What Portion Do You Believe

Pss 103:3 “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;”

If you’re a believer, then you believe without seeing. You believe because you read your bible and you believe the Word to be the truth. But how many believe that it is the full truth? Or do you only believe in portions? You believe God created the world, that Moses parted the sea, you believe Jesus rose from the dead, was it because the bible told you? You sit there believing He’s coming back again. But you have trouble believing Pss.103:3 where the bible states: “Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;”

It says he heals ALL thy diseases but we only trust Him to heal a few? That to me makes no sense. People can tell me until their blue in the face that ‘we need doctor’s to heal us’, but in my eyes, doctors are for treating symptoms never really addressing the underlying CAUSE. I believe God is the healer of the cause. You might find that one rare doctor who is willing to assist you in finding the cause but essentially it is up to you and God whether you find actual true healing. Maybe your doctor is guiding you in the right direction but I myself don’t believe God is a God of drugs.

“Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;” If you don’t believe He heals ALL diseases, in my eyes, you only believe a portion of the bible. It is so hard to truly trust the Word because we’ve been so conditioned to believe man for all he says and all that he offers. We take his word at face value and it holds solidity to our belief system. Then and only then do we truly rely on God’s word to heal ALL of our diseases. 

You might believe wisdom comes from man but wisdom cannot come from man it can only come from GOD! You might glean knowledge from books but wisdom to discern is solely from God; from the Spirit that dwells in you, the same Spirit that has you trusting in Him completely. Either the bible is true or it’s not. I don’t believe the bible lies in some places and suddenly exhibits truth in other places. Either the entire bible is the truth or none of it at all.

I mentioned yesterday that disease is first spiritual in nature not physical. This statement might need some clarification. Some children are born with diseases; obviously, they had no mind to spiritually bring about disease upon themselves. It is quite obvious that the environment, the foods that no one knew were toxic, the metals, the inoculations that toyed with our very cells all were in there playing a part of what makes our insides tick. Scientifically, DNA plays a small part meaning what your mom and dad did (ate, drank, breathed) formed the very strands that brought you to life.

I’m speaking of the cause of your (my) own disease; by holding tightly to false beliefs (fear, doubt, and shame) it enabled an attack that neither you or I were ready for. Anxiety, at a very young age, started us on the path of fear that you (and I) began and no drug is going to take away what we spiritually placed on our path. God did not place fear and anxiety on our path, God is not to blame for a disease taking over your body, only WE can blame OURSELVES for the CAUSE of any illness that holds us captive.

I think what happens with our anxiety and depression, mine anyway, is that we dwell and linger. We linger in past places that hold us prisoner and sometimes we’re not willing to let go because we’d rather remain bitter and angry than find healing; at least that’s what we tell ourselves. Yes, that was me for YEARS, for most of my life.

This disease that I brought upon myself basically is my wake-up call telling me it is time to change now or I will die. I can’t read myself into a healing place. I can’t keep telling you over and over of the bad things that happened in my life because that is my way of clinging to what little memories I have. I have to honestly and truthfully let it go! Reiterating my pain over and over is a way of not releasing the very things that got me to this point in my disease and remaining a prisoner of the past.

I know I’ve spiritually found a healing place. I sent my anxious thoughts away and replaced them with good positive memories. Here’s an example, on the 26th of April my daughter would have been fourteen years old. In previous years the grief strangled me to tears and led me to rehash her death over and over. The same goes for my son who would’ve turned 35 years old in December. This year was different, I only thought good of her and him and when my mother wanted to rehash the past I point blank told her, I’ve dealt with that pain already, I really have let it go, so please stop rehashing. I’m glad she remembers my son and daughter whom neither of us had a chance to know, but I don’t cling to that part of my past anymore. I’m in a healing point and it feels better than all years before!

I’m healing from the emotional baggage of a previous marriage. I’m healing from the child abuse, the molestation, I’m healing where things clung and tightly held on, and I’m releasing them from my present. This disease isn’t just about what has my cells in an uproar, it’s about forgiving all the wrongs in my past and not just at face value. I cannot heal just a portion of my soul just as I cannot believe just a portion of the bible. 

I myself cause my stress and anxiety by clinging to the embedded emotions that have no right dwelling in my being anymore. Being around positive influential people bring about a healing presence just as the negative influences bring about the non-healing ability. If you find yourself never healing from emotional stress, you’re not releasing the whole portion of events; you’re still clinging to the past. Don’t blame the medicine for not working. Don’t blame someone else for your retentive behavior because we are the sole heirs of who to blame. Our parents, siblings, and exes may shoulder some of the blame but they are not the reason we are so determined to allow the occasions to destroy our immunity.

You know, I hadn’t thought that my internal loving relationship with God could grow any further. I had become comfortable in my reading and believing and practically complacent with all I have learned over the years. Sometimes we think that memorizing scripture will bring us closer to God, or reading and studying so hard we forget what we came to the Word for. We came to learn and GROW right? Not to sit like an idle robot in one place repeating the same actions over and over again. No, to heal we need to understand the health benefits of the Living Water flowing through our veins on a different level that will carry us to our healing spot. The area where the past has no bars and the pasture is an open fortress to gaze at, not take up residence with. 

I am choosing to heal by believing the full portion of the Word in its entirety, not just a small portion. He said He will heal and I believe Him. He said He will return and I believe Him. I know I’m listening to God and not the enemy. How do I know it is God speaking to me and guiding me? Because He said so!

All praise and Glory to God! 

John 10:9 “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”

John 10 is a very powerful scripture in its entirety.

I Am At Peace

Heb. 12: 14 (KJV) “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:”

I’m At Peace

I’m at peace with the decisions I make. While many will have a hard time seeing eye to eye with me, I will not be swayed by the force that tries to darken my days. 

I woke this morning, and upon reading my email I realized why I’m putting this windowed world on the back burner, to allow it to simmer down. I go right for my Encouragement For the Day, then to my verse for the day, then I move on to my bible reading for the day. 

There was other mail in my box and one, in particular, threw everything I had just read out the window and I was ready to respond in anger and offense. Instead, God’s hand touched my shoulder, He told me to breathe. By choice, I had been away from Facebook for twenty-four hours but my finger immediately went to the FB link and there I was on facebook at six in the morning.

I was expecting the same old-same old ‘this star is dead, oh wait, no he’s not, he’s hanging on, oh wait now he’s really dead’ posts. Instead, I was met with numerous scriptures on peace. A dear friend in Christ shares his walk with Christ and that was the first post that greeted me on FB. A friend of his posted a link to a sermon on ‘Overcoming Offense’! I sat for the next hour watching an excellent sermon that resonated with me and I felt a peace wash over me.

I went on to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving and then backed away from Facebook because it will absorb my day instead of me seeing the true meaning in the very purpose of my living day.

Two takeaways I got from the sermon was,

“What’s born out of love will never fail.”

“The way that seems right to man always leads to death and destruction.”

Prov, 14:12 “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (KJV)

Prov. 16:11 “A just weight and balance are the LORD's: all the weights of the bag are his work.”

I am transformed not by technology; Christ transforms me daily. I live my life for Christ, not for the media, social influence, or the advancement of technology, I live for God. My life is love, which is all I care about these days is love and how love is projected outwardly from me to the world. I won’t be bogged down by offenses or past sins because I’ve been transformed. If you’ve known me over the years, I hope the one thing you see in me is God. You don’t see disease, you don’t see a distracted woman babbling, you see God in me! That is the peace I want to be projected to the world.

Prov. 16: 20 “He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.”

Needless to say, I did not respond to the email that angered me or to the person who offended me. After hearing the sermon I just wanted to praise and rejoice and go on with my day, balancing what needs to be weighed in my heart and soul. 

God does not call us to offend or be offended. He calls on us to portray Him and anything else you spew opposite of love is foolish pride in yourselves. God knew that our flesh was weak. He knew we would have an ego that would allow our flesh to rule over us and guide us through life. That’s the very reason He used the message of Prov. 14 and 16 scripture TWICE so we could understand the importance of putting aside our pride and ego and just let Him live in us and through us. 

Prov. 16:25 “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

If I allow myself to be offended by every little thing, then I let satan and his work win. He’s cunning these days, disguised in Christians wearing the veil of righteousness but when exposed by the pulling off of the veil, their ugliness shows through. I will not be the person who does the unveiling, you yourself have to look in the mirror every day and who you see when you first get out of bed is who God sees. No makeup, no perfected hair, no deception, He sees right through you. THAT is the person God loves, flaws and all!

As I near Thanksgiving I am so grateful for everything in my life I can’t list it in just one post. But the thing I am MOST grateful for? God LOVES me flaws and all! HE sees perfection in me and it is up to me to show the world what perfection looks like through my flaws.

God is great, God is good, I always pray, as I know I should! 

May God bless you this Thanksgiving and may you find the light you seek in the darkness. Be full! 

Continued Healing...

Prov. 14:30 (NIV) "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones."

When people say that all I’m doing to heal this most dreaded disease on the planet is hokey stuff, well turn yourself around, this hokey stuff is of sound doctrine you know? Look at the above verse. A heart at peace gives LIFE to the body!

You see, the Bible tells us to use the herbs of the land. It tells us to eat the right foods and the GMO filled toxic food is NOT biblically sound food to eat. I realized something this week with our shopping journey, it’s not just the food that I can’t eat that brings me down, it’s looking at a sick nation consumed with overeating. 

We’re not just living in an overweight nation, we’re living in an obese nation. I’m not pointing fingers at people or judging you because maybe there is a medical reason for your weight issues; I’m talking about looking out into the world and seeing people being consumed by food, not the other way around.

If you’re a label reader as I’ve now become you’ll see the processors of food have used manipulative ways to get you to buy their product with words like ‘all natural’, ‘healthy’, 'vitamin filled’ but when you read the ingredients, safflower, soy, lecithin, oils. Oils of any kind are not natural and healthy. colors and dyes are not natural and neither are dextro- anything or -oxides.

In biblical times the overweight people were reserved for the kings of the land. The rich over indulged while the poor withered away to nothing. Today it is the poor that are growing in size and the rich are affording the only healthy food on this planet. Do you know why? Because we’ve been manipulated by the system!

People go on diets all the time, they try and try to lose the weight, they use every (processed) source of achieving their desired weight and then in a couple of years, the battle has to resume because the diet failed or is it because they weakened? 

In these past four months, I’ve learned a lot about myself, that’s usually what fasting does, clarifies spiritual insights to yourself that need tending. I obviously needed to be more aware of my health and basically this change in food lifestyle (I will not call it a diet) was forced on me and I’ve learned I have the willpower and strength of some Super Hero of the comic books! 

What I’ve also learned is that cancer likes four things: virus, bacteria, inflammation, and fungus. These four things are the breeding ground for the disease. All four of which I've struggled with my whole life. You add emotional stress and trauma to the mix and your C cells start multiplying like rabbits. 

While we live in a nation that believes in the Big Pharma ways of healing, teaching doctors to slice and dice patients and drugging them, there is a small portion (growing by the minute) that teaches different ways to heal that doesn’t start with fear, slice, dice, and radiate. Why would our people be against the natural type of CURE for a disease that is sweeping the nation and taking out people like fumigating ants?

I find it quite admirable when people are trying to lose weight and better their health. They need the strength of a Super Hero and sometimes they find it in the Will of God, or by giving up what they lust after, one can lust after unhealthy food, you know. People say I don’t know WHY I ate that five pounds of chocolate, or that extra helping of mashed potatoes, or that extra thick juicy steak. They know why, they craved it, lusted for it and became filled with it and afterward they rejoiced but then in their mind, they live with regret as they feel bloated, gassy and pain-filled. I know their doctors are sure happy. 

True contentment in life isn’t about having what you want and crave, it’s about being appreciative and grateful for what you already have. I have a disease. I’m thankful God didn’t wipe me out; He awakened me and gave me a second chance. When people are told they have this disease, do you think that’s what they’re saying? Thank you, Lord? I don’t think so because I know what my initial reaction was and I know the God slap moment I had almost immediately in the following days. 

I have dug and dug, research upon research and am finding quite an arsenal of unconventional healing techniques out in this world that I hope and pray are one day the more conventional method of treating this disease. I can tell by people’s reaction to my method of healing, that this world has a long way to go in understanding everything. 

People say they believe in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but when someone turns to this method of healing, they’re frowned upon. It’s as if those pedestal-people feel they hold all the truth and knowledge about God and His kingdom, and no ditzy blond in the twenty-first century is going to tell them anything differently! 

Heb. 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

I know to heal from this disease no method is going to work if I don’t believe in it and that is one of the main things that Naturopath agree upon. If you believe chemo will work, it works and they head you in that direction. If you don’t believe chemo will work for you (like me) it won’t work, it’ll be more disastrous. I am not buying into the disaster route. I’m following the healing route all the way!

To HEAL you must start with your Spirit. God sent the Holy Spirit to fill us and the Holy Spirit is not just in us to praise and worship it is there for us to find healing! With calling on the healing the Spirit brings with Him, we tap into our mind which is the storehouse of past traumas, events, negative and positive that we’re going to call on the Holy Spirit to heal with us, together, never ever alone! Only then can we think that the change of lifestyle and supplementation will be the powerhouse to our healing.

If you’re fighting overweight issues and not seeing results, maybe you went about it backward; supplementation, therapy, then turning to God. This ditzy blond is going to tell you, that’s not how it works. This is what I’ve learned over the past four months. Much of this is new to me, especially where the Big C is concerned. 

I’ve always been tuned into God, but I gave no care for my mind or body. I assumed things could all just stay neatly in the closet while I lived. Nope! Spring cleaning people! HEAL with the Spirit, unconventionally tackle the mind, THEN turn your body into the flourishing temple God created!

2 Corinthians 12:9 (KJV) “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

My Body Is A Temple

Pss. 34:4 “I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.”

My Body is a Temple

I’ve heard, read and believed this statement but not until I was diagnosed with cancer did I fully understand what this meant. I knew it meant that I should treat my body, mind, and soul as a temple but did I believe that I would reap what I sowed. I don’t think so, I don’t think any of us do really.

I sowed and sowed,  at one time I smoked, did drugs, ate anything I wanted and never felt one time that I was going against all I knew and learned from the bible. The words in the bible were written for us today as much as for the people two thousand years ago. 

I see with many of the different religions of the world that elements of the Holy Bible are strewn in there to look like their very own religion. They are not called Christian but many have the same principles and most all have in some form of another how the body is the holiest of temples. How do we not see it?

Prov. 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.” I think, therefore I am. Ring a bell?

I think it’s a part of conforming, doing what everyone else is doing, eating what they’re eating, drinking what they drink. If you have heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, cancer or any numerous other diseases, you are reaping what you’ve sown throughout your life. Your body is failing because it was not treated as the temple that it was formed to be.

Did you ever wonder why in the Old Testament, we read the precise food we’re to eat? Did you ever notice how altars were built to perfection? Noah’s Ark was built to perfection? Do you remember what happened when temples were defiled? They were destroyed. That is exactly what happens to our bodies when they become defiled by the ways of the world.

All the lessons are there for us to learn but yet we defile them daily. I am not exempt, obviously. I have cancer and my body is reaping what I’ve sown. I have eaten bad, I have treated my body as if it was mine when in reality it is God’s and has been all along. I got this wake-up call and repented immediately. I screamed out “forgive me, Father for what I have done.”

Every time we make unhealthy choices we are defiling the temple that God trusted us with and usually it takes something as a serious illness or disease to wake you up with a God-slap moment. We need to repent. We need to change.

Do you know what country that has the lowest breast cancer? Japan. And the highest rate of cancer? 
Highest: 
Lowest: 

It’s a fact, the Western Culture has some of the highest cancer rates and diseases because we’re gluttons. We’re not like the third world countries where we have minimum foods to eat like herbs, leafy vegetables, and fresh fruit. Think about it, we eat like kings compared to the Africans. We’re gluttons. We treat our bodies as if we can do what we want with no ramifications and if you’re dealing with ANY type of illness all you have to do is look at your daily eating habits. Your diet is your gluttony.

In the past four weeks the only meat that has gone into my body has been two pieces of freshwater salmon, the only vegetables were/are organic in nature meaning no toxins, and the only dairy was/is farm fresh vegetarian fed chickens eggs. I have all of the organic fruits I can eat and I'm feeling great! You could not tell I have any illness residing in me. Headaches, coughs, sinus problems can all be attributed to the foods you eat and the toxins you breathe in.  

I know what you’re thinking, ‘that’s not food you're eating!’ Well let me tell you, this is the best I’ve ever felt in my life! MY ENTIRE LIFE! Did you ever wonder why God chose manna to feed the Israelites? Why Jesus fed thousands with loaves of bread? Why didn’t He have hundreds of animals drawn to the people for them to slaughter and eat? Why didn’t He lead the people to bacon and fried chicken? Because He KNEW their bodies were His temples and treated them as such!

We don’t treat our bodies as His temples. We treat our bodies as they were conditioned to be treated; by man, for man, we eat for ourselves and no one else. I am not condemning you or judging you, I’m just relaying what I’ve learned in the past four weeks and I NEED to share this. It’s not mine to own!

I feel as though I have been placed on an eternal fast. My body is being cleansed and changing, it is reacting to the way I’m treating it, in a good way. My mind is releasing all the bad and I’m basking in all the good that is left behind. I’m no longer treating my body disastrously and reaping what I’ve sown there, I’m rejoicing in treating my body as the Temple I know that it is and can only be perfected for Christ and by Christ.

Only by His stripes am I HEALED! I am healthy! I am well!!! This is my new daily mantra thanks to Chis Wark of Chris Beat Cancer. I’m listening to his 10 [module] steps to beating cancer while they’re free and his module seven of the series was the solidifying game changer for me. It was all about having faith in doing what you’re doing, BEATING CANCER without drugs and chemo, the real new-age killer! 

Change the ye to chemo and you get how I feel about chemotherapy:

Ezek. 34:4 “The diseased have ye[chemo] not strengthened, neither have ye[chemo] healed that which was sick, neither have ye[chemo] bound up that which was broken, neither have ye[chemo] brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye[chemo] sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye[chemo] ruled them.”

If I have all the faith I claim to have then I KNOW I can beat this. If Jesus healed many, He can heal me. He didn’t say, “I’ll heal you one day.” He clearly stated that he’d heal me NOW! And I believe that with every fiber of my being. The very LEAST I can do is treat my body as the perfectly constructed temple He entrusted me with. With every bite, with every breath, I honor and respect HIM! 

Praise be to God!

Rom. 8:28-31 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”

Justified

Isa. 28:12 “To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.”

Justified

Do you want to know how I come up with my blog topics? Believe it or not, I pray. I wake in the morning and pray for all the sick on my prayer list, then I ask God’s guidance on what to write for the day. I don’t always get a reply on what I’m to write about so I might skip that day as I wait, patiently!

After prayer, I open the news of the day, open facebook also, to find a plethora of topics but usually one topic will stand out a few times and God lets me know, write about THIS!

I so wanted to write about my niece getting her purse returned, after losing it somewhere sometime during her day, by a young black gentleman after he had found the purse on his way work, and returned it to my niece at ten thirty in the evening when he returned home.

My niece cried because she was so happy to not have to renew her license and cancel all her credit cards and she thanked the young man profusely! She even gave him twenty dollars of the fifty that had been inside. I’d also like to add that this was in Baltimore, Maryland. The place you only hear bad stuff about and never the good stuff. 

As I continued searching for a blog  post, a few things stuck out and THAT is what God wanted me to write about, while my nieces story is a beautiful one God wanted me to know that there is something more important to write about at this time and maybe, all of the stories will mesh together? I’ll have to finish this before I know. 

Getting it right with God is a struggle all Christians go through and at times I never feel worthy enough of His love. I’ve already blogged about that one in a feeling unworthy post. But let me say this first and foremost, I AM WORTHY of God and that is all that matters to me. 

I loosely call myself Christian because all Christians are not the same. These days they are drinkers, self-righteous, judges of all. I do understand that we are ALL different and on different paths. Jesus (NT) himself didn’t choose perfect people to carry his ministry, and God (OT) certainly didn’t pick perfect people that He created to do His work. Nope, He picked the most imperfect people He could find; maybe that is why He chose ME to be a writer. For some reason He had faith in me and that I’d carry my testimony/His ministry to His people. 

Ecc. 9:7 “Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.” 

Ephesians 5:18 ESV “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,”

Proverbs 20:1 ESV “Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”

You see, God has called us ALL to carry His ministry. Not to drink, get drunk, whoop it up and praise God or claim to be His all in the same stinking drunken breath. 

We justify what we do so we don’t feel so bad but the only one who is going to judge us for allowing ourselves to be led astray is our One and Only Savior. We ALL walk a dimly lit path, we find the Light but then get led astray by all the inhumanity in the world that gets us unsettled so we turn to drink to justify the reason we’re sitting alone in the dark with a bottle in our hand. Some find the Lighted path only to continue on struggling to stay on the very straight and extremely narrow path.

As I walk the path, for ME, I do not believe in the drink and be merry babble. For one, you’re not drinking to be merry, you’re drinking to get drunk, bottom line. It makes you feel good, it unfurls your twisted tongue, it has you allowing your loose lips to sink ships. Thoughts are free to roam the wilderness and usually, the wild is not a place to be alone because you’re bound to get bit.

When a person comes to Christ, he (or she) is new to Christ and struggles daily to get it right with God. I understand that they’ll still drink it up, curse like a sailor, call themselves Christian just so they fit into a society over running with Christians but they have yet to learn the true meaning of the word, Christ-like. Christ was not a drunk, and I think He knew the right words to use so as not to come across as a liar and hypocrite. 

I often think about what it must have been like back in Jesus’ day. Here He was gathered around a table with His twelve chosen, knowing He was going to His death. When they took a drink of wine, did they all yell out, “Let’s finish off the bottle.”??? I seriously don’t think so; it was not a merry event to celebrate.

In the course of the Last Supper, Jesus divides up some bread, says a prayer, and hands the pieces of bread to his disciples, saying "this is my body."[metaphor] He then takes a cup of wine, offers another prayer, and hands it around, saying "this is my blood [metaphor] of the everlasting covenant, which is poured for many." ~ source Wikipedia

The church is the way it is today because people divided up what was right and what was wrong; what was/is acceptable and what is not acceptable. Some churches look down on the homeless and only reach out to the parishioners in need, not everyone in need. Some churches look down on homosexuals by judging them and letting them know they are not right with God because you know, God made them judge and jury of the people. Divided the churches are.

Eph. 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

I myself CHOSE to get my life right with God and follow His Son to the cross and weep prayerfully at His feet. We are not called to judge others because we feel they are beneath us, we should judge ourselves, our actions, our ways, our character, and virtues, only then should we call ourselves Christ-like. 

This post didn’t end the way I intended but it did help me see that there are good people out in the world trying to do what is right, whether FOR God or because of God. Goodness is all around and as soon as we stop justifying our negative actions and living the way WE want, we’ll see the good in the world or the world will never change.

God bless you all!

Blessed Bounty

Joni's blessed bounty of 2012

Pss. 136: 25 “Who giveth food to all flesh: for his mercy endureth for ever.”

He’s In Here

As many people think of Christ up there looking down on all you do, or over there watching you, or even beside you walking with you, that’s a good feeling because you know He’s on the journey of life with you.

Now think of Him right here, IN you instead of over, beside or under. It’s like this: Say you’re invited to dinner and the host has a bountiful display of food for you, over there. That’s what reading the bible is like, the bible is over there sitting, just waiting for you to partake from. 

Okay, now the host says the food is ready, go and fix yourself a plate. You walk toward your bible, pick it up and begin reading. As you fix your plate you put all of the good food on there and then she says, don’t forget the broccoli, but you hate broccoli but this looks so nice you oblige her and take a few stalks. 

You begin reading your bible, filling yourself with all of the good stuff, happy, cheerful, loving good stuff then it happens, you’re full but have yet to touch the broccoli. There are some dark, bitter tasting words in the bible that you just want to gloss over but you don’t want to leave the host hanging so you indulge.

Oh dear, you’ve touched on rape, incest, murder, and polygamy. You’re tasting the bitterness of the broccoli and just want to spit it out and pretend you never had it but you begin to chew and chew and read and read so you can understand that ALL of the bible is the Lord’s buffet, broccoli and all. Mingled with the good is the ugly and all those words are left for you to discern whether you continue in the meal.

Now, you’ve finished the entire meal, you’ve read the entire bible, sat it on the table and wiped your mouth of any leftover gravy that might be on your lips. You walk away full, filled with the meal you’ve just eaten, filled with the words you’ve just read. You can see it as a fictional tale because honestly, some of that stuff was over the top fairy tale stuff. A whale swallowing a man and for three days he was in the stomach. A man called to build a big ark to carry two of every animal away from the impending flood, a man lying with the lions. Give me a break, right? (Oh there’s more crazy stuff for you to read)

You thank the gracious host and are on your way home, only to realize instead of leaving the bible on the table, you’ve taken it with you and it’s sitting in the other seat as a companion on the ride home. Your mind starts going over the wonderful meal you had with the mashed potatoes and delicious brown gravy, the juicy steak, meaty turkey and ham all of which melted in your mouth for you to savor on the way home.

The vegetables were a bit over the top with the likes of spinach and okra, eggplant and corn, carrots and yams, then the broccoli, the bitter tasting broccoli which climbed back up into your throat allowing you, in the quiet confines of your car, to let out a loud releasing burp. Ah, now you feel better. 

As you approach home, you glance over at your bible, you realize that there was some truth in there that you might want to believe like loving your neighbor, turning the other cheek when someone hurts you and forgiveness, yeah you like that one, the ability to forgive.

You arrive home. Do you leave the bible in the car, take the book with you, or place it in the trunk because it really wasn’t something you’re into? Your mind lingers to the host, the creator of such a grand meal that the remnants are still lingering in you. The piercing eyes, the heart of gold, the sweet laughter of a child on the merry-go-round, the host is lingering.

Imagine this: God being the host. He’s created such a grand meal in  the way of planet earth, giving you everything to partake of, the good, the bad and the ugly bitter tasting remnants. Man and woman were happy at one time with all of this bounty, so much so we had a day of celebration called Thanksgiving for all that we have.

Today, man has left the host in the trunk of the car pretending they didn’t partake of any of the hogwash they read over dinner. Some people got out of the car remembering the bible and took it with them carrying it close to their heart and went in the house to place it on the table, so it would always be close to them. 

What I’m saying is this, some people put Him back there to take Him for a ride, some put Him over there so they can glance at him once in awhile, while some see Him up there looking over them as they journey through life and me, I see Him IN HERE, my heart, my soul, my veins to always carry Him and His words with me and savor every last drop. How about you? 

I'm Not Worthy

Rev. 4:11 (KJV)  “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

I’m not worthy.

How many times have you said THAT in your lifetime? I hear so many people say they don’t want to put faith in God or become a Christian because he ‘expects’ too much from them.

Too much? Let me ask you a question, a scenario if you will. 

Your mother calls you when you’re on your way home from a long days work.

“Can you pick me up a loaf of bread, honey?”

“But I’m heading home, I really want to get home.”

“I haven’t eaten all day and really would like to make a sandwich.”

“Oh, okay mom. See ya in a few.”

Was that expecting too much from you? Why because it’s out of your way? You’d do anything for your mother, right? Was she expecting too much in the way of asking you for something and you getting nothing in return?

Well think of God as your father, he’s asking for a few things. Like what? Oh, you know, He don’t want you to murder nobody, steal anything, gossip about everyone and everything (that’s a hard one), want what your neighbor or friend has, He doesn’t want you worshipping other God’s (think loving someone else more than you mother!) or worshipping those fake images of Him, oh and don’t curse Him. When you say ‘Jesus Christ Almighty’ let it be in honor of Him not to dishonor Him. Honor your MOTHER and your FATHER. < See, he wants you to respect, love and honor them as much as He wants your love honor and respect. And no cheating on your wife! 

There, is that too much to ask? It’s like your mother asking for a whole list of items instead of just a loaf of bread, eh? Well, let me tell you something that works for me. When I try to live by these ‘Ten Commandments’, I say try because you know what, they’re hard for everybody not just you, I get closer to Him and start to act differently too. It becomes easy and the whole personality shifts and things just start happening, in a good way that you can’t explain (I know, science will call it coincidence) but you start to FEEL differently.

Does adhering to these Ten Commandments make you worthy? Let me tell you the truth, you don’t have to do anything and you’re already worthy to Him. You feel unworthy because PEOPLE make you feel unworthy. God hasn’t done anything to make you feel unworthy, has He? Think about that a moment, you feel unworthy of having a relationship with Him because the people around you tell you that you need to do things a certain way to feel worthy.Try not listening to outer influences and let God tell you how to feel. God just wants you to love Him and others.

Mark 12:30-31 “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.

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

People make Christianity out to be this big bad evil venture of wants. The church wants too much, people want too much, God wants too much. Wants, wants, wants and I see nothing about the NEEDS of mankind. Man needs a moral compass, man needs to live in a content state, we NEED to find respect for one another. God is not as hardline as people make Him out to be. 

People see God as the problem? I think that the person bringing God to you is the problem. They’re supposed to be on a mission to bring you the humbleness of the Lord but sometimes they make you feel unworthy by placing demands on you that you can’t seem to fulfill. It’s too much work so you give up on God altogether. 

Mega churches only get bigger because man, hundreds, and thousands, are supporting the Word these places feed them. Is it twisted? Distorted? To me, it is, only because I see a broken nation of poor and needy and these mega places are not finding that portion of society to help and in the end, many are turned away from Christianity because they feel unworthy. I don’t believe for one minute that the poor is funding these mega institutions.

Now I’ve heard some say, “I went to church once and they begged for money by putting some kind of offering basket in front of me. That was a big turn-off for me. I’m poor, they should be helping ME.”

It’s ironic, you walk into a church, right? You see lights, musical instruments? You know they have youth groups full of activities preparing children for the future. Do you assume that God Himself is keeping the electricity on? Do you also assume that the basket (which is called tithing, by the way) of money is kept for the greedy church fingers? The money is used for church NEEDS to keep the church ALIVE! Without your one dollar, or a penny, they will close and you’d have nowhere to attend church. The mega churches more than likely need a hundred thousand dollars a week to run and that is why the rich keep them funded, so they have a place to go on Sunday morning.

In a nutshell, to feel worthy, you need to feel the love of God run through your veins. However you bleed God out of your system is between you and Him. Sometimes I feel unworthy because I feel I have nothing to give Him. Then I sit down at the computer and fill this blog with the Word that flows from me like a running river. This is what I offer Him and this is what I lend to you. 

Galatians 5:16-17 (NIV)

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.

Seeing Good In The Bad

2 Sam. 14:17 “Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore the LORD thy God will be with thee.”

Seeing Good in the Bad

I knew today was going to be a different day when I woke while it was still dark outside, put the beloved coffee on, and made my way to let my dog go out back to do her morning business. The ground was wet so I knew we had gotten the much-needed rain overnight.

Sassy had made her way around to the front door so I turned to go in, after seeing a small toad off to the right of the steps, I greeted him with a good morning and proceeded to come in the house. I heard a noise in the darkness.

I had to turn on the light to see what I was encountering hoping beyond all hope it wasn’t the huge snake we’ve seen out in the garden. With the mudroom lit, I see movement on the shoes that are left on the floor. More movement, then an appearance. We have a really big toad, I call Flipit, making his home out in the garden and this morning, he made his way into the house but now he’s stuck behind the shoes. I got a broom and graciously led him to the door to hop back into the garden. To the left of his exit and plopped right there on the top step was the little toad I had previously seen to my right. Maybe big toad was the momma to little toad? No camera in hand so no pics available.

I like to greet the cool outside morning air with a prayer. This morning was no different but I got a treat with the visit of the toad family. I came in the house, poured a cup of coffee and shuffled my way to the computer where I would begin my writing day. 

I’m always leery of opening the internet because of the news I might find glaring at me from behind the screen, begging me to read. Day after day it seems killings, slaughter, murder and death are usually right up front ahead of the headlines. The political garbage gets passed over, just like on facebook if you post political crud, your words fall on deaf ears because I ‘HIDE THIS POST’ and see less and less of what garbage is being spewed out from an angry nation.

I am not pained by the atrocities of the daily news so much so I ignore it. I can’t, I will not allow the shock value to scare me from doing nothing and if you dare say prayer is nothing I will boldly slap you upside the head with the TRUTH about prayer. 

I’ve heard people say that God is ignoring us and this is the farthest thing from the truth. We live in a country founded on God and we the people work to remove Him from the land but it is impossible. Why is it impossible; because God HEARS OUR PRAYER that’s why. 

If we look back in history, we see that our founding fathers loved God. They brought God to this new country and built a land full of believers. So what happened? Well, greed and corruption leaked in and grew, no different than a seed that is planted, it grew and blossomed but the end result wasn’t a beautiful rose, it was a weed of ugliness.

To the non-believer, they would say that that’s all hokey but if they read the Bible they would know from the very first chapter IN the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation the Word states that this is the very thing that would happen. Amid all of the beauty created, weeds of greed and corruption would defile the very beautiful creation and it has to the point of almost total destruction. Have you ever tried to kill the weeds in a garden, only for them to come back full of livelihood and take over? You can try and try but the weeds will pop up somewhere and try to destroy all the beauty.

It’s fact! It’s truth! God tried to give us a moral compass and we planted weeds in that fertile place of mind growth, THAT is why the world is the way it is, we are slowly destroying the beauty. 

Back to the morning news, I was greeted with a small prism of shining beauty in my own neck of the woods in the state of Nebraska. A couple from Texas had purchased a two thousand dollar RV from the corrupted Craigslist only to arrive in Omaha, Nebraska to find they were swindled. I don’t know all that went down but a couple purchased an RV for them, filled it with groceries and all sorts of hospitable products. Cash donations are also pouring in for the couple. 

THIS is the kind of news I like to wake and read. This is what the world is supposed to be about. This is the reason I believe in the Power of Prayer! Yes, in my morning prayer I asked to be greeted by the good in the world through all of the bad. My days are shaped by the good I see, not the bad. I will not, CANNOT ignore the good in the bad. 

Alleluia AMEN! All Glory to God.

A Child Will Lead Them

Isaiah 11:6 “In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard will lie down with the baby goat. The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion, and a little child will lead them all.” 

A Child Will Lead Them

Why would God choose a child to lead them? Is it because of the innocence of a child who sees no wrong and can only see the good? Who loves without condition?  

Matt. 19:14 KJV
But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

NIV
Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

God has chosen the humble innocent children of the world to scatter in heaven and have a safe place to call home. It is these little children who are going to lead us because a grown man who has been stupefied by imaginations of the world that has destroyed any chance of being a leader among men.

Children hold in their heart a peace that man lost long ago and only the innocent child understands this peace. The Lord asks us to become like children and strive for that innocence in loving all but man has built up a hatred for everything under the sun that he unhinged the chain and can’t get that innocence back.

Children are not yet tainted by the world. When you see a one-year-old taking his/her first steps, what do you see? You see a trust that their little legs are going to work and lead them where they want to go. Often times they fall and get right back up and persevere until their legs can carry them where they were headed.

A grown man tainted by the world sees hate. He has to share hate, spread hate and for some reason says he is a man of God? Does that man even read and understand what it is that God is teaching us in the bible? With over 50 different versions of the bible, it’s not hard to see why man is so confused with what he is putting his faith in today. I totally get that the many translations of the bible say the exact, no wait, almost the same exact same thing throughout but what I’m saying is, that man has been led around on a string and now wanders lost and confused because he doesn’t understand what he is reading!

When the bible says the kingdom of heaven belongs to the MIND of the man who has a child-like innocence, the grown man misinterprets those words as he must act like a kid joking and laughing with asinine behavior, he is a confused man. Coming to Christ in a child-like manner you need to put on the armor of innocence, gentleness and purity; something man lost in his pursuit of hate. 

I am not pleased with my fellow Americans who show no self-control. They badger, berate, live life to hate all the while using the term for the love of their God. Wow, sounds like a lot of the men they themselves condemn. Does that make you any different than the man you hate? 

For the love of God, can’t one day pass where you don’t spread your hatred for man? This world is in need of a child to lead and at this rate of a hate-filled world, we are being led by the dark one on the path that he has set. Follow little ones (small-brained humans) because my ever-loving God is not happy with the plan that you chose for yourself, you follow the dark seed in a blatant obvious procession spitting in His face the inheritance He had set for you. God help us all!

Psalm 33:12 KJV "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance."

The Sin of Lying

Prov. 12:17 “He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit.”

“A minister told his congregation, “Next week I plan to preach about the sin of lying. To help you understand my sermon I’d like you all to read Mark 17.”
The following Sunday the minister asked to see a show of hands. “How many of you read Mark 17?” Every hand went up. The minister smiled and said “Mark only has sixteen chapters. I will now proceed with my sermon, the Sin of Lying.” 

This was a meme on my facebook wall. Yeah, my facebook wall is now filled with many prayer requests, scripture memes, flowers and little tidbits like this. I rarely post on facebook these days and only two people visit my wall so I really see no purpose in facebook anymore except for praying for people in need. That’s a great purpose in my eyes. 

The above meme caught my eye and gave me a little chuckle and reading the comments was interesting too. One woman said, “Everyone tells a little white lie at some point in time.” And another one said, “Now that says a lot.” One woman said, “Wow, they so want to lie.” I’m assuming she meant Christians when she said ‘they’? This is the image people have of Christians. 

I remember Pastor Mike pulling something like this on us when he asked (a trick question) “How many here sin?” My hand went up (too eagerly I might add) while only a couple more hands were raised out of two hundred people. I remembered the scripture all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23) That is the only reason my hand went up so quickly, I know firsthand I’m a sinner. But others were not too quick to admit that because what, they are perfect and never sin? I don’t know. 

Lev. 6:3 “Or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:”

To me, the question isn’t about the sin per se, it’s more about the reason why people lie about the sin in their lives. Shame, ego, pride? I don’t know that one either, I’m not the one judging you. 

While the term lie is found often in the KJV bible, it is usually meant as ‘to lie down’, bearing false witness is used as ‘to not tell the truth’. I believe one of my biggest faults is that I’m too honest. Many hear my words and think, she has to be lying but let me tell you, I would rather give you the blunt, honest truth than to lie.

Prov. 14:5 “A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies.”

The Christian life is not about happy joyful stories where everything goes right in our lives, sometimes our lives mimic the stories in the bible which can be pretty ugly at times. We as humans are no different than the biblical men and women. We color our world to look happy go lucky when deep down inside we suffer daily in pain and we strive on a daily basis to be a better person who doesn’t lie and hate, for what? For me, it is heaven. I long to see heaven and meet Jesus face to face.

Now I know quite a few people who don’t believe that heaven exists and I’m okay with that. I’m not okay with it, for ME but we’re all here to find something to believe in, strive to become something we see in others that we too can mirror. I think of all the people who boldly tell lies in a church to their minister what struggles they must be going through that no one will ever know because they hid so well amongst the righteous of the world. 

“All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” That statement was in a bible study email that we were reading. I don’t know who to attribute it to or I surely would but it really hit me upside the head. We can do good until we’re blue in the face, it doesn’t pave the road into heaven. We can appear to everyone to be the do-gooders of society but that doesn’t mean we’ll make it to heaven.

We can continue to sin up until the day we die and beg God for forgiveness five seconds before we die. We know he’ll forgive us but does THAT ensure us an entry into heaven? I don’t know, I haven’t died yet; I’ll let you know when I get there. 

THAT my friends is NOT what He wants from us. He wants us now in our day-to-day living to be better people than all that have gone before us. He wants us to know that there is a penalty for sin when we do it knowingly. He wants us to be like His son and work toward being with Him. Yes, we all sin. Yes, we will all fall short. No, we will not all make it to heaven. That’s a scary thought to me. 

Belief vs. Knowledge

Ex. 31:3 “And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,”

“I no longer want to be a Christian. Oh, I want to follow Christ and stick to my beliefs but to be a person who calls herself a Christian I feel like I have to put on an armored coat while all other Christians walk around pretending to be a Christian and wearing the face mask the rest of the week. They are the Sunday only Christians I spoke of in another post.”

Please note I do have on the full armor of the Lord and that the term ‘Christian’ I found only three times in the bible:

Acts.11:26 “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

Acts.26:28 “Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”

1Pet.4:16 “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.”

Also, note that I make the statement above to see a reaction, not as a statement of me giving up on everything I believe in. And you just know there will be more posts, so hang in there before judging me. I’ll say this also, if any man (or woman) suffer as a Christian, let him glorify God on this behalf. 

Belief vs. Knowledge - I can see this topic is not one that I’m equipped to just spew out an answer of the differences in a few hundred words, so links will be added so you can read your heart out. 

Belief vs. Knowledge an interesting read.

Knowledge definition: 1. facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.
2. awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation.

Belief: 1. an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists.
2. trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something.

My belief comes from knowledge not via books, or an encyclopedia or the internet, not from scientists or ministers, it comes from what I’ve experienced and know to be true to ME. That is what makes my strong belief different and that is that it comes from hands-on, visual, and sometimes spiritual experiences that have happened to me in my life. After an experience, I would check a book to see if I’m crazy or not and more times than not my experience is not much unlike many of the people that I’ve read about in the bible and others who have been on the same journey.

Let me just say, before everyone goes off thinking I’m losing my faith, satan himself has tried to shake my faith and I’m still here writing about what has been MY experience, in a nutshell, I AM NOT LOSING MY FAITH.

My post is not here to sway you to think MY way, my post is here to have you and you alone think, to search, to read, to feel for yourself what is the truth that lies within YOU.

Yesterday’s post about agnostics vs. atheist struck a nerve in veins I never thought reachable. The journey I’m on has me meeting many different people, ones I don’t understand and subjects I need to do a little research on so I don’t come off as someone who don’t know what they’re talking about. 

My post yesterday brought about a slew of links, worthy of a share.

Are all religions the same? 

Hypocrisy in the Church: 

What IS the Church? 

Church bullies? 

What NOT to say to someone who has been hurt by the church: 

As with all of my writing, I aim to gain knowledge, to grow as a person and to share with you my experience along the way. I’m not writing so you can tell me I’m right or wrong, just as your opinion to me is not right or wrong, it is growth, internal or external growth is what we are all here for on this planet. Growth is the very reason we were planted.

My suffering is a part of that growth. I don’t announce to the world that I’m struggling or suffering to gain pity, I offer it to you so you can see my growth through my suffering. You get a visual of what my suffering entails then the further writing of blog posts show you how I as a human being have grown through the pain. 

I am human. I am a sinner. I am the very hypocrite you fear (not for my lies but for times I may judge wrongly) yet the one you long to speak to and embrace. I am a living testament to MY belief through the knowledge that I gained via experience. In truth… I AM ME!

2 Thes. 2:13 “But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:”

The End is Near ~ Part II

2 Cor. 2:9 “For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether ye be obedient in all things.”

By Monday morning the news blasted across the screen that there were “43 dead across seven states after a week of devastating storms, flooding and tornadoes.” And now we can add California too with a wildfire. We can’t blame terrorism for this one now can we?

We can sit comfortably at home and laugh the hardy har har and politicize this, we can scoff and chuckle at the terms “Global Warming”, “Climate Change” or El Niño but you cannot sit at home and deny that SOMETHING is happening! Or is all this just ‘normal’ weather patterns for you? Tornadoes in December? A blizzard in El Paso? Normal you say?

On Christmas day as we were driving home, we were bombarded by pellets. Not snow, not ice and not rain but pellets. I felt like I was in the middle of a packing war because they looked exactly like the packing material used when shipping something. It felt strange because just the week before we were basking in the fifty degree range. Yeah I guess that’s normal for Nebraska in December. I’ve been here almost seven years and haven’t come to know this as a normal December for Nebraska.

Another strange event happened on Christmas. We arrived home in time for the sky to darken as lightning streaked across the sky. No thunder just lightning. In strobe like fashion it blinked as if the earth was being short-circuited. I knew that on this Christmas there would be a full moon, the first Christmas full moon in 38 years, so it kind of felt like a phenomenal climax to the season; the kind you never remember having in your lifetime?

Many will politicize this, laughing at the politicians who tried to tell us what they thought was happening. Some will try Biblicism and call on Bible scripture to say LOOK, it is written! Scientists will shout out that they have been warning us for years and everyone just seems to laugh it off!

My take on this is, and I’m no scientist, I think WE as a human race have done this to ourselves! Our earth was dependent on us as a species to take care of the planet but no, we had to go and ruin it with our greed for more, more, more; more cars, more planes, more materials, more houses, etc. !!

I think the earth is at war with us! All of the having more of this and more of that is having a detrimental affect on us as a human race. Just as we have been infecting ourselves with poison ie: think cholesterol, alcohol, drugs, (legal or not) and thinking there are no ramifications, we are injecting the earth with a poison and now we are feeling the disease running rampant on our planet. 

Science can PROVE this but we sit back and laugh because we’d rather politicize it and place blame on OTHERS, not ourselves! We can be like Chicken Little and cry out, “The end is near, the end is NEAR” until we are blue in the face. Until you start taking seriously that the sky is falling and not doing something about it, then my friend, this IS the end… of TIME!

And the year is not over…yet.

May God humble you in these darkened days and may you see the Light that lies at the end of the tunnel. God bless you all!

Rev. 2:26 “And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:”

Everything Has Changed

^ALONE^

Luke 21:34 “And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.”

I was going to write this yesterday but I thought it would come off as a bitter post instead of the mixed emotions I’m feeling. I took a deep breath this early morning with the temps at 6 a.m. hovering in the upper fifties. Ahhh the summer morning temps have yet to arrive, although I’m sure they will, for at least a month or so. My sympathy goes out to those enduring scorching heat and drought.

Back to my thoughts… everything has changed. I didn’t ask for the change but I was certainly ready and knowing it would happen. I assumed others were ready too but it looks as if it caught them unawares just as the bible stated.

In the passing of a week, I woke to find friends who’ve I known for quite a while sending off some much more than usual hate filled vibes. Why? What happened? What changed? It’s kind of funny how I woke and saw a few of my friends hadn’t changed, their vibes came through as often they do, as a light I see in them, while others just exuded inner hate that poured through the screen even if they didn’t intend it that way, you could FEEL the pool of hate.

It started with the Confederate flag. A kid, 20 years old, walked into an African American church and killed nine people all in the name of HATE. He had posted on Social Media his hate and was seen touting the Confederate flag, which by the way is part of American history, but seen as a waving of hatred of blacks across the south. So the plea went out to remove the flag from the State Office buildings.

I noticed a small ripple in the pool of hate. The Confederate flag! How dare they remove this symbol from our history, they cried. I wish the poor poor me tears would flow out to sea, but no, the hate wallowed in the pool never to meet a river of love.

I DO realize the Confederate flag is a part of our history but people are just so riled and ready to spew hate they attacked at the first sign of unrest. I realized now more than ever before that the white man has never really accepted the black man into the same circle. Many will deny it but after this past year it is EVIDENT in the pool of hate! Last week we watched a movie called BUTLER and it showed me quite vividly how the black community has been oppressed by the white man for no other reason than the color of their skin! (A GREAT movie by the way.)

Then the whopper – the Supreme Court ruling that gay marriage will be accepted in ALL 50 states! Wow, talk about an epic eruption of hate. The Social Media lit up in rainbows, people changing their profile pic to be overshadowed in a rainbow as a show of support of gay pride. People making fun of the gay community as far as going on and saying all pedophiles are changing THEIR profile pics to the rainbow too, that to me was a slap in the face to gays and the hatemongers to ‘like like’ when others are WITH them in their hateful opinions.

Oh wait that’s not all, the so-called Christians stood on their self-righteous soap box saying, “That is not in the bible! Homosexuality is against God!” You could even see the smoke flaming out of their nostrils as the huffed and puffed. Me? I’m being judged for not falling into their hate trap. I’m teased for my mental instability and physical disability, no human is right these days.

Did you know that every single homosexual is a human being? Created by God? They are the sons and daughters of God loving parents; they are the aunts and uncles of possibly YOU! I know many who love God as much as YOU! They are HUMAN BEINGS!!!! Yet you treat them as scum on the bottom of your shoe?

If this is how you carry on Jesus’ work then I better go back and read the bible and see where Jesus condemned homosexuals to hell without any chance of salvation. I need to see the story of Jesus walking along a dirt road coming upon two men having sex and saying, “REPENT you sinner or be condemned to hell for eternity!”

The way I see it, we ARE ALL condemned to hell!!! His blood was shed for me a sinner yet I am condemned to hell? People want God back in this world but maybe what they need is God in their SOUL and stop condemning every single thing that you don’t agree with. I don’t see millions of Christians marching and protesting for the return of religion to this nation, yet you claim to stand with Christ? You turning a blind eye awaiting the return of Jesus, how’s that working for ya?

I can see the real Christians. Their walk is in Christ. They lift up their voices in the name of love and ignore all the hate-spewers and carry the armor of God, in a manner that Christ himself taught Christians to do. They don’t judge, taunt, tease and hide behind words that they don’t wish to LIVE by.

While everyone’s newsfeed on Facebook was lighting up to a Confederate War with a Splash of Skittles, my newsfeed looked like it always does: food, kitties, roses, flowers, scripture and prayer. Yeah, apparently that makes me mentally unstable, have a good laugh. Now I have to wonder just whom I’m befriending. * scratching my head *

As satan is lurking effortlessly and having people do his bidding, I struggle every day to keep my focus on GOD and LOVE! No easy task in a world of hate. Wake up people, the world is changing. You don’t want to be caught sleeping now, do you?

Heb 13:2 “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

 

 

I Choose God, You Choose Sin

Phil 1:29 “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;”

I’m targeting this post to all the non-believers who think I chose a fairy tale belief just because ‘some men wrote it thousands of years ago.’ These non-believers are so quick to point out the wrongs with the Bible but are rarely heard exclaiming what is right with the Bible, which makes me think they have either read the bible and didn’t understand it or are just commenting and following what other people have told them, not basing their opinion on any scientific fact or any truth whatsoever.

Here’s the thing, you choose not to believe whereas I choose TO believe. I don’t judge the non-believers but they sure go out of their way to judge Christians for their beliefs. When the non-believer reads something like say, the Noah story where God flooded the earth and had Noah take two of every animal onto the ark; they choose to not believe this testimony. I’ve always been curious too but that’s as far as it went when I was a child but since the advent of computer technology (I had to dig through numerous books at the library before Google) I can dig and find answers more quickly now and have a CHOICE on what I believe. NB’s choose not to dig and just take everything at face value and judge.

Here is one comment on Yahoo that saddened me:

“What would jesus do? well if your jesus cant stop children from being raped in his own house of worship, what good is he? if your jesus is powerful and can do things why didnt he make that shooters gun jam, or have the bullets miss the people that got killed in his church? and if your answer is because of freedom of will and he does not not intervene, then why do people pray to him for help when someone gets really sick or if they survive a car crash they thank "god" for saving them. or when something really good happens they look up in the sky and say 'thank you jesus'. it makes me sick how if something good happens its because of the grace of god, but if something bad happens he didnt help because of freedom of will. christians are delusional.”

2 Thess. 2:11 “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:”

I was going to correct all the grammatical errors in that post but it just speaks volumes as to the type of non-believers out there. I HAD to capitalize the first sentence because it drove me nuts but the gist of society is in this person’s voice. THIS is what is wrong with America today! (not grammar Nazi’s)

As we as a nation have turned our backs on God, why do people (non-believers) cry when HE turns His back on humans? You see, I don’t feel in any way shape or form that God has turned his back on us. I don’t feel that because a sick and deranged evil man unleashed gunfire on a church was in any way a time for God to step in and say, “Hey wait a minute, not in MY house!”  Earth is his House too, so why hasn’t he stepped in to wipe us out completely? The same reason He let Adam and Eve live after he commanded them NOT to eat of the tree of life or they would surely die, he had compassion on his creation. Maybe this is God’s compassion on us thinking maybe we’ll see the error of our ways.

Why do people pray to Him when they are sick? Because we KNOW the power and healing of our Lord Jesus Christ. How do we know? Not only because of the words of man because of the sincere depth of knowing Him personally, yes through his words to us but more importantly Him IN us; there is a difference.

Did God stop satan from offering the fruit to Eve? No, He didn’t and we now live with the repercussions of sin. When I see people rioting, I don’t think, “God, why don’t you stop them?” I more on the lines think, “Satan is in full swing.” When I hear the cries, “Black lives matter.” I think, “ALL LIVES MATTER!” Society is the remnant of satan and we’re living in times where Jesus doesn’t matter because of all the luring satan has done to human beings!

People CHOOSE satan over God, plain and simple. When they choose to rob, they’re not doing it for God; when they choose to kill, maim, torture they are not doing it for the love of God. Just as Eve chose satan and his delicious fruit, we as a human race have chosen what satan has to offer instead of what God has to offer.

When you say I have chosen a fairy tale to believe, you are assuming my life is shaped by a book and by words alone. I’m here to tell you, my life is shaped by God as a Spirit dwelling in me; sure I read the book, the Bible, yes I love the Words in the book but it isn’t who I am and all that has shaped me. I am filled with the Spirit of Christ first and foremost. My God has led me to this juncture in my life and it is to Him I give the Glory, not man and his hate.

I won’t judge you for choosing sin and satan or choosing nothing at all as long as you don’t judge me for choosing God! 

*author's note: I will not capitalize satan!

1 Thess. 2:13 “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”

Weight On My Shoulders

2 Cor. 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about heaven. I don’t know, it’s a quirk of mine. I’m hard pressed to see the Light in this world so sometimes I think of what heaven must be like without all the evil running around. It must be, takes a deep breath, heaven.

I had always made a false assumption that just believing in Jesus, accepting Him as my Savior and asking for forgiveness (over and over mind you) would assure me of at least one rung on the ladder to the so-called Pearly Gates, right? Wrong.

You see, I don’t think I’ve ‘got it right’ with God and on a daily basis I strive to get it right but sometimes I think I’m an epic fail. I walk with ‘blind faith’, I think that is the term, because I walk on faith alone not needing the proof so many Christians seek.

Blind faith is something people believe without any evidence to support it, but my faith has been sustained BY evidence of what I’ve seen and beheld, so blind faith is the wrong term for me. So what next, the weight of the Bible.

Have you ever risen on any given day and your first thought is of food? Coffee? Anything BUT the Bible? Hmm. Here’s a concept; maybe we have an overweight society because food is all we think about. Sure many Christian’s will say, “Hey, I read the Bible!”

 Offended are they? Why? Because they think of food MORE than they think of the Bible? Can you imagine how different your life would be if every time you thought of food, you replaced it with reading a scripture verse? Can you imagine a world, that if when feeling a pang of anger/hate/disgust/bitterness you reached for a bible verse before spitting out the words of anger? I bet more and more people would be FILLED and not think of food/anger/hate/disgust.

We are a society that lives to please ourselves first and foremost. We are a hunger craved society who feels we can only be filled if we place ‘things’ in our life to fill us so that we can feel a somewhat peace, but really, seriously think if this gives you peace.

My son is always telling me I need to eat more, ‘You eat like a bird.’ Did you ever think that maybe because I am filled? Maybe because my stomach is content? My thoughts are not of food until my stomach cries out in weird gurgling noises screaming for me to nourish myself with food and water that sustain this life and its mere existence.

I’m a strange little creature. Food, coffee and cakes do not define me. God does and with that I have never in my life struggled with being overweight (or underweight for that matter). Maybe it’s my metabolism but I have always placed God first and allowed Him to be my nourishment and life sustaining food. Yup, strange little creature.

As I search for the rungs of the ladder that will eventually lead me to heaven, I need to be sure I’m getting it all right with God before that fateful day. The weight of the Bible is the most heaviest thing that you can carry and I don’t feel that I or the strongest man alive is up to the challenge. As humans, we’re destined to fail but it is by the faith and that heavy bible that the rungs of the ladder seem a possibility.

Which book of the bible, if any, have you allowed to define you? What are YOU doing to carry the weight of the Holy Book? Are you working to get it right with God?
 
May God Bless each and every one of you!