When The Cock Crows

Matt. 26: 34 “Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, That this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.”

When the Cock Crows

Every morning before the sun peeks it’s lovely head over the horizon I hear something off in the distance, a rooster bidding me good morning. I always think of those words Jesus said to Peter, that he would deny him three times before the cock crows.

I often think of the bustling world out there. People rising from bed, going off to work, eating, coming home, sleeping to do the same tedious routine over and over again. Many people get into the mundane routine daily denying Christ. They don’t think they’ve been denying Him because hey, they read the bible, pray for people, go to church. What else could there be?

I feel like I’ve been picking on the Christian faith lately and I’ve prayed about why God is calling me to write what I write. I get this answer, “Because they are denying Me.” Well thanks God, could you give me a little more to go with? Then I wake up, hear the cock crow and on my heart is writing as I breathe in the morning air.

What does God mean when He says they are denying me? Think about it, what did Jesus mean when He told Peter? He knew that His beloved Peter would claim not to know Him in his WORDS and his ACTIONS! One night Peter is declaring his undying love, claiming he’d walk through fire for Jesus, then when Jesus needed his support the most, he denied knowing Him.

This is what has become of the Christian faith. People claim to follow Christ but in all of their actions and words they are denying Him on a daily basis! Sure you can place a little fish bumper sticker on your car to declare you’re a Christian but as you load up the car with a case of beer, what is that SHOWING the world? That you’re just buying booze for your mother? Why not, she’s a Christian too, right?

I do understand the whole drinking in moderation but when it becomes a weekly bout of inebriation is that what the Bible meant when it said ‘drink and be merry’?

Luke 12: “And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”

When Jesus declares ‘bridleth your tongue’ did he want you to cross your eyes and look at yourself sticking your tongue out? No! He meant that what comes out of your mouth will show your true identity in Christ. What you show the world is how you show Christ in you. The mask you hide behind in your daily routine is denying Christ. Imagine Peter when he wasn’t
surrounded by his friends in Christ, trembling and shaking when it came time to declare knowing Him. 

James 1:26 “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.”

Is drinking alcohol denying Christ? No. Is disobeying the Ten Commandments denying Him? Not at all. Is denying Jesus [in you] to the world denying Christ? You bet. 

Mark 12:30 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”

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.”

The people of the world are so busy conforming, trying to fit in, and one-upping their neighbor for popularities sake, they lose the Christ in them and are content with just knowing Him. Here it is in a nutshell, just knowing Him is in essence denying Him. To love Him with all of the heart, all understanding, strength, and to love thy neighbor as you LOVE THY SELF! 

If you hate a person just because their values don’t agree with yours, that is hating your neighbor. I pray for the souls who don’t understand what it means to have Christ in them, shining out ward to the world so that the world sees Christ IN YOU! 

Matt. 10:33 “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”

While Jesus showed anger at the demoralizing of the church, He did not HATE the men [neighbor] who hung him on the cross. What you see around you in the world today is the cock crowing, the world has denied Christ. Through images and idol worship, through the demeaning demoralizing of the Church, Christ is being denied. Through your actions and words you have denied the living God.

May God have mercy on you, bless and keep you. 

Thank you Lord, for allowing me to be a messenger.

Prov. 10:20 “The tongue of the just is as choice silver: the heart of the wicked is little worth.”

Copy/Paste or Die

Concordia, Kansas

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Copy/Paste or Die

Are you tired yet of the copy/paste this, don’t share, to show your support for (whatever the cause of the week is) on facebook? People who really care will copy this. Show the world you really care, copy this, don’t share. What is up with the world these days that people can’t even think for themselves? People need someone to guilt them into doing something? And I see the naïve weaklings suffering day after day as they fall into the rut of copying.

It kind of reminds me of when satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden. Here she was enjoying living and breathing, I imagine rollicking through the countryside prancing through the sun and minding her own business when out of nowhere there came a tree, the very tree of good and evil that God had forbidden them to eat from. 

Click bait is basically the same thing. Come now, taste the fruit of evil.

Gen. 3: [1] Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
[2] And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
[3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
[4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

The click/bait scenario is ‘pleasant to the eyes’, looks good enough to eat or drink, makes you feel that if you don’t repost it, then you will surely die. Out of guilt and fear you post it, just so you don’t die. You’ve been snared by satan. You allow something that simple to draw your attention, fall into the web and smother yourself in the blood of satan. Why? Because surely you don't want to die.

Gen. 3:6  “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.”

People share pictures of tortured animals, grossly deformed children, along with unhealthy food pictures all the while calling themselves 'good'  Christians, lovers of God, do-gooders of society. God is ashamed of the human race. He created us for good and this is what we give back? Basically slap Him in the face as we enjoy all of His pleasures but not in the way he intended, by no means.

By sharing or copying and pasting, you will not find a cure for cancer, you will not stop the nation from crumbling, you will not heal the sinner, and you certainly won’t find a cure for the lost, not all the scripture in the Bible will do that. (YOU have to be willing to change YOU before scripture takes root.) But you sure think it makes you look good falling in line with satan, right? I personally don’t think facebook is going to find the cure for ANYTHING except loneliness.

This world is so angry, so fed up they are hating themselves for not being able to do anything to make the change. I’m sorry people but facebook is not where you’re going to make a change, through a meme? Copying/pasting/sharing is NOT changing the world it is separating people from real life into a virtual belief that I’m almost certain is not from God.

James 1:26 “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.”

People will say anything if it makes them look funny and lovable. While God loves a cheerful heart He does not condone your unbridled tongue. What you say on facebook does not stay on facebook, it goes out into the world and shows many your true colors; that of a deceiver ruled not by God.

Ephesians 5:4 “and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.”

People say they read the bible, live the bible but I seriously think they just skim the bible and take words out of context so they can live the way they want to live. It saddens me to see people defaming the Word of God by blatantly defying the very Word they proclaim to live by. They hold no shame because they are who they are, God will always love them but will He excuse their reckless behavior of His Word? Yes, He is a forgiving God but there is no excuse for vain ego driven actions to make you look good. Your actions speak louder than words any day. 

Psalm 109:17 “He also loved cursing, so it came to him; And he did not delight in blessing, so it was far from him.”

I thrive on the blessings bestowed upon me. I share all that He has done for me and I don’t lower myself for man so they think better of me, I live for God and God alone. I don’t profess to be something I’m not. I’m on fire for the mistreatment of God but only He can take care of self-indulged humans who think this life is a playing field.  Life is not a game.

As we get closer and closer to the end, this is not the time to toss away all you claim to live and believe in, now is the time to stand strong against the lures of satan whether in a simple meme post or the copy/paste/share scheme. Don’t be a victim in the hands of satan, stand up for God. Your eternity is counting on you, don’t let yourself down. 

God Bless!

Prioritizing

“The quieter you become the more you are able to hear.” Rumi

Yup, this here is another blog post from none other than, ME. Aren’t you all so lucky!

I have been taking measures to change my online presence and that means prioritizing my time on the web. As you’ve read since the beginning of this month, I’ve been writing blog posts and enjoying writing again in general. So what does that have to do with cutting out certain things on the web?

Well allow me to tell you. First of all, I’m in no popularity contest. The fevered race to be all for everyone while selling myself short. I am me, being a writer, first and foremost. As a child I was never popular or had many friends and maybe that is why I began writing because all my friends were in my head just waiting to be ‘fleshed out’ in the written word.

I joined facebook because it touted, ‘Get connected with your friends from school’. “Wow!” I thought, “I wonder how everyone is doing?” This is to show you how popular I am, not one friend from school has EVER looked me up! So, I decided to ‘friend request’ people from my writing classes. Heck, even most of them don’t want to be seen knowing me.

Most accepted my friend request, only to delete me further down the line. After my attack a few years ago, I HAD to delete a few, to keep my sanity! I know I know, I’m not that sane anyway, but what little I had/have, I want to keep! So the second goal on my agenda is prioritizing whom and who isn’t a true friend, and well look around, their all lining up, don’t ya see?

What was the first goal on my agenda, you might ask? My first goal was getting back to writing. I felt it was sleeping for quite awhile and recently has been awakened with a new passion. But with the passion, along comes obstacles that were around before the break and by prioritizing, I’m hoping to keep the block out of my way so I can accomplish all my goals I’ve set for myself.

Goal #1 – Get back to writing.

Goal #2 – KNOW who your TRUE friends are.

Goal # 3 – Cut the social network time OFF!

Goal # 4 – Prioritize the web usage. Not for fun and popularity contests, for WORK! Writing!

Goal # 5 – This is the biggy!!! Write and submit! Yes, I said submit!!!

It looks to me like I’m on a roll. I’m accomplishing my goals by setting priorities. You do know that by prioritizing that goals are easier to achieve, right? Take me for example, I’m accomplishing four of the goals already, in motion, and I’m improving because of it. Now to tackle number five, and I’m good to go!!!

Godspeed!

NOTE: No PIC? Because blogger is not allowing me to post pics at this time.  No one else is having a problem, but on TWO computers here at home? Nothing. So we’ll see if we can find the bug causing this. Not a tech savvy woman…so wish me luck!

Justification

Ex. 23:7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.

After reading yesterdays post, this one is going to be about justifying my actions. Just like when I drank and thought, ‘It’s okay, I don’t have a problem.’ I DID have a problem, one that needed nipping-in-the-bud. (pun intended here) After all, it made Bud wiser?

Well it made me wise enough to know that alcohol is poison that enters your system and your body fights to restore the normal flow, a defense mechanism, if you will, yes after one sip. No different than a bee sting, a mosquito bite, or snake bite. Your body goes right into fighting to get the poison out of your system. That is why after too many drinks, you throw up, your body knows poison when it enters its system.

Being of sober mind not only means, no alcohol; nowhere does it say, ‘one drink and you’re okay’, in my warped mind. Keep in mind, as a RECOVERED alcoholic, one drink is a fall, a fall I’m not willing to take because we live in a society where everything goes! Everything is justifiable!

I’ve come across a blog that shares what a sober mind is and it’s worth a read. Not about alcohol at all!

Home Living

This post isn’t about alcohol and its poison, it’s about justifying your actions. Yesterdays post about web addiction, and admitting it, was my first step of releasing the poison the web dishes out, and nipping the problem before it gets out of hand.

I DO mostly use the internet for writing and research but too often I find myself straying into social scenes like facebook, and giving too much playtime to my web interactions! Maybe you all are content with that, but I’m not. As I search within myself for a better day-to-day living, something needs to be trimmed so that I realize my full writing potential! I’m not bored with life; I’m in awe of it and think it needs some TLC! I don’t think I have enough friends to even care if I’m away awhile. So no, they WON’T miss me… Maybe two or three, but they’ll have others to cling to and stalk. I’m a mere afterthought; I guess that’s better than no thought at all right?

Social playtime has to be trimmed to posting my blog post, maybe a spirit-filled post, here and there, but just not a continuous flow of posts throughout the day. I think the twitterfeed is set, so that’s a good thing when posting my blog. The only tabs open will be my dictionary/thesaurus, RhymeZone, and MS Word, where I write!

I always seem to get in a reflective mode as the season changes. It’s like Fall is a call to put old baggage to rest; to prioritize; to let the leaves fall where they may, and pile them in a slush pile so winter can do the cleaning of my soul that is necessary.

We can all justify our actions as a means to feeling good about ourselves, but justification is just a warm blanket we carry around like Linus, it’s our safety net. We hide under the blanket masking our true identities. Something gets lost along the way, your vibrant soul! God is my only safety net and justifying my actions is in a sense a betrayal to His plan for my life.

In a world where tuning into the net is full of the news of the day; killing, fires, floods, tsunami’s, hurricanes, and then there’s the lovely political hate filled posts, it’s enough to make you shudder and want to retreat back to bed, there certainly is another way of facing the world’s tragedies and faults, and that is certainly not by justifying the pebbles you ripple across the lake. Those ripples affect EVERYTHING, so choose wisely.

I just want to write!

ACTION!!!

"A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom." ~ Robert Frost
***

You’ve heard those words I’m sure, LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

Do you know why they say that, because that is the time the cameras are going to roll and everything all the producers had envisioned is going to come into play now. All their hard work, will be put into action.

Even the good Lord, in the Holy Bible tells us, faith without works is dead. Do you know why? Because even God wants you to ACT upon your vision. Say we have a talent and don’t use it, we don’t make proper use or any use of it, it has its own plan of going dormant and without action behind it, the force that once drove it, will surely die.

Action, speaks louder than words. You’ve heard that one too? Well when you’re just a word person, no one can really take you seriously because in all honesty, people have heard the gab before, and without action in your WORDS, they are no different than “faith without works”. ACTION propels. Words are just that...words.

Without action we writers are just tap dancing through life, going through the motions, but to ACT is to force you to move forward. Say you’ve written a novel. Have you done everything in your power to move it forward to the chopping block then to the submitting table for a publisher to look at?

Listen to me, I have a completed novel, a memoir in the works, hundreds of poems all just sitting there because I am not moving them forward. I don’t know why, I think I use the excuse; let me get to this first, and that first, and and and, I become a procrastinating frenzy, and get nothing but other people moving forward.

Since I’ve taken on a new mission to think of myself, and please don’t hand me ‘the selfish little wench’ bit, I NEED to take care of myself. I’ve neglected me for far too long and as my mouth is still in pain, it will have to remain that way until I get some money, to get it looked at, in the meantime, I’m searching markets and before I jump feet first into the care for others pool, I am going to take a little time to care for me.

My body is just beginning to feel normal after two weeks of feeling numb. I think I had a pinched nerve somewhere, still might, because I’m not completely healed, my mouth now feels like a train has rammed into the side of my face and has docked for permanent residency. I hope this gets taken care of soon because I have so much to do, so much in the house to do, so much to write! And no funds to do it.

Pray for me because in my mission to care for others, others have prayed for me, and healing has taken place. I have been in a writing frenzy and am acting upon the God given talent to move ME forward. I may leave a few behind, but then again, those that are left behind, really were not there wholeheartedly to begin with.

James 2:20  But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

Poetry Sunday~ Balancing Act

Prov. 11:1 A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.

***

Balancing Act

The nation gives rise to quiet pause
ever briefly without a cause
I long to see a solid base
where love and land takes its place.

Faces melt into the sea
blurry eyed for you and me.
No one holds the Truth and Light
it never dawned that it’s their plight.

They claim to honor and believe
in a god with no reprieve.
He’ll mold nicely, into what they form
with every task, through every storm.

I  hear them writhing in sordid pain
entrapped and drowned in the watery bane.
They thought their God would fit right in
to their pitiful wretched sin.

Actions speak louder than anything heard
accept the honorable biblical Word.
Repent, pray, practice, fulfill
The Lord Jesus loves you still!

Quotation Saturday

Words cut like a knife across your heart; you either bleed...or smile.~joni

Humanity can be quite cold to those whose eyes see the world differently.
~Eric A. Burns, Gossamer Commons, 08-24-05

I started concentrating so hard on my vision that I lost sight.
~Robin Green, Northern Exposure, Burning Down the House, 1992

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.
~Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC)

You cannot have a proud and chivalrous spirit if your conduct is mean and paltry; for whatever a man's actions are, such must be his spirit.
~Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC), Third Olynthiac

I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts.
~John Locke (1632 - 1704)

Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.
~Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)

Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.
~King Whitney Jr.

They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself. ~Andy Warhol (1928 - 1987), The Philosophy of Andy Warhol

If you want changes to take place in the world, start with the man in the mirror.
~joni and MJ