Holy Week ~ Strength in Scripture

SACRIFICE

On this Holiest of Friday’s, the day a man recorded in history as being sacrificed on the cross. Not just any man, the Son of God. Why would a God allow His son to be sacrificed? Because of you, because of me, for the LOVE of sinful man. God became man so he himself could see what was so hard about not sinning. He found that man had to suffer a lot to not WANT to sin. He became sin, who knew no sin, so that we could be saved! I myself, have given my life to Him.

Isa. 53:10 “Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.” NIV

Pss. 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.”

Pss.54:6 “I will freely sacrifice unto thee: I will praise thy name, O LORD; for it is good.”

Man worshipped false idols, the dark lord, the evil one, the god of sin. The world being overrun with sin needed to be saved on a spiritual level that for many years no one would grasp except the Lord's people. The sinner would go on with his ways gnawing and clawing his way through life while the innocent ones wanted to be saved from the darkness running freely.

Pss. 106:28  “They joined themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
[37] Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils,
[38] And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.

Ecc. 9:2 “All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.”

Isa. 43:23 “Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.”
[24] “Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.”

Jer. 33: [11] The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.

For the love of sin, man sacrificed the children of the future. 

Eze. 16: 20 “Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,”

Dan 11:31 “And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.”

For hundreds of years, man relished sin. 

Hos. 3:4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:

There were men and women who knew the Lord and the light of love that He offered and would do anything for this Lord of heaven.

Jonah 2:9 “But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that, that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.”

And the Lord prepared to come down to earth from the highest of heaven to save man from his own mass destruction. To finally put to rest the evil that was called to reign as god of the world for a time.

Zeph. 1:7 “Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.”
[8] “And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.”

Mal. 1:14 “But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the LORD a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.”

And God graced us with his presence after man was consumed with sin. Four hundred years passed between the Old Testament and the New Testament. His words were still known throughout the land as some were filled with God, not sin. The sinful man was the heathen spoke of in Malachi, the sinner in Matthew.

And God came to the earth as a man. An angelic spiritual birth is now known to man across the world, Jesus was born. God became flesh. Man had the opportunity to change from a sinner to a righteous loving man; to save the earth and its people from total destruction.

Matt. 9:13 “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Mark 12:33 “And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

Acts 49:49 “Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
[50] Hath not my hand made all these things?
[51] Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.”

Rom. 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

1 Cor. 5:7 “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:”

Eph. 5:2 “And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”

Hebrews 9:9 “Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
[23] It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
[26] For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

He asks of us:

Heb. 13:15 “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
[16] But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

And in the 21st century, we continue to fail.

Rev. 2:14 “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
[20] Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.”

He died for us and left us with these words among many:

Matt. 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

May the Grace of God reign in all of your hearts

so that you might be blessed by His coming.

All Scripture is from the KJV

Thoughts For Good Friday

Gen 1:2 “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

What if this world was a reality television show for other planets? 
Look at it this way, it IS a reality tv show to God and He is watching us and what we do with His world. 

God’s nature, in essence, is Love, Life, and Spirit

Everyone who knows me knows that I am indebted to God and am eternally bound to Him but as I blog, I try to see God from a non-believers perspective and try to relay the message for the reasons behind so many believers in the Word. 

I personally can’t fathom a ‘no such thing as God’ theory. To think that millions of molecules just formed into existence that we call human, and the same infrastructure formed into the animal species lower than man. If you believe in evolution then why have the human species stopped evolving?

If you believe dinosaurs were on the ark that Noah built, in the form of alligator’s and crocodiles then you believe in evolution, not a supreme Creator who made everything ‘in the beginning’ who was happy with what He created. You might find a group of scientists who believe that theory and try to sell you THEIR version of creation but if we are to believe that God himself is the creator, please don’t spin an evolution tale on the dinosaurs and confuse people.

1 Cor. 14: 33 “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”

I’m not indebted to God and trying to dissect the words of the bible at the same time. I live for God because through Him the bible taught me to live, love and be filled with the Spirit that has been indwelled in me since conception.

I don’t put a spin on the Word, I don’t judge people for being different than me and demand that they live by the word I live by and that is just what has caused so much dissension in the different beliefs of the world.

I know atheists who don’t believe in God but believe in a spiritual force. Sorry guys, that spiritual force that is driving you is the same spiritual force driving me but my Spiritual force is Sacred to me and you don’t feel that your spiritual force is sacred and that is why you feel uneasy with the world and all their ‘hokey pokey’ beliefs.

Just like the Apocrypha, the books that were TAKEN from the original text of the bible, maybe unbelievers feel like we’re leaving something out and not sharing the entire story with them. It’s as if us religious nuts are holding a secret away from them. 

Maybe when THEY [unbelievers] read the bible they saw incest, rape, murderers, a mean and angry God who people followed out of fear. They never saw any truth because they were blinded, backhanded by the truth. Does that make sense?

They see miracles as coincidence, technology as a part of evolution, and good and evil as masks people wear. I see miracles as a thread of hope and as a promise kept. I see technology as evolution since the beginning of time when the first fire was lit to now when we light our stoves with the turn of a button. 

I believe Jesus is the Son of God, just as I believe the Immaculate Conception took place. Why do I believe in the Immaculate Conception? It is no different than the Earth being conceived from nothing (time and space) and made into something (breathed into life). Just as the Earth suffered through growing pains, with the dinosaurs, the ice age, Jesus had to experience the same suffering so that the entire earth, not just the animal and human kingdom, could be saved from extinction. Through Resurrection Sunday, the Spirit saves us. 

The (loose term for non-believer) Atheist of the world seeks out simplicity. In a nutshell, I’ll give it to them. The Bible can be surmised in three words: life, love, Spirit. Life [God], love [Jesus], Spirit [the trinity, three in one]. You’re right atheists’, the rest is just stories that man has told only from the life [God] in them. We spread the Word because it is the life [God] and love [Jesus] in us and it permeates the soul through the Spirit. 

Atheist and Christians are not going to like what I say next. If you have life in you, you have God in you. If you have love in you, then you have a piece of Jesus in you. If you have life and love in you, the Spirit LIVES in YOU!

1 John 4: “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

On this day, Good Friday, the day that man has set aside for us to celebrate the journey toward Resurrection Sunday, I am not here to give believers the Words and beliefs they already know, understand and embrace, I’m here to do just what Jesus did and that is to give hope to the lost, confused and the weary. 

Your grace is enough!

Lent: Day Forty-five ~ It Is Finished

Matt. 13: 53 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.

It is finished…

When I began the Lenten season I never really thought I’d make forty-seven straight posts but here I sit with you today, Good Friday, and you have before you forty-five posts. I’ll have my Quotation Saturday post and Poetry Sunday to finish off the season.

Today is the day Jesus carried the cross, the one He was to be hung on. I remember for many years it seemed Good Friday was always a bright sunny day but around dinnertime it would always darken and possibly a storm would hit. I’d say, “Well it IS Good Friday.” Everyone celebrates Easter with food, family, friends, maybe a church visit, and candy, lots of candy. They’re celebrating the Risen Christ, but what do they remember of this day, the day He DIED?

I normally fast during Lent but God didn’t want me to this time. He asked me to write for forty-five days and tell people of His Son. I thought it would be an easy task to take on because I’m a writer, but this has been much harder than I thought it would be. Then I thought, but I gain so much cleansing when I fast, what is writing going to do for me?

It hit me Wednesday as I was writing my Salt and Light post; clarity. For some reason things are becoming so much more clearer to me. I sense things in a strange fashion not the normal kind of sensing things I’m accustomed to; clarity. I have gained clarity in these writings.

Let me tell you when I began my postings I had a list of things I wanted to write. Well wouldn’t ya know it, God had different plans and each day I sat down to write, I’d ask Him what do I write today; and there it would be, a post that I wrote but read and wondered where some of the stuff came from. Not really wondered I was more amazed than anything.

Five days passed, then ten and suddenly I saw a shift. My stats went from maybe ten a day to a whopping 100 page views. WHAT? I thought for sure google was doing something wrong, and no I don’t track my own hits that I only do once a day or responding to a comment left.

My comments weren’t going anywhere but my page hits ARE! There were days I’d sit down to post and freaky things were happening. Either my internet wouldn’t work, I’d  have the post all ready to ‘publish’ and the screen would freeze, or the formatting would change. I know science would have an answer as to why these things were happening, they have an answer for everything, but I knew differently, satan was not and still IS NOT happy with me possibly turning people to Christ. Oh and to top it all off, I had another birthday, a huge tree fell in my yard killing four smaller trees a dea th in the family AND it snowed in April! Ha!

You might ask why I don’t capitalize the name satan, even though it has a red line under it to make me want to change it; I won’t give in! I won’t allow his name, even though I KNOW it’s a proper noun, to be capitalized. I guess it is my little way of fighting back.

I post my blog to facebook and I know of only one man who has been a faithful reader every day, thank you Steve! You’re a good, fine, Christian man. But others got bored with my posts along the way, I could almost hear all the negative comments under their breath (whether it was my lousy grammar, or tiring topic) but I’m okay with that, I’m reaching WHO I needed to reach and it isn’t all about the FB people; I’m reaching out there, to the world! I didn’t write these posts for the grammar, I wrote them to reach ONE single person that might need a positive uplifting word to guide them in the right direction.

And while I changed my ways on facebook, things are about to change again. With Good Friday here, I’ve kept my promise to God and it’s time for me to reflect on all I’ve written and accomplished. I leave people to be one with their thoughts and reflect on themselves. Hopefully this is the time they’ll do it if at any time at all.

As I carry a heavy burden, I must bear the cross. I must release and let go. I must bleed whether blood, sweat or tears. I need a break. I’m worn thin and I must gather all of my strength to prepare for my New Year, to begin anew. Today I am saddened, but Easter will shine in me a new Light and I’ll carry it throughout the year. A year of change is in store.

If you’re reading this and you’re not a Christian, please respect my love and compassion for someone who is much grander than me, more vast than the universe, willing to die for my sin, so I may have eternal life through Him. ETERNAL LIFE.

If you’re a Christian reading this, may you walk with God and feel the blessings enrich your life. May you have a blessed Easter and may God be with you always, my friend.

Remember these words:

Matt. 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Happy Easter

2 Tim. 4: 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: