, every hair on our heads.

Faith is how we obey God, hope is strength to our bones, love cannot be achieved without it.  I must admit I am still working on the love part, so, "fake it to you make it".  Whatever you gotta do.  I didn't even know what love was until I pressed into God's word.  Love is so different to so many people.  It is used and abused I don't even think is recognizable in today's society.  But when you press in to God's word, where the truth lies, you will not be able to except the watered down version anymore.  I will caution you to be prepared because once you know the truth you can never go back.  You no longer go on an escapade searching for love because you will be love.

Now I can say, yes the greatest is love. Faith literally moves the hand of God.  Without faith God will not move.   So when you have faith then there is real hope, with real hope you can move forward to not only receive God's love for you, but you have the ability to love others, the joy you are feeling is God's love. Until next time!!

The Power Within

Our identity is determined on how we think.  "As a man thinks so is he".  I suppose most of us do not micromanage our thinking and yet there are those who over analyze and well, where do you run, where do you hide.   So I challenge you, before you capture a thought and make it your own, ask yourself, where is this coming from?  It is so easy bringing things in, whether it be food, possessions, friends and so on.  How difficult is it to let go?  Before you can trust  what is coming in to be the truth, do not capture it .  Test it, be conscious of it.  How courageous do you feel to compare what you are thinking to the bible.  Our thoughts are what directs our steps, our future our destiny.  It is not to hard to figure out how physics can read the future based on how a person speaks.  We believe 70% of what we say, if we do not watch our words, our words will become our self fulfilling prophesy.  

Now having said that, let me say this, God's words are so powerful, that even when spoken by a nonbeliever, His word cannot return to Him void.  His word never loses it's purposed mission.  Isaiah 55:11 says "God's word must accomplish that which God sent it forth to do."  Satan the great deceiver can probably quote the bible better then most of us.  Though his efforts are in vain he can sure make people think he is coming from the right place.  There is a belief that con artists always mix in just enough truth to make what they are saying seem like the truth.  So again, I challenge you, watch out what you bring in.  Watch out what you call the truth.  All destiny starts in your mind and it sealed with your tongue. Proverbs 18:21 says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue".  The power within can determine your entire life.  Whose power are you allowing to control you?

You Can't Forget What You Can't Forgive

"Peace Peace Wonderful Peace."  I am not sure this will be a one article subject.  I have had to personally, fight off my own demons on this one.  But this is a subject I am passionate about so though the journey has been a long and winding road, I am determined to venture onward and upward.  You know none of us want to be controlled, however, if you are not  being controlled by God then most certainly you are being by the devil.  Yeah, I said it he is alive and well, but so is Jesus.

When I go through my old journals I see that forgiveness has always been the continuing thread that got perfectly woven into  my tapestry. It has been a royal pain in the butt, a thorn in my side.  Sorry, anyway, the bible says that as a follower of Christ we must forgive those that have hurt us,  at least 70 x7 times. When it feels like you can't possibly forgive that person one more time, give it to Jesus.  Our perception of our world can be very one sided, what is real to one person may not be real to another.  The only real truth we have is the word of God, "God is not a man so He should lie."  God cannot lie, God does not change.  Satan is alive and well, when he knows something  hurts you, he's going to keep going after that area of your life until you are so beaten down you just give in.  Satan is just a spirit, who can't influence us, without our permission. So if we know that be prepared for him.  Do not open the door for him to enter, the entrance way is through our minds. What you can do when you know it is his handy work, is to laugh.  Praise God and let Satan know he needs to go somewhere else, you just don't have time for him.  Next, stop trying to get even with people who have hurt you.  Romans 12:19, "I will have vengeance. I will repay."  Don't take over God's job.  Matthew 5:44 says to pray for those who hurt you.  Pray for them as if they were someone you loved.  There was a time I thought that to pretend to care for someone, was being a phony.  I just couldn't handle that, it was as if I was being untrue to myself.  Well, I am starting to figure out that whenever, "Myself," gets into the mix, we got a problem.  So what I learned is that faking  is like the training ground for changing the way we think.  Just like any other bad habit, you need to replace the bad habit with a good habit, "Fake it, till you make it."  Take it to God let Him validate you, He will comfort you, tell Him of your pain and suffering He will not leave you.  After receiving His love, refuse to be offended, laugh it off, replace it with a prayer to God to bless them, yes bless them. Love to the unlovable.  Then leave it at the foot of His cross, the place where He shed His blood for you.  If we cannot trust Jesus to do as He says He will do then we do not have faith and without faith we ourselves hinder the hand of God. The one prayer that Jesus left us was the, "Our Father," and  He says, "forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespass against us."

In  conclusion remember this we cannot do this alone we need the power of the Holy Spirit, He is our helper, Jesus sent Him to help us until He returns.  When you ask for the power of the Holy Spirit you will receive new understanding which will allow your to to be able to set free all those who you have kept captive.    It is freeing, it is flying without fair of falling. Just surrender the offense you feel from that person that hurt you, at the  foot of Jesus' cross where He shed His blood for you.   God will validate your hurt, He will comfort you and you will be able to hold no offense towards anyone.  Before you know it you can forget and move on because you made that conscious decision to forgive.  It is a journey, but one that will the most exciting one you will ever encounter because remember, we all fall short of the glory of God but oh that, "Peace Peace Wonderful Peace" Amen