Anyone who has been following this blog, or who has noticed the blog activity can tell that I recently increased my "blog output" significantly. Several things contributed to this. The first is that I have decided to focus more on my writing skills. I feel that God has given me a gift in this area and I need to develop it better than I have in the past. The second is that God has done a LOT in my life lately and I have learned things about who He is and what His purpose for my life is and I desperately want to share this. The thing that has REALLY made the difference in the actual writing of the blogs is that I recently quit playing Facebook games. (Farmville, Frontierville, CafeWorld, Backyard Monsters. . . the list goes on)
I had NO IDEA how much of my time was being spent on these things. I only got on and fiddled with them for a couple of minutes at a time, or so I thought. I felt like I needed to give them up for more productive things and have found myself sitting at my computer trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do. IT'S SAD!!!!!
So now, I write.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Fruits of the Spirit
Galations 5: 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
Have you ever wondered why the fruits of the Spirit are called fruits?
A fruit is something that is produced by a plant as a result of its biology. Simply put, if the seed grows and the plant draws in nourishment, fruit happens.
So why are we constantly trying to achieve them? Have you ever seen a tree struggle to bear fruit? Or try to be a better tree to make more fruit?
The Bible states over and over that our faith is based on GRACE and not on works, yet we constantly try to become "better behaved" or be good, or to do the right things.
How often do we try to counsel people and tell them how to feel better about themselves or that they need to forgive and more and more behavioral stuff?
Fruit is a byproduct of something. In the case of a tree, the fruit bears witness to what the tree has been taking in. Is it planted in good soil? Does it take in enough water?
The fruit in a person's life bears witness as well.
So here is the simple truth. Quit trying to "DO" all of the right things. If we could "do" it right, we would not have needed Jesus! So LOOK at Jesus and see what HE thought about it all. Everytime: look to the Father. The WHOLE reason the Jesus even came was to re-establish the relationship between mankind and God the Father.
For those who have ears to hear it: This re-established relationship with God, the one lost in the Garden of Eden, is the soil and water in which we are to find our nourishment. If we focus on our relationship with God and knowing Him better, PERSONALLY, then the fruits of the Spirit will happen on their own.
This relationship with God is what Jesus referred to when He said, "Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto you." In Matthew, the specific topic was of physical provision, but when God says "all," I suggest that you take it seriously.
This is not just a theory that I am spouting out. This is real in my life and I have tried it both ways.
Blessing to all.
Have you ever wondered why the fruits of the Spirit are called fruits?
A fruit is something that is produced by a plant as a result of its biology. Simply put, if the seed grows and the plant draws in nourishment, fruit happens.
So why are we constantly trying to achieve them? Have you ever seen a tree struggle to bear fruit? Or try to be a better tree to make more fruit?
The Bible states over and over that our faith is based on GRACE and not on works, yet we constantly try to become "better behaved" or be good, or to do the right things.
How often do we try to counsel people and tell them how to feel better about themselves or that they need to forgive and more and more behavioral stuff?
Fruit is a byproduct of something. In the case of a tree, the fruit bears witness to what the tree has been taking in. Is it planted in good soil? Does it take in enough water?
The fruit in a person's life bears witness as well.
Matthew 7:20 (New Living Translation)
20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.
So here is the simple truth. Quit trying to "DO" all of the right things. If we could "do" it right, we would not have needed Jesus! So LOOK at Jesus and see what HE thought about it all. Everytime: look to the Father. The WHOLE reason the Jesus even came was to re-establish the relationship between mankind and God the Father.
For those who have ears to hear it: This re-established relationship with God, the one lost in the Garden of Eden, is the soil and water in which we are to find our nourishment. If we focus on our relationship with God and knowing Him better, PERSONALLY, then the fruits of the Spirit will happen on their own.
This relationship with God is what Jesus referred to when He said, "Seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all of these things will be added unto you." In Matthew, the specific topic was of physical provision, but when God says "all," I suggest that you take it seriously.
This is not just a theory that I am spouting out. This is real in my life and I have tried it both ways.
Blessing to all.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
If God is LOVE. . .
A couple of years ago, I started back to school. I had never attended college and so I had to take all of the General Education courses to start with. I managed to CLEP English 1101 (Communication Skills 1), but I still had to take the second part. This turned out to be one of the best things to happen in my adult life.
One of the things that I dreaded most was all of the "nonsense" about poetry reading and such. Most of the poetry that I had seen was (in my opinion) ranting and drivel. I liked the stuff that had a compelling rhythm and that rhymed. Edgar Allen Poe's poems as well as those of Louis Carrol and (yes!) Dr. Seuss. If it didn't rhyme and have rhythm, I thought it was _______. So of course I got to class on the first day and the teacher, Ms. M., said, "We're going to start with poetry, because that's what freaks everyone out." She then asked what our opinions were. . . so I told her mine. To her credit, she didn't let it stop her. It wasn't the first time she'd heard that someone didn't like poetry. :)
So she split the class up and gave each group a poem to discuss, telling us to look for certain things to see what we see in the poems. I took one look at the poem she gave us ( I can't remember what it was) and thought, "Great, this is stupid." But, I had paid to take the class, and I had taken off from work to come to it, so I was going to at least give it a shot.
I looked around at my group and asked if any of them had ANY idea what the teacher was looking for. They were as clueless as I was.
So, naturally, Ms. M. came to us first.
"What does this group see in their poem?" For some reason my group looked at me. So I figured it was better to say something than to sit there looking dumb. So I looked down at the poem and said the first thing I noticed, something about a pattern of repetition. To my surprise, Ms. M. said "Yes! what do you think that could mean?"
I was dumbfounded. My bluff was called, so I ran with it. I looked again at the poem and said the first thing that seemed to fit.
"Right!" she said. "Great! What else did you see?"
I said a couple more things about color and numbers with the same results and she moved on. The guy in front of me looked back at me and said, "You. Are a beast." (I'm still not sure if being a Poetry Beast is something I should be proud of, but I have to admit . . . as silly as it may seem, I'm STILL pretty flattered by that one.)
I denied it, of course, telling him that I just made all of that stuff up. The thing is, I kept doing it. Before long I realized that I was intuitively picking out important details in not only poetry, but also short stories and other prose. And then I began to understand how I was seeing what I was seeing. It came easier and easier, and I began to show others how to do it as well.
It changed the way that I read books or watched movies. I began to like (and even love) some poems that I used to think were garbage. The most important change though, came when I started realizing that what I was seeing was legitimate and consistently on target. I realized that one really could read something and find things that were hidden by the author for a purpose, and sometimes things that the author didn't even realize that they had done. I decided that if I had this ability, it had to be a gift from God (like a talent for music or art etc.). And, if that was the case, it must be useful for something other than getting A's in English. Then, I heard someone say the old expression: "You can wring blood out of the pages of the Old Testament." This was followed by some discussion about the Old Testament Wrathful God vs. the New Testament Loving God.
Now, the Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today and forever.(Hebrews 13:8) It also says that God is love. (1 John 4:8)
So. If that is true, then you SHOULD be able to go through all of those "bloody" stories and see a loving God.
You Can. I have been doing Sunday School lessons for the past few years based solely on the Loving nature of God as seen in the Old Testament. It is blatant in the story of the fall, judgement, and expulsion of man from the garden, and it is just as plain in His dealings with Cain, the first murderer.
If you believe that God is who He says He is, and if you believe that the Bible is true, then you owe it to yourself to read the Old Testament looking for examples of God's love in every story. It will change your world.
Ms. M. was only trying to teach us how to get more out of literature. God used her to show me how to get more out of life: a relationship with my God that is day-to-day, personal, and REAL.
One of the things that I dreaded most was all of the "nonsense" about poetry reading and such. Most of the poetry that I had seen was (in my opinion) ranting and drivel. I liked the stuff that had a compelling rhythm and that rhymed. Edgar Allen Poe's poems as well as those of Louis Carrol and (yes!) Dr. Seuss. If it didn't rhyme and have rhythm, I thought it was _______. So of course I got to class on the first day and the teacher, Ms. M., said, "We're going to start with poetry, because that's what freaks everyone out." She then asked what our opinions were. . . so I told her mine. To her credit, she didn't let it stop her. It wasn't the first time she'd heard that someone didn't like poetry. :)
So she split the class up and gave each group a poem to discuss, telling us to look for certain things to see what we see in the poems. I took one look at the poem she gave us ( I can't remember what it was) and thought, "Great, this is stupid." But, I had paid to take the class, and I had taken off from work to come to it, so I was going to at least give it a shot.
I looked around at my group and asked if any of them had ANY idea what the teacher was looking for. They were as clueless as I was.
So, naturally, Ms. M. came to us first.
"What does this group see in their poem?" For some reason my group looked at me. So I figured it was better to say something than to sit there looking dumb. So I looked down at the poem and said the first thing I noticed, something about a pattern of repetition. To my surprise, Ms. M. said "Yes! what do you think that could mean?"
I was dumbfounded. My bluff was called, so I ran with it. I looked again at the poem and said the first thing that seemed to fit.
"Right!" she said. "Great! What else did you see?"
I said a couple more things about color and numbers with the same results and she moved on. The guy in front of me looked back at me and said, "You. Are a beast." (I'm still not sure if being a Poetry Beast is something I should be proud of, but I have to admit . . . as silly as it may seem, I'm STILL pretty flattered by that one.)
I denied it, of course, telling him that I just made all of that stuff up. The thing is, I kept doing it. Before long I realized that I was intuitively picking out important details in not only poetry, but also short stories and other prose. And then I began to understand how I was seeing what I was seeing. It came easier and easier, and I began to show others how to do it as well.
It changed the way that I read books or watched movies. I began to like (and even love) some poems that I used to think were garbage. The most important change though, came when I started realizing that what I was seeing was legitimate and consistently on target. I realized that one really could read something and find things that were hidden by the author for a purpose, and sometimes things that the author didn't even realize that they had done. I decided that if I had this ability, it had to be a gift from God (like a talent for music or art etc.). And, if that was the case, it must be useful for something other than getting A's in English. Then, I heard someone say the old expression: "You can wring blood out of the pages of the Old Testament." This was followed by some discussion about the Old Testament Wrathful God vs. the New Testament Loving God.
Now, the Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today and forever.(Hebrews 13:8) It also says that God is love. (1 John 4:8)
So. If that is true, then you SHOULD be able to go through all of those "bloody" stories and see a loving God.
You Can. I have been doing Sunday School lessons for the past few years based solely on the Loving nature of God as seen in the Old Testament. It is blatant in the story of the fall, judgement, and expulsion of man from the garden, and it is just as plain in His dealings with Cain, the first murderer.
If you believe that God is who He says He is, and if you believe that the Bible is true, then you owe it to yourself to read the Old Testament looking for examples of God's love in every story. It will change your world.
Ms. M. was only trying to teach us how to get more out of literature. God used her to show me how to get more out of life: a relationship with my God that is day-to-day, personal, and REAL.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Prayer and Fasting
A word of warning: Some parts of this blog may not be suitable for all audiences--you may think part of this is gross. It'll be worth it, but it is kind of gross.
I'm not really sure how, when, or where, but at some point today, I picked up a tick. It latched onto my side, under my shirt and I only noticed an odd itch for most of the afternoon. I did not realize that it was a tick until bedtime.
I once again felt an itch and went to scratch and (skip the unnecessary details) ended up with a dead tick stuck to me. I tried to just pull it off, but I didn't want the head to come off under my skin, so I didn't pull very hard.
So there I was, looking at this thing and thinking something like "What Would Jesus Do?"
Well, I thought about it and decided that a blood sucking parasite fell rather well into the same category as a demonic manifestation, so, I prayed over it and rebuked it in Jesus's name.
It didn't fall off.
I take a certain, small amount of pride in myself for actually being surprised that it DIDN'T. I really believed that it would. . . . But it was still there.
So, I pulled again. I figured that I would have to any way, so why put it off? It didn't want to come, but eventually it popped loose. With its head intact.
And I thought: "Why didn't it come out when I prayed?" and I immediately heard: "This kind only comes out with prayer and fasting." (Mark 9:28-29)
And then it hit me.
We frequently want God to deliver us from things right away and to do all of the "hard stuff" for us. Especially in the case of habitual sins. We pray and we rebuke and we "cast out," and we keep dealing with stuff.
As with the tick, God releases the "head" of the problem so that it can come out, but we still have some things to do as well. Some problems/issues are not only spiritual, but physical/mental as well.
Smoking for example. There can be a spiritual stronghold involved with a smoking addiction. This is easily broken. God gave us the authority over all things to overcome obstacles that leave us outside of His will. We can claim God's promises in Jesus's name, and be free from spiritual bondage. The trick is that, while we are spiritually free, we still have thought patterns and lifestyles and habits to overcome.
This is where prayer and fasting come in. Prayer is communication with God. This communication is TWO-WAY (even if you don't realize it). This communication is good for you because the presence of God, in ANY way, in your life is powerful and life changing. It allows you to speak to God (maybe get things off your chest) and to confess true things about God (praise and worship) and profess God's point of view about things in your life.
Fasting is a double-hitting tool. First, let me explain that fasting is NOT simply not eating. The idea is that you give up food and replace the eating time with devotion time. At breakfast time, instead of Wheaties you read your Bible and pray. Same thing at lunch and dinner. In fact, you let each physical reminder of food be a signal to direct your thoughts toward God. This is an EXCELLENT way to get your mind on things of God rather than being wrapped up in things of this world.
The second part is a self-discipline issue. Most of the problems that we face in this life are because our spirits are willing, but our flesh is weak--weak to the will of God, that is. The flesh is STRONG where satisfying its desires are concerned. Fasting is a way to train yourself to put your physical desires and motivations in a lower priority than the spiritual desires.
In the story in Mark 9, Jesus did not stop to pray and fast. He already had that lifestyle. We cannot pray and/or fast once and expect to be ready whenever there is a need. This must become a lifestyle. We must train ourselves to put our thoughts in line with God's thoughts and our bodies in submission to our spirits.
God DID do the hard part. He made it possible for any of this to succeed, then He made sure to live the example to show how to proceed.
As a side note: I realize that skipping food or meals is complicated for some people. My suggestion is to pick something that you do regularly/habitually/compulsively (like watching T.V. or *gasp* facebook time) and give that up for a time and replace it with devotional time. This is just my suggestion. Pray about it and do what God leads you to do.
As always, Be Blessed!
I'm not really sure how, when, or where, but at some point today, I picked up a tick. It latched onto my side, under my shirt and I only noticed an odd itch for most of the afternoon. I did not realize that it was a tick until bedtime.
I once again felt an itch and went to scratch and (skip the unnecessary details) ended up with a dead tick stuck to me. I tried to just pull it off, but I didn't want the head to come off under my skin, so I didn't pull very hard.
So there I was, looking at this thing and thinking something like "What Would Jesus Do?"
Well, I thought about it and decided that a blood sucking parasite fell rather well into the same category as a demonic manifestation, so, I prayed over it and rebuked it in Jesus's name.
It didn't fall off.
I take a certain, small amount of pride in myself for actually being surprised that it DIDN'T. I really believed that it would. . . . But it was still there.
So, I pulled again. I figured that I would have to any way, so why put it off? It didn't want to come, but eventually it popped loose. With its head intact.
And I thought: "Why didn't it come out when I prayed?" and I immediately heard: "This kind only comes out with prayer and fasting." (Mark 9:28-29)
And then it hit me.
We frequently want God to deliver us from things right away and to do all of the "hard stuff" for us. Especially in the case of habitual sins. We pray and we rebuke and we "cast out," and we keep dealing with stuff.
As with the tick, God releases the "head" of the problem so that it can come out, but we still have some things to do as well. Some problems/issues are not only spiritual, but physical/mental as well.
Smoking for example. There can be a spiritual stronghold involved with a smoking addiction. This is easily broken. God gave us the authority over all things to overcome obstacles that leave us outside of His will. We can claim God's promises in Jesus's name, and be free from spiritual bondage. The trick is that, while we are spiritually free, we still have thought patterns and lifestyles and habits to overcome.
This is where prayer and fasting come in. Prayer is communication with God. This communication is TWO-WAY (even if you don't realize it). This communication is good for you because the presence of God, in ANY way, in your life is powerful and life changing. It allows you to speak to God (maybe get things off your chest) and to confess true things about God (praise and worship) and profess God's point of view about things in your life.
Fasting is a double-hitting tool. First, let me explain that fasting is NOT simply not eating. The idea is that you give up food and replace the eating time with devotion time. At breakfast time, instead of Wheaties you read your Bible and pray. Same thing at lunch and dinner. In fact, you let each physical reminder of food be a signal to direct your thoughts toward God. This is an EXCELLENT way to get your mind on things of God rather than being wrapped up in things of this world.
The second part is a self-discipline issue. Most of the problems that we face in this life are because our spirits are willing, but our flesh is weak--weak to the will of God, that is. The flesh is STRONG where satisfying its desires are concerned. Fasting is a way to train yourself to put your physical desires and motivations in a lower priority than the spiritual desires.
In the story in Mark 9, Jesus did not stop to pray and fast. He already had that lifestyle. We cannot pray and/or fast once and expect to be ready whenever there is a need. This must become a lifestyle. We must train ourselves to put our thoughts in line with God's thoughts and our bodies in submission to our spirits.
God DID do the hard part. He made it possible for any of this to succeed, then He made sure to live the example to show how to proceed.
As a side note: I realize that skipping food or meals is complicated for some people. My suggestion is to pick something that you do regularly/habitually/compulsively (like watching T.V. or *gasp* facebook time) and give that up for a time and replace it with devotional time. This is just my suggestion. Pray about it and do what God leads you to do.
As always, Be Blessed!
Friday, April 1, 2011
What's in a Name?
I was reading in Isaiah on accident the other day. . . yes, on accident. I was actually listening to my audio Bible and hit the wrong file. When I realized (very quickly) that I was not listening to Romans (LOL), I decided that Isaiah was still Bible, so I figured I'd just listen to it instead.
All went well until I got to the fourth chapter and read this:
It goes on, but as soon as I heard this, I felt like God wanted me to go back and listen again. So I did, and paid close attention.
That's when I noticed that this concept represented a trend in modern Christianity. That is not to say every Christian, or even most, but there is a mentality among some that resembles this verse.
The seven women could represent different denominational backgrounds or branches of faith or what ever; mostly it represents the diversity of people who fall into this category.
They say "Let us all marry you!" They DON'T say "Marry us." I'm not sure if the distinction is significant, but it seems to fit with the rest.
They also say that they "will provide [their] own food and clothing." -- meaning that they don't need his provision or input--possibly any form of relationship at all.
All they want out of the relationship is reputation and a legal title.
How many of us fall into the same trap? How many of us are content being "Christians" and never seek to truly meet and KNOW our God? How many of us want the benefits of being "saved," but don't want to have to rely on, or be responsible to God?
Again, I'm not saying everybody, but I think it's important to consider so that we don't fall into this trap.
So, have you hugged your God today?
God loves us and WANTS a real, day-to-day RELATIONSHIP with us.
Blessings to all.
All went well until I got to the fourth chapter and read this:
Isaiah 4
1 In that day so few men will be left that seven women will fight for each man, saying, “Let us all marry you! We will provide our own food and clothing. Only let us take your name so we won’t be mocked as old maids.”
It goes on, but as soon as I heard this, I felt like God wanted me to go back and listen again. So I did, and paid close attention.
That's when I noticed that this concept represented a trend in modern Christianity. That is not to say every Christian, or even most, but there is a mentality among some that resembles this verse.
The seven women could represent different denominational backgrounds or branches of faith or what ever; mostly it represents the diversity of people who fall into this category.
They say "Let us all marry you!" They DON'T say "Marry us." I'm not sure if the distinction is significant, but it seems to fit with the rest.
They also say that they "will provide [their] own food and clothing." -- meaning that they don't need his provision or input--possibly any form of relationship at all.
All they want out of the relationship is reputation and a legal title.
How many of us fall into the same trap? How many of us are content being "Christians" and never seek to truly meet and KNOW our God? How many of us want the benefits of being "saved," but don't want to have to rely on, or be responsible to God?
Again, I'm not saying everybody, but I think it's important to consider so that we don't fall into this trap.
So, have you hugged your God today?
God loves us and WANTS a real, day-to-day RELATIONSHIP with us.
Blessings to all.
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