Holy Week - Strength in Scripture

Holy Week –Strength in Scripture 

Every day I wake seeking strength from the Word. A reason to go on.

Ex. 15:2 “The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.”

Deut. 33:25 “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be.”

Most days I feel like a copper penny. No longer in service, tossed away and unneeded. 

Josh 14:11 “As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in.”

It’s lonely fighting a war alone. It’s hard being ‘the strong one’ while everyone around you is weak. It’s challenging to want to continue for naught.

1 Sam 2:4 “The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength.”

2 Sam 22:33 “God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.”

What other purpose is there to life if I don't have God and heaven to aspire to?

Job 6:11 “What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?”

Job 39:11 “Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?”

Pss. 118:1 “I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
[2] The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
[32] It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.
[39] For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle: thou hast subdued under me those that rose up against me.”

My tears are for continued strength that only He can rain down on me. If people look back on my life and wonder WHERE I got my strength from, I get it from HIM and only Him because I’m a solid rock surrounded by a pool of jell-o. 

Pss. 52:7 “Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”

They are weak, while He is strong.

Pss. 71:18 “Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.”

Pss. 73:26 “My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”

Pss 118:14 “The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.”

Pss.144:1 “Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:”

And I write…

Prov. 24:5 “A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.”
[10] If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

Isa. 22:21 “And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.”

Isa. 35:3 “Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees.”

I try to relay a message but only open ears can hear what I’m saying. 

Hab. 3:19 “The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.”

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.”

People think it is so hard to follow the Lord. All He wants is your love. Isn’t that all that you want, is to be loved? 

Luke 22:32 “But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren”.

Where I go, you cannot go but know I am in the arms of the Lord. That is the only thing I’ve ever wanted in life… and in death. 

Rom 5:6 “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.”

2 Cor. 12:9 “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.”

Quotation Saturday ~ Struggle ~ HOPE

Job 14:7 “For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.”

STRUGGLE

“Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering.” 
― Theodore Roosevelt

“Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.” 
― John Milton

“You need to spend time crawling alone through shadows to truly appreciate what it is to stand in the sun.” 
― Shaun Hick

“A Nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but it's lowest ones” 
― Nelson Mandela

TASKS

“The humblest tasks get beautified if loving hands do them.” 
― Louisa May Alcott

“We were not sent into this world to do anything into which we cannot put our hearts.” 
― John Ruskin

“One of the greatest secrets of great leaders; 'they are not controlled by what they cannot do'. They’re directed by what they can.” 
― Israelmore Ayivor

“Invest in yourself, invest in today if you want to build a better tomorrow. Nothing will come from nothing. You have to be active in your own betterment, in the betterment of your life. You have to do what you can today instead of putting it off until tomorrow. Do what you can each day. Match the energy of the day to what you CAN do, rather than what you can't. Make a list of tasks that you will not neglect. What really matters to you? What really matters to you in terms of the future you want to build? Do that. Do something for your future every single day. Success is found in diligence and perseverance. Keep going, keep investing in yourself. Your life will benefit from it!” 
― Akiroq Brost

LEAD

“To lead people, walk beside them ...
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate ...
When the best leader's work is done the people say,
We did it ourselves!” 
― Lao Tzu

“A sign of power in a man is not only when people follow what he suggests, but also when people make a conscious effort to do the exact opposite of what he suggests.” 
― Criss Jami

“Real men don't dance to other people's tune, instead, they play for others to dance.” 
― Michael Bassey Johnson

“We took the path that led others nowhere and only we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. They warned us about the monsters we would encounter, the odds that we would meet. And they laughed when we got the scars while fighting the dragons on our way. When we came back out of the tunnel, holding the sword that they always craved for tightly in our hand. Bleeding and the sun shining on our face. We became the tales they wanted to be. We became the reflections of what they always wanted to see themselves through. We became the warriors they had always imagined of.” 
― Akshay Vasu

FOLLOW

“My heart says, ‘This way.’ The world says, ‘That way.’ God says, ‘I am the Way.’ And if perchance I choose to listen to the first two, I’m going to find myself so far off the ‘way’ that being lost becomes the ‘way’.” 
― Craig D. Lounsbrough

“If you want to change your life start by taking baby steps, one at a time, and follow your heart passionately. The very desire to change yourself for the better is a good beginning. So go ahead, start your journey- sooner the better- and with that burning desire within you every step that you take brings you that much closer to your goal. But remember there are no shortcuts in life; you have to cross every stage and mark each milestone. In your desire to reach earlier if you take shortcuts, it’s quite likely that you may wind up taking a long, grueling, laborious, tiring and more difficult path.” 
― Latika Teotia

“It doesn't matter which religion I follow as long as long as I am confident in my faith.” 
― Anthony T. Hincks

“The day she realised, it was not about the world but was all about her, she grew the wings. The day she understood she was not answerable to any of them who always blamed and pointed at her, she had the fire blazing in her eyes. She raised and soared towards the sky. The whole world looked at her in awe and wished if only they could be her. She was not confined to be on the ground anymore. She had the wings of fire and she left a trail everywhere she went, for other to follow.” 
― Akshay Vasu

HOPE

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” 
― Paulo Coelho

“It's really a wonder that I haven't dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” 
― Anne Frank

“Hope is the thing with feathers 
That perches in the soul 
And sings the tune without the words 
And never stops at all.” 
― Emily Dickinson

“There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life. 
" Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget, that until the day God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words, 'Wait and Hope.” 
― Alexandre Dumas

Pss. 16:9 “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.”

Light In The Darkness

John 9:5 “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Light in the Darkness

One spark, that’s all it takes to get the fire under you to burn brightly, to spread so others can see the light. We become conditioned to spreading hate, bad news, or controversial topics. Our hearts are set on seeing a reaction of disgruntled people joining together to fan the flames to form a riotous response.

Can you even imagine the inferno of passion you could ignite for God? Imagine the HOPE you could instill if you put aside the dark negative mechanisms that drive your day. I believe my mission in life is to bring hope to the lost, light to the dark and love to a world consumed in hate. I might be that one spark that’s needed to fan the flames.

When I was diagnosed with this disease, I felt fear and sadness flood through my screen. It was as if I told my friends, ‘hey, I’m going to die’ and their reaction was felt, even for a moment. That was a fleeting moment because my next step was to go to God; I asked Him, what could I do for You? I have this disease that everyone fears, how I can I show them there is nothing to fear and that with God all things are possible? Thus my journey began, journaling, documenting and researching and relaying a positive spin on my disease.

Job 23:10-11 “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.”

I remember my mother-in-law and her reaction to the ‘devastating illness’, was to come out to my house and see me. An ironic response to me but I had to understand, even she, a good Christian woman, believes this disease to be about fear and death. I had to set her straight as well as my friends. No one understood where I was coming from. I stood in the doorway holding a candle of hope and yet they stood, looking on with fear in their eyes trying to penetrate the light I held.

I was being luminous where they once saw darkness. I was hope and life where they once cradled death. I was the candle being set down in a forest of negative vibrations trying to bring a light to the woods that surround the world.

Fear is a prevalent reaction in this world. Satan has a way of slithering in and using fear to his advantage and people are like flies to bug zappers. The first response is not to see God in any given situation, people turn to what they are accustomed to and that is fear. Even with the best of intentions, even when they know the power of God humans have an innate ability to trust the dark before the light.

When I asked God at the beginning of this Lenten season what I could do for Him, since I had given up so much over the year, and His response was ‘think’. I’m telling you now that has been harder than giving up all the toxic elements in my diet! I have to think before speaking, think before just blurting something out, think before writing that grumbling response. I also have to think and meditate on what will be written on any given day. A challenge for sure but a task I believe I can handle. 

Mark 7: 20-23  “And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”

God asks us all to think. Before we react to people with a defensive spewing of hate, think, and not for yourself, but what He would expect to hear coming out of our mouths. When we say we are Christian do we act like it or do we give people a reason to not want to be ‘Christlike’? Do we show the world that we’re full of anxiety and hate and that our first response is to fear?  I would hope that we all know where a fear response comes from.

It’s hard I know. Change is hard. Being strong is hard. Being a light in the enveloping world of darkness is strenuously hard. I never gave off the impression that choosing the right from wrong or the light from dark was an easy journey. If you don’t understand the struggles whether from the Bible, or a sci-fi novel, or a fictional tale of how the west was won, you should KNOW every aspect of life is hard. The choice in choosing the EASY road or the hard road is quite simple, pick what comes easy, all *cowards do and that is why so many want to choose that route. (*more on that in another post)

Think. Did I just call everyone a coward who chooses the easy road? I believe I did. I may be wrong or right but whatever I blurted out was from a stance of understanding the rewards of choosing the hard route. Examples? Let’s say someone commits suicide. To me, they took the easy way out of a difficult life. Look what they missed; a chance to try and HEAL from the warped darkness that shrouded them because the road seemed too hard. They didn’t give a spark a chance to light the fire of hope.

To me, and this is only one woman’s opinion, the easy route is filled with more darkness. An example is people think wealth will make them happy. Look at Robin Williams, he had enough money to live happily ever after but money was the deception that satan used, and in the end, the easy route got him nowhere, literally a dead end.

I think of my fellow man who consumes enough junk food in a lifetime as an easy route to feeling good and filled with life, but in the end, does everyone feel good? No, they feel bloated in a society that labels them in a negative light. To change their diet is hard stuff, again, the easy route is accepting death over life.

I choose life over death. When someone says, you’re going to die, I look at them and without thinking I spit out, AREN’T WE ALL? Then God taps me on the shoulder, a Light in the darkness has lit the world on fire, He whispers, “I AM THE HARD ROAD, WALK WITH ME.”

There IS hope, you just have to be willing to see the Light in dark places; a spark about to ignite into a flaming bush, a match to candle, the candle to dry wood, a breath of hope enflaming a sea of negativity, a Sonrise to the plethora of stars in the night sky.  

John 8:12 “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

Bouncing Back After A Fall

Philippians 4:13 (NKJV) “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” 

Bouncing Back After A Fall

As much as I hear other people whine and complain about politics, life, bills, and setbacks, my biggest complaint this year is SNOW! Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d be complaining about too much snow, but here it is upon me now!

After this Sunday’s high of sixty splendiferous degrees, Monday was crash and burn let out the snowfall! Snow it did, all day! It never amounted to much but we finally had a week of a thaw that melted snow from as far back as Christmas, I was never so happy to see the resurfacing of the brown palette.

Monday, the white returned to the ground. Granted it was beautiful, granted it snowed the entire day but produced nary an inch but it was back, causing traveling headaches. The white was back on the ground, the bitter cold kicked into overdrive and we’re back to fluffy socks and big sweaters. For a couple of days, we enjoyed long sleeves but no need for a sweatshirt, scarf and gloves, and those were days topping out in the thirties. It’s not that I’m whining about cold and winter, my gripe is in the extended duration of deep cold spells. Yup, winter is like that! I KNOW!

While the negativity I feel with each snowfall now tries to tear me down, I am clearly in a bouncing back mode and am letting nothing beat me up! Scientifically, “crying is one way that the body removes stress chemicals,” from The Truth About Cancer. Sunday was a crying day and I do allow myself days of downtime because this upbeat, peppy all the time, no pain and just soaring gets to be a tiring chore like the shoveling of snow, instead of an accepted way of life.

I bet some of you are saying ‘you could’ve just went the chemo route and you’d already be in remission.’ You don’t understand this disease any more than I do. As a matter of fact, you and I don’t know any more about this illness than the big bad doctor. He’s just doing what they’ve continued to do for thirty and forty years. Times have changed. There are new ways of beating this Big C but the studies take too long and the doctor doesn’t wish to embrace these new ways so, in the meantime, people die all because of tradition. Their pockets are amply lined with money from insurance and the pharmaceutical companies and people are going out to pasture!

My body speaks to me and God speaks to me. John 10:27 says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” For ME, the choice was simple, to follow that still small voice and go where He leads me. Here lately my body is telling me that something isn’t working and it kind of threw me off because I was having good, productive, pain-free days. Slowly the pain was sliding back into my legs and my back, walking was pained, muscles strained and with the winter's lack of sunshine and outside activity (besides shoveling snow), I was feeling a bit discouraged, what was wrong? It had to be something in my diet that I had changed.

You see, when you’re on such a strict protocol of food that you eat, the food then tells you what is wrong, like the recent frozen processed pizza I had. No, it wasn’t just that one pizza, it had to be something else. The only thing I could think of is wheat bread or organic oatmeal. I’m leaning more towards the cause being the WHEAT! 

I started allowing wheat bread into my diet around January first because I listened to other BC women who said that wheat wasn’t bad for our diets, go figure. I give up bread for a year and soar, let wheat bread in and crash. Really it is a no-brainer to figure that one out. 

Matt. 11:16 “But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows,”

I hear the term ‘sheeple’ in the political arena often and since I’m not into politics and don’t allow that negativity in, I assume it is a derogatory remark of ‘stupid people’ following along after every wind that blows. (Please, there is no need to elaborate for me, thank you.) I conclude this summation because sheep have no survival skills like other animals, no way of fending for themselves; set them in the wild and they will be slaughtered because they need a shepherd to guide them. I think on a religious term sheeple can be the people following Christ the Shepherd, we seem dumb because we’re following along after a non-living entity (to others) and the zombie effect has a hold on us.

I only feel dumbed-down when listening to man and anything HE (or she) has to offer me in way of the ‘direction’ I should go. I listened to the BC group of women because they are going through the exact same thing I am going through with the Natural Protocol route and thought for a brief moment that maybe they knew what they were talking about. Granted they have a lot of knowledge on the subject but I’ll say this again, what works for one does not work for all.

Deut. 8:8 “A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey;”

At one time, the wheat, barley, and figs were of purity, not tainted by man. Man dusts these grains with chemicals, modifies them for the almighty dollar, making people sick in the process.

Through those links I shared, can you see what I’m up against? I’m up against man and his destruction of man! Maybe at one time wheat wasn’t such a bad grain, but with the rise of organic everything, there is more to the story that ‘man’ isn’t telling you. It’s okay, you have a doctor with his prescribed candy to make you feel better. I think the term ‘sheeple’ should stand for man following man, period! To ME, that is EXACTLY what it means. The main thing that makes me ‘different’ is I follow the One and the only living God. As soon as I listen to a man (or woman) I fall, crash and burn. Interesting.

Back to my strict protocol thank you very much. Run along now, Billy is running up the hill after Bobby, and Janie isn’t far behind with Tommy in tow seeking the candy that Timmy is offering.

Jer. 12:13 “They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”

Luke 6:49 “But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”

The Doctor Did His Job

Psalm 73:25-26 KJV “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”

The Doctor Did His Job

He set out to break the barrier of positivism and hope down, and he somewhat succeeded. Let me just say that if he thought for one minute anything I was taking was toxic to my system he wouldn’t have hesitated in pointing out that hey, they’re toxic. In my research on cancer cures, turmeric, Vitamin C, garlic, ginger, ginseng and a host of other things are NOT toxic. Even mixed together in a cocktail all at one time these supplements WOULD NOT be toxic. Although I’ve found sufficient evidence to PROVE chemotherapy IS toxic.

The doctor did his job of instilling DOUBT and FEAR with words like, death, dying, my ability to see my grandchildren one day, and I’m sure many who have gone the chemo route are more than happy to have the chance to see their grandchildren. He also used the fear tactic, that if I was his underage child, he would get a COURT ORDER to MAKE me get the chemo, “But, you’re not underage so you have to decide,” he said in his strong Bulgarian accent.

God keeps telling me, “I can give you LIFE”, “I can fill you to the brim with Hope”, “I HAVE THE POWER TO HEAL if only you have the FAITH of a mustard seed.” His words are most definitely more comforting than what the doctor offered. Now I ask you, who am I to listen to? 

I remember talking to my GP last week and telling her that if I don’t BELIEVE that chemo is going to help me and my mind won’t ALLOW it to help, can it really help me? Isn’t the mind, body, and soul an empowering tool of ours? She looked at me and said, “There is some truth to that!” She went on to tell me that all I AM doing to change, my diet, my supplements, my exercise would only add to the beneficial treatment of chemo. Funny thing is, the onc. doctor said “Meh, you won’t need them with chemo. Chemo will save you alone.” As if chemotherapy was the Superman of cancer and not the kryptonite to Superman. You see how one can be broken down by a doctor who thinks like that? He’s right, I’m wrong, God’s wrong, and any and all supplements are wrong. Even though these supplements have been PROVEN but are still in the ‘clinical’ stages that I’m not eligible for. 

I’m watching another series on cancer The Truth About Cancer series. Did you know that in Switzerland, over twenty years ago a cure was found? You didn’t know that did you? A micronutrient synergy in the form of vitamin c, quercetin and green tea (that’s not the entire protocol) was saving lives but when brought to the medical board they were laughed at and scoffed at because the pharmaceutical companies had no stake in this flighty ‘micronutrient saving grace’. These were doctors of the Dr. Rath Institute in California, who brought this exciting fact-based plan to light and they were shot down. 

Doctor Matthias Rath 
and 
Dr. Alexandra Niedzwiecki 

These two are no fly by night doctors in the Cancer Research arena. These are the very faces that HAVE the cure! Why does the government not want this knowledge in the hands of patients? Why does the government stand by the chemotherapy route? Have you ever considered that we’re no different than the Jews so many years ago being led into gas chambers, all a part of a mass exodus to be rid of us? Why is God's Herbal Medicinal Healing, HEALING shunned when pharmaceuticals are PUSHED even on our small children with the likes of that new illness ADHD? Kids, OUR KIDS are being drugged too, not HEALED!

Are you getting the picture here? Well, I sure am and even if the PET scan comes back and says its spreading to my brain, I’m going to fight tooth and nail to not go the chemo route. It has only been a month of this protocol I’m on and I’d like more time! The docs can try to break me but my God is the only one who can destroy me completely! Since I have lived with this tumor growing in my body for possibly well over five-ten years, then what is the hurry in getting hit by kryptonite? I mean chemo.?

What scares me so? The Port. It's this small wire and a plastic button placed under your skin that would feed chemotherapy (radioactive therapy) directly to your bloodstream. The port stays in you for years until you are cancer free and then you have a choice to have it removed or not. Let me tell you a quick story. My aunt had cancer, was in remission, had the port removed, cancer came back more aggressively and she died. My uncle, had lung cancer, was in remission, had the port removed, cancer came back, port returned with chemo, and he died. A long slow, painful, deteriorating death. My aunt was 130 lbs when she died, (previously a 250 lb or more woman), my uncle a burly 180 lbs. died underweight also. My dad had throat cancer, he was in remission five years and he chose NOT to remove the port. He eventually died of COPD after being in the hospital for a month. 

So you see, losing THREE family members in the same year also has me wanting to fight AGAINST chemo treatment. They didn’t fight, they basically followed the leader and lost the battle! I will NOT follow the leader! I will follow Christ and what He wants me to do!

So maybe the doctor didn’t win in the end. He placed doubt and fear deeply in our visit and I’ve carried it, now I need to be rid of it, NOW! Prayers are always my saving grace. Praise be to God.

Well, I just found out that the PET scan is going to cost us over $1,000 dollars that we don’t have. GREAT! Whatever is in that fund up there will be used to pay for it. I’ve got enough supplements for I believe 30-60 days. Whoa…just… falls silent …..

I Follow HIM

Pss. 9:1 “I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.”

I Follow Him

First and foremost, I follow the Lord and I always listen even if it’s something I don’t want to do. I sometimes feel like I come off as a flighty dumb blond walking into a flaming fire because I stand with Christ and Christ alone. 

I remember the story of Peter when Jesus asked him to walk on water, did you know he did step out onto the water, at first, but doubt and fear won out and he sunk? Jesus asked Him, “Are ye of little faith?” Some people say they have faith but if Jesus Himself came and said walk on the water with me, I can bet MANY would sink!

Matt 14: 25-31 NIV- “Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

I’d like to think my faith is so strong that I WOULD walk on water for Him. He’s asked me to trust Him with my cancer and all of the HEALING treatment that He Himself has chosen for me. I say, God, lead me on still waters. Wouldn’t you know it, the waters stirred, I DID NOT FEAR! I AM NOT and WILL NOT DOUBT Him. When people pile up against me, I stand my ground firmly with the Lord. Laugh, scoff, Jesus knows exactly what it was like to be condemned by the very people who claimed to follow Him. 

I have suffered and struggled all of my life. God entered into my pain and washed away the scars and allowed me to walk to Him, with Him and for Him! Anything I struggled with he carried for me and gave me the strength of an army, one small woman, felt like an army of angels had encompassed her on a daily basis just to get through a day, a month, a year.

God is not glorified in your pain and suffering, He is glorified in your healing and yes He’s used my pain, my suffering, my scar tissue to be seen as His Light shining through. If I show doubt in His ability to carry this disease, I will sink in the very water I KNOW I can tread.

Toxins. I was raised in a toxic family, shaped by toxic chemicals whether it was LSD, PCP or any other drug of choice at the time; also the environmental toxins that I breathed in daily. I suffered alcoholism, drug addiction, sexual abuse. I lied, cheated, stolen and all of my pain and shame is laid bare for the world to see. I have NOTHING to hide behind because it is for YOU to see how Glorious our God is in His grace and forgiveness! I did not have the advantage of growing up in a rose-colored-glasses kind of world.

We live in a toxic world. Man turns to a doctor because he trusts him and has faith in Him and when someone stands against that very person they put their faith in for drugs, and medication, they don’t see the drugs and medication as toxins, they see my walk without the pacifier I call the medical toxic community as my guide, a toxic decision. So are vitamins, herbs and minerals toxic to my body? I’ll take my chances on that one. 

I think some people think I’m making this decision of no chemo. on my own in my naïve stupid young girl fashion. Seriously? If that is what you think of me, then you are not my friend. If you read my blog to pick out grammatical errors, you are missing an entire portion of me, back away from me, please! I follow HIM and Him alone in my quest for healing.

I watched as my grandmother had a stroke, then came out of the hospital and changed nothing and lived on meds the rest of her days. I watched as my aunts and uncles battled cancer, changed not one bit of their unhealthy lifestyle, I watched as my dad after heart surgery and a good three months of recovery returned to his old ways and eventually died. I've lived as two of my children have died!

You see, I’m coming into this diagnosis with my eyes wide open! I’ve seen, I've watched, I’ve lived, and most of all I LEARNED! I come into this cell attacker with three things none of my family members EVER had. 1) Knowledge 2) Wisdom 3) An undying unwavering FAITH!

The very first thing I did with this diagnosis? DRASTICALLY changed my unhealthy eating habits! I cut out sugar and carbs, meat and dairy, which left me with nothing but fruits and vegetables. I researched, researched and researched chemo, vitamins, herbs, cures, toxins, success stories. I’ve already been a witness to too many unsuccessful stories of illnesses from heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and a host of other illnesses. The one thing they ALL had in common was medications and an unhealthy lifestyle. 

Many people are unwilling to make a drastic change in unhealthy living. They’d much rather depend on a doctor to pacify them with drugs and a false sense that they are gods and are going to make them well. Did you ever notice, doctors are not in the business to make you well? Once you’re on medication you will NEED them for the rest of your days. You will never be healed because you then become an addict, addicted to meds. 

Did you know that God placed natural herbs here for us? Did you know God built our bodies to heal and regenerate? After we’ve totally destroyed our immune system, we need to try HARDER to restore what was lost and not trust doctors to destroy MORE for us. I’m trusting God on this one. Right or wrong, my God is the carrier of ANY burden, sickness, or pain I bring to Him. He is the Almighty Healer, Doctor and cure-all! If it bothers you that I think this way, please, feel free to reexamine your absolute faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The world desperately needs to see Jesus alive and Christians are the only ones to bring him to the world for all to see. He didn’t come to be glorified in our illness, He came to be glorified in our HEALING! THAT, my friends, is the ROCK *I* stand on!

All praise and glory be to GOD! Alleluia AMEN! Godspeed…

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.”

This is me and how I feel and LIVE!


The more I seek you
The more I find you
The more I find you
The more I love you

I want to sit at your feet
Drink from the cup in your hand
Lay back against you and breathe, feel your heart beat
This love is so deep, its more than I can stand
I melt in your peace, its overwhelming

*it's a link to the song

Follow Me

Prov. 1:16 “For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.”

On my blog I have a follow button, over there to your left, you see it? I had 114 followers but google changed some things around and people have to have a google account to follow me, so fourteen of my followers went to the wayside. They were not google followers.

You know, Jesus asked people to follow him and while I don’t concern myself as much focusing on His followers, I’d like to reach out to the non-followers and ask them to join me in a walk. A walk that many followers have tread. Some have fallen; I myself have staggered quite a few times trudging up the mountain but a beautiful Light always pulled me back.

Mark 8:34 “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

I know comparing my loss of followers to Jesus’ loss of followers is stretching it but bear with me on this one. I wonder if Jesus concerned Himself with the loss of followers or did he just go on with his ministry turning a blind eye to those sheep that strayed. Did he not concern himself with the straying sheep and was only concerned with his close followers? I myself don’t think so.

Did He want you to worry about YOU or did he want you to care and nurture your straying neighbor? To me that’s kind of like seeing a man beating a woman and saying, hey it’s none of my business, I could get myself killed if I intervene. I know, another stretch of the imagination, but you get me meaning. Do we ignore what is in front of our eyes or just worry about ourselves?

1 Cor. 1:10 “Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

Here’s the problem ‘I’ have, too many people saying too much differently. Preachers saying this, followers saying that and sometimes they’re not in agreement and that’s what causes division among men. Sometimes people map out their own words that sure sound good but is it sound doctrine? I DO concern myself with sound doctrine and I DO focus on sound doctrine. 

I personally read the King James Version of the bible and I don’t even know if this is the truest of translations, what with all the talk of the apocryphal books (not divine words from God) being put in, kept out, kept hidden. The truth is this, God hides nothing. 

Doesn’t that separate us? Does it bring us together in the same mind? Not if one person interprets the Word differently. It looks to me to be a major problem, everyone seeing what they want to see and doing what they want where the bible is concerned. Me I’m just trying to interpret what the bible means to ME and if following the lost herd of sheep is a direction, I am not going that way. If my words mean something to you, that is all well and good.

If you’re just discovering God, then you too will be pulled in many directions. I don’t think ministers and pastors mean for it to happen, it just happens but it also leaves you confused with what and who to follow.

Eph. 4:14-15  “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”

My focus is on the truth. God is my truth and you, no matter what, need to discern what the truth is to you. As I find healing in my written words because I am being led by the Word of God and all of the fragrances of truth that tickle my nose leave ME feeling complete and whole. You can follow me and my blog, but I’d much rather you seek the truth and follow Him. 

John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Authentic

Pss. 50:15 “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”

Do you know what it means to be authentic in your faith?

If we live in Christ, if we live our true identity our community, our world will never be the same. That is the message Jesus gave to Paul and Paul delivered to Ephesus. He wanted us to be authentic in what we show the world. If we are authentic then the world sees our unified Light. The more light that shines, the more illuminated the world will be during the dark times.

I often hear, “I can’t believe you wrote that, that you just put all of you out there.”

My response is, “It’s my truth.” That my friends is my authenticity. I am who I am and I don’t hide behind false bravado. If Jesus himself came knocking on my door, would someone else answer? He would see through me, He sees through everybody’s mask.  Would I put on a mask and pretend to be someone I’m not? Would I hide all the dirty dishes? No, because there are none. What He would see is the real me, just as He sees me every day. Not that He cares if you have dirty dishes, he would see you trying to hide them and your feelings of embarrassment and being caught unaware that He was coming.

Can everyone say that they were prepared for His visit? No? You attend church on Sunday, then come home, kick off your shoes and pop open a bottle or can of some booze and then go to the web and just accidentally fall upon the pornography or undesirable sites? You feed yourself junk and that includes the hate and disgust of the world until the next Sunday comes around when you put on that ‘Sunday face’ again? You then repeat the same thing over and over until each Sunday comes around? That is not being authentic.

Let me tell you another thing about me I’ll just toss out there; life’s tough. There is no easy road to being a person who is authentic in nature, God loving. That road is full of debris that hinders the path so going along smoothly becomes a rocky road and I don’t mean cheesy peasy ice cream easy, either. You might say, “What? Are you telling me you’re Miss Perfect?” And I’ll tell you right up front, in no uncertain terms, I AM NOT perfect, I am authentic! I wait for His coming and I prepare myself daily for His arrival.

Let’s say for example if you bumped into someone from Church in the grocery store, would you be the same person they see on Sunday? Suppose you have booze in your cart, would you feel uneasy, ashamed, proud, what? Let’s say a person from Church stopped by your house on a Wednesday unannounced, would you scurry to hide your mess? Would you pretend you’re not home because your place isn’t ‘acceptable’ to look at? 

Think about that seriously. Are you the same person sitting in church on Sunday as the person sitting at home the rest of the week? Yes I stumble, I fall, I skin my knees but sin is not something I commit willingly and usually I’m right up front about my sin; for some reason, hiding doesn’t seem to work. God sees all, so why hide behind a mask? If the truth is out there then it becomes easier to heal, easier to walk the path of authenticity because you’re exposed.

Nobody (except a doctor) likes to see an open wound. No one likes to share the open wound because it feels like you’re seeking self-pity. I like to put my open wounds out there to find healing. “See this scar? That was a wound that’s healed!” 

There are so many non-authentic people in the world the darkness is overloading the system. It’s like a bad virus that has corrupted the files. We want to choose a good cleaner for our system, we want the best anti-virus protecting us but our bad choices often lead us to damage the entire system. 

The authentic Christian chooses Christ to be his/her healer cleanser on a daily basis, not just a Sunday visit. It doesn’t work that way. Can you imagine turning off your firewall, your anti-virus protection on the computer every day of the week except Sunday? The vile, decrepit, sinister beast that will eventually expose your true nature will attack you. You have to have true authentic protection on a daily basis for the armor to hold up in your weaker moments.

This is MY story. This is MY authenticity shining through. Every person is different and has a different level of security set up. My choice is Christ. Has it stopped me from being attacked? Has God blanketed me from all pain? Nope, He sure hasn’t but He HAS been the one who's healed me. The only one who was there with a Kleenex to dry my tears. The only one who dove into my system to take away the crud; charges me up and emits a light that everyone sees. THAT is my authenticity in Christ shining through. 

May the lit umbrella of the Lord become your authentic nature and shine through you all! 

God bless

Eph. 6: 5-6 “Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ;

Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;”

Going Deeper with God

Isa 33:19 “Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.”

Going Deeper with God

My New Year desktop image is of a sunrise peeking over the horizon. The words on the page are Happy New Year; Go deeper with God this year. I chose this image because every morning I wake and see the sunrise in a new light. This is my hope for this year, that I may see God in a new light also, instead of the same old God that I’ve spent time with in years past.

The same old God, you might ask? Sometimes we get too comfortable with our knowing God and sometimes we need to be shaken out of our comfort zone to see Him in a new light. We go through the motions day after day, read our bible in the same old way, get cozy within our skin and continue on our path of sin because, well we’re comfortable in knowing that we’ll be forgiven. 

This comfort zone should scare many. When you get too comfortable, God usually throws something out there to shake you up a bit, to wake you up and say wait a minute! I found this to be true thirteen years ago when I was too comfortable in my marriage and my relationship with God. So comfortable I allowed myself to be used and abused so much so I became a broken shard of glass seeking anything to save me and put me back together.

My family was consumed with their own lives to worry about lil ol me and God gave me the shake up of my life that would alter who I was and who I was about to become. No, God doesn’t send you a married man but he does witness a broken soul and will bring two broken souls together to become one fixable piece of artwork, His work. 

Pastor Mike said something that struck me. Someone had asked him why God protected her while not protecting others. He said, ‘because you’re a child of God, the other person had nothing to do with Him.’

When we become a child of God, we fall under the protection of a Father, a heavenly Father who will watch over us from above. Just like our dad on earth, we become too comfortable in knowing he’ll take care of us when we get in trouble but when God calls him home, we feel we’re out here on our own depending solely on God to protect us. He is our only resource.

Our mother is the nurturer while our father is the strength we turn to in our time of need. If our father has passed away, we rely on God to be our strength when we need Him. Again, we tend to get too comfortable figuring He’ll bail us out; sin or no sin, He’s got our back. 

With all of the deaths happening recently, it had me thinking, was God protecting those people from all the evil in the world and were they children of God? I don’t know, which gives rise to my second question, are they all basking in the glory of Heaven? Had they gotten so comfortable with their belief in God that they forgot to think of Him in recent months before their death?
This is why we need God daily and not just casual weekly visits to a church. This weekly visit does not absolve you of the daily need to bring Him into your day. We need to go deeper with God and that doesn’t mean memorize scripture verses, post more Godly memes or try to appear to be one with God. Going deeper with God means just that, to know Him deeply, understand His ways, live His truth and be like the Son he sent to die for you. When you get too comfortable, you begin to show signs of straying.

When I see people rambling on with hate in their mouths and conveying negative thoughts I think what that person must be suffering from. Why does he or she hold onto so much hate and ignorance while claiming to love God? I never understood the imbalance that goes on in the world and as * I * go deeper with God, I can see that even He scratches His head watching his kids destroy this beautiful creation.

Even as He placed a warm blanket of protection over me many years ago, I still fall and His fatherly strength picks me up and moves me along the way. As I shuffle forward, I realize I am going deeper with God, in meaning, in understanding, in hope and in faith. 

1 Peter 4:10, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms." (NIV)

God's Not Dead

GOD’S NOT DEAD

Eph. 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

If you’re a reader of my blog, you know that Lent is an extremely delicate spiritual season for me. This is the time of deep meditation, insight, prayer and connecting to the Lord my God. It is a time where metaphysical events take place in my life and I don’t take them lightly, I take them to heart. Not only was I born during Lent, I have a very deep spiritual connection to the greater things in life and the Higher Power, God.

I have a few Native American friends and I have the utmost respect for them because of their spiritual connections to the earth. I believe my spiritual connection is not far removed from their spiritual connections and for that reason we bond. Our souls know one another and we respect each other. It is out of that respect I would never post scripture of my Lord on their wall and tell them, ‘this is who I like’. We are different but we are the same. I honor the difference.

Friends mostly respect me and I try to respect my friends for our different beliefs even if we are all Christians believing in Jesus Christ. I respect the Catholics and different religions but they would never post a picture of the Pope on my wall, or JW or Mormon memes out of respect for my belief. Just as I would hope no one would post satanic or witchcraft post on my wall out of respect for MY religious beliefs.

On March 22^nd, a friend who knows I don’t agree with anything Ken Ham teaches because I feel he is a false prophet who is teaching lies, posted a link of KH. Was I delighted to see this post? No! Did I even click the link? I would never! I get a really bad spiritual feeling from this guy and I mean BAD! How can I explain my blood trembling in my veins? What scares me even more is I now know respected Christians actually believe this false prophet.

As with all believers we are entitled to believe what we want when we read the Bible but I realized I am very different and thought strange for my beliefs, while others can drink in the false beliefs of dinosaurs frolicking with humans in the beginning of time, I do not share that belief and I’ll tell you why, God!

Can I prove what God says to me? No, because it’s between Him and I. Can I show you in some way how God talks to me? In all my posts I thought that this is what I was conveying but maybe I’m not as good a writer as I thought. Did you read how it came to be that we were led to Nebraska? Have you even read what we endured as my man went blind? Did you brush up on the story of his sight being restored? It was all God people. He spoke to me, He led me, I listened and I followed Him.

If any of you have read my story you should know that I shouldn’t even be alive today and a follower of Christ no less. I wasn’t raised in a religious household, I was sent to Catholic school but that was the extent of religion in my life. I was raised by generational alcoholics, and surrounded by alcoholic/drugs addicts. I married into a like family that was full of alcoholic’s, drug addicts and people who believed lies. My entire 20 yr. marriage was based on lies that I was told.

I wasn’t raised in the computer world either. I only got a computer in recent years so Google did not shape the person I am today. The Holy Bible did that and God Himself spoke me into being. I wrote and read a lot of books, the kind you hold in your hand with yellowing and dog-eared pages. Hearing God speak to me and move me became my way of life. I saw myself as resting in the palm of God’s hand and sometimes I gazed up at Him and saw Him holding my hand leading me in one direction or another.

My life is shaped by God’s truth not MY truth or mans truth. Even when reading the Bible God would lend me His truth, through soft whispers or loud resounding echoes. And the very reason I don’t believe in KH lies, is because I don’t feel he is spreading God’s truth but his truth as HE interprets the bible. Every one of us has a right to interpret God’s words as we hear them but falling under a spell of a false witness, to me, is not being led by God.

After hearing about KH and feeling what I felt I had to do a little research to see if ANYONE out there had the intense belief of the same things that shaped this young child, not a grown woman, not a child raised in religious theology, a young child LISTENING to God. There has to be someone, God wouldn’t lie to me I know that, so after some deep meditating and prayer I searched and was being led once again.

I found this page loaded with Evidence of God. Believe or not; listen or don't; ignore and walk away, it is YOUR choice!

After the post of the false prophet on my facebook wall, I felt a severe level of disrespect for my belief. I was told to read Gen 6 as a way of understanding KH. (Personally, I don’t need to understand him, thank you. I listen to God. HE is all I need to understand.)

Gen 6: 5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Taken out of context this scripture means one thing to you and meant a lot more to me when reading Genesis 6. It jumped out at me, it clung to me, it whispered over and over in my ear. It meant to me that this is the epitome of KH. He is NOT of God and BIBLICAL truth. He is a scientist making millions off of feeding the dinosaur theology to people. (I won't link to the books he is selling our children. Go dig for yourself the books of people riding on dinosaurs.)

I thought my birthday was ruined, darkened by a false prophet who believes dinosaurs were on board Noah’s ark, babies mind you, not the enormous ones that supposedly roamed with Noah and his people and helped Noah build the ark.

God guided me to Ephesians 4. It is the King James version.

GOD would NOT let my day be ruined. I prayed for people, I meditated on God’s word and assured Him I would not be misled. I spoke to Him and He spoke to me. My birthday was taking on the glimmer of sun, sparkled upon by the receiving of a ‘Double Knockout Rose of the Star family’ and a huge cookie wishing me a HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

We settled down to watch a movie. We hadn’t picked one out and Steven said, “You pick.”

I signed onto NetFlix and a big bold BANNER across the screen read: GOD’S NOT DEAD!

I didn’t need to pick a movie, God picked our movie for us.

What a wonderful birthday gift from God Himself! Thank you sweet Jesus!

Ex. 15:13 Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

Dominion

Eph. 6:12-18 -

[12] For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
[13] Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
[14] Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
[15] And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
[16] Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
[17] And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
[18] Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
[19] And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
[20] For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

We wrestle against rulers of this world through lies, deceit, commercialism, buying into the falsity that is fed us by the ladle-full.

What hand do you have in participating in this deception of innocent souls? Taking on the whole armor of God is not telling you to wear God when He’s convenient and fits into your lifestyle.

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, is not a casual affirmation, it is a deep down spirit-filled prayer that ripples through your body and becomes a part of who you are as you wrestle with the evils of this world.

The wrestling match is on – good or bad, dark or light, up or down. Free will allows us to choose – there is no place for lukewarm, indecision or maybe.

Since living in the safety of the armor means oneness with Jesus, we can expect to share His struggles as well as His peace. Remember, God offers us His victory in the midst of trouble -- not the absence of pain. So "do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you, but rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ..." (1 Peter 4:12-13) ~ Eternal Crossroads

Begin your day as a journey with Christ knowing full well you are safe in His hands. Wrestle with the enemy to keep yourself on the straight and narrow road you must travel.

 
God be with you all.

Lent: Day Thirty-nine ~ Quotation Saturday

LENT

"God does nothing except in response to believing prayer."

~ John Wesley

"You cannot be proud and expect to be transformed away from your sins. You need to humble yourself and have a spirit of repentance within you. Then you will see real change."

~ Mable Vine

“The Lord measures out perfection neither by the multitude nor the magnitude of our deeds, but by the manner in which we perform them.”

~ St. John of the Cross

"It is not just about giving up our favorite food but its about going further and giving up things like hatred and unforgiveness. You need to clean your heart and prepare yourself for purity."

~ Amanda Jobs

FOLLOW

Matt. 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

“When you are posessed by evil spirits, it is crafty manipulations that you follow; but when you are posessed by the Holy Spirit of God, it is wise discretion's you pursue!”
~ Israelmore Ayivor

“We tend to think that refusing to exalt Christ is staying true to our self-will and personal freedom when really we are condemning ourselves. Sure, we can pretend to stay true to ourselves, but if you want to talk about reality, all of that is completely trivial if this life is an island and He's the only pilot with a plane and a flight plan.”
~ Criss Jami

“The beauty of obedience is that what God expects you to do, He also enables you to do.”
~ Jim George

WALK

Luke 1: 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

“Live your truth. Express your love. Share your enthusiasm. Take action towards your dreams. Walk your talk. Dance and sing to your music. Embrace your blessings. Make today worth remembering.”
~ Steve Maraboli

“With God’s help, your trial today is leading to your wholeness tomorrow.”
~ Elizabeth George

“There comes a time when we must all learn to walk (with Christ) usually after we’ve crawled through the mire of pain and with God we walk uprightly to a better place.”

~ Joni Zipp

FAITH

Matt. 21:21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.

“Faith is not the belief that God will do what you want. It is the belief that God will do what is right.”
~ Max Lucado

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”
~ C.S. Lewis

“God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas but for scars.”
~ Elbert Hubbard

Lent: Day Twenty-six ~ Poetry Sunday

Matt. 8:1 When he was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.

The Multitudes Shall Eat

Wayward legs they followed Him,

Into the desert they strode.

Not a care for food to eat

Their pace was surely slowed.

Compassion for the multitude

He raised a hand to speak.

“Feed the hungry as they come

For all the ones that seek.”

Five loaves of bread to feed the many

Two fish to fill the crowd.

Gathered were the faithful,

Now sitting all heads bowed.

“Bless this bread, I give to thee,”

He broke the loaves in two.

Dispersed to his disciples

with divinity it grew.

“Fill not only with food you eat,

but also with my Word.

Remember My Father blesses thee,

With all that you have heard.”

Mark 6:41 And when he had taken the five loaves and the two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all.  [44] And they that did eat of the loaves were about five thousand men. [52] For they considered not the miracle of the loaves: for their heart was hardened.

Lent: Day Sixteen ~ Disciples of Christ

John 14:16-17  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Disciples of Christ

We are called to be Disciples of Christ. The Christian life is all about discipleship. What does this mean? Isn’t it a bit of arrogance to say, “I am a disciple of Christ”? No not at all, a disciple is a follower BUT and this is a big BUT to BE a follower you must walk in the Lord. I’ve already touched on, YOU are the Church, I’ve brushed on you being a reader, believer, follower, and I’ve also asked which are you: soil, flower or ROCK.

Did you ever have someone knock on your door handing you a tract and say can we talk to you a minute? When you open the door you’re offended by seeing this person spewing Jesus stuff. NO, I’m not a Jehovah’s Witness, I believe in the trinity and they see God as God, Jesus as a man. But I’m not here to debunk their Commission of Christ in which they take to a level you and I might never understand.

God commands us to a Great Commission and that is discipleship. Spreading His word is a part of that commission but you must be well versed in what you’re doing. You must know the bible not just spew it out with a pretty pic. I’m sure all manner of putting out the Word of Christ is acceptable to Christ but also He is watching the character of who is doing the spewing.

I’ve said before people think I’m a Jesus freak and I’m okay with that. But let me tell you, if a person ever said one time to me, “You sure don’t act like a Christian.” That statement would offend me. You know why? Because they are seeing my character as hypocritical to the message and Light  that I’m putting out there.

I’m not saying this out of arrogance or conceit, but people HAVE told me that they see a Light shine from me and the only explanation they have is that God is shining His Light through me.

I John 2:4 “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him”

As a writer, I learned about character. The character in a book is a person that you create, give personality to and allow people to see them and judge for themselves if they are the protagonist or the antagonist. Even if your character is a good person, loving, giving caring, then they rob a bank, shooting five people in the process, you get the idea of their character and what has shaped them.

The same goes for a Christian; character is what has shaped you and what you carry and show to the world. Jesus’ disciples show to the world the Light of Him and all he has done and will continue to do.

A false witness is one who carries the Word but his character reveals something else, something hiding, lurking like a shadow instead of a Light. He pretends to carry the Light and sometimes shows the Light to the world, but the character of his actions speaks volumes.

What you do that you DON’T show the world is your character and this is exactly what the world can see coming from you. To be a disciple of Christ, you must carry Christ with you in all aspects of your day, not just what you pick-and-choose to show the world because more times than not, they’ll see through the veil.

I think of Judas Iscariot, he was a reader, believer and follower of Christ but in the end, his true character showed through thus betraying the very Man that had come to save sinners. I do not see him as a disciple of Christ because he betrayed the trust the apostle’s and Christ himself had put in him.

To be a disciple of Christ is not to betray Christ, His mission, His commandments or His work by picking and choosing wrong over right. Being a disciple is to choose RIGHT every time even if it hurts, through patience, diligence, honesty and righteousness. Men, who see through the veil and into your soul, thus exposing the inner depth of Light in your character, see discipleship.

Go with God my friend…

Matthew 28:19–20 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you”