Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

What is the answer?

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Clock

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When you went to bed last night, was the day over?  Had the day become history?  And had all the worries of the morning become written down in your experience of reality?  Yes.  These things are true.

It is also true that when we die our life in this bag of flesh will become “over”.  Our testing will have become history.  All our worries will become written down in our experience of reality.  Yet.  All these things are true.

Speak to yourself.  Ask yourself this question out loud:  “Is it too much to ask to obey the Lord for the short years He has given you to live?”  And listen closely to the answer you give yourself.  Your flesh will balk about that.  “I don’t want to obey!  What?  Are you stupid or something?”  What will your soul speak to you as an answer? 

 

By His Grace.

Almost Home!

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...Hope...

God has granted you a soul within a body.  With this granting comes restrictions and expectations.  But also with this granting comes a wonderful promise. 

We are created to do the will of He who made us.  We are not created to seek our own pleasure.  And there is an accounting at the end of this place of testing for every soul created.  “How did you do with what you were given”?  This will be the question.  Did you seek the Lord of Life who made you?  Or did you vent your strength on everything selfish and evil?

Now, during our testing in this body of flesh, we are tempted to count our days as too much for our ability to handle.  Not one of us has gone without that thought.  But what should be our response to such a thought?  Shall we say we are too weak?  Shall we say we don’t know what to do?  Shall we say there are no answers to our deepest request for strength, wisdom, and dedication toward God’s demands?

Though we often resort to such foolishness, it is not God’s desire that we lose our hope like that.  We are born, just a few years ago.  We now live somewhere in between that initial place and our death.  Ah!  Our death.  The end of the test!  For those who commit themselves to the task of serving the Glorious God of Eternity, death is a friend and a release into a magnificent reward for service well accomplished. 

So take hope!  Lift up your eyes!  Strengthen your walk!  You are almost HOME!  Keep the faith and do not fail to give Him the Glory He deserves.

 

By His Grace.

The Deal of Eternity.

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White Flower

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The Lord.  The Lord Most High is calling.  “Make your paths straight before My sight.  I have offered you My Son, that you might clothe yourselves in His Righteousness.”

“He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.” (Rev. 3:5)

We walk according to the ways of man.  But God offers us His way.  Seek His offer and submit to His leading.  There is no other way to Life.  All who ignore His offer will not see Life.  But to the extent you receive His offer, you will not be put to shame. 

By His Grace.

An Unsettling Dream.

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"Landscape with the Dream of Jacob"

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Dreams are always of interest to everyone.  Sometimes they mean something specific.  Most of the time it’s wise to consider what we had to eat before we went to bed.

I had a dream just before I woke this morning that has rattled my world.  Yet, in pondering its potential, I have come to a Christian conclusion. 

In the dream I did something.  I don’t know what I did.  But the effects of my action (or non-action) was too much for those who know me to bear.  I heard one person I know say, “That’s it!  I can’t take any more.”  And that person turned and walked away.  The others who knew me followed suit because the first person was more dear to them than I.  Evidently, I had one more obligation to accomplish near one of those who knew me.  When I was finished I asked that last person to help me dump remaining items into a sack.  After some painful deliberation on the part of the last person, he held the sack open for me and left.  I walked out the door into the street and felt the finality cover me like a tidal wave. 

When I woke, I wondered if this were a warning of something to come.  I thought about the Lord’s Right to be Lord God.  That nothing we desire is really ours to own.  In all things God’s will is to be accomplished.  And I accept anything that comes from His hand.  He is God!

Sadness resounds in my soul like a great bell on a hill.  I don’t know if this dream will come to pass.  But it’s caused me to ready myself for anything.  I give up willingly.  In fact, I place myself before Him with eager willingness.  I want God’s will to be accomplished in me regardless the outcome or my perception.

In considering the dream and the possibility that it is a warning of something to come, I am brought to another item of interest.  Many would fight to hold on to their place in this world.  But the servant of God should not be like that.  It is our duty under the Blood of His Son, that we should walk without blaming others for our situations.  I thought of Stephen, in the book of Acts.  He had done nothing wrong.  But the Jews were determined to kill him for his testimony for the Lord.  While they were stoning him he asked the Lord to forgive them, for they did not know what they were doing.  God was accomplishing something wonderful with every rock that impacted his body.  After he said this his soul was taken from his body.  With this in mind I post the following as a testimony to the Glory of God:

Father, You are Lord and God of absolutely everything in heaven and in earth.  Time is yours.  And in this place You have required us to endure testings of various kinds.  It is to You alone that man and angels will answer.  And You demand that Your people walk in obedience to Your Glorious will.  I ask You, Father, to hold nothing against anyone on my behalf.  Everything I have or own is not mine.  They can take nothing from me.  For I give it to You.  Even my desire to be loved is Yours to hold and do with as You see fit.  You are God!  By the Beautiful Name of Your Son Jesus I present this prayer.

By His Grace.

“I have said, ‘You are gods.'”

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Sculpture - head of Jesus Christ

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Who are we?  Why did the Glorious God of all create us?  We are a jewel in His Majestic Glory.  We are the work of His hand.  Yet the wicked abound.  Even the wicked are created to become sons of the Most High God.  They spurn His rule over them.  They are men of His creation.  But they desire their own desires.  He would have us all desire to serve Him.  And in His service there is no shame nor burden.   With His Word, he proclaims “I have said you are gods.  Yet you will die like mere men.” 

He has set us to live that we might learn from Him.  We are led by the Mighty Hand of God’s desire and Glory.  We are placed in a tent of flesh that we might learn humility and obedience.  Yet men by millions hate His guidance.  They build for themselves every pleasure they imagine.  And the Lord has allowed that they should have their day.   I have heard a man say “Read the books of those who hate the Most High God and His people.  It’s only fair that you read the books of my longing, if you expect me to read and understand the Book of yours.”  And what was the reply of the Lord within me to this man?  “I do not seek to be fair.  I seek the truth of God in Christ Jesus.” 

We are set apart to glorify the Lord of our Calling!  We do not strive under the same dementia as do those who throw away the very One who gave them minds to consider the world around them.  They are lost in a place of testing and can give no answer for their lives.

The Lord will have His day and He will not be put off.   Every man will answer to His Majestic Righteousness.  He has been patient with those who are now His enemies.  He has given every opportunity for them to consider His ways and to humble themselves under His Beautiful Will.  Refuse, you hated of the Lord’s Glory.  For you turn from His pleasure to seek your own.  Refuse and die.  Or choose to accept His gift in Jesus, His Christ, and live.  He offers, with open hand, a peace between you and His Glory. 

May the Lord of Life forever be glorified for the work of His powerful hand in the works of His people.  May His people know who they are and become pleasing to the Lord.  Rise up and dress yourselves with the Glory of God!  You are His sheep.  He has set you to wander in this Place of Testing, that you might learn of His ways.  Jesus has gone before us that we might perceive both the punishment of the wicked, and the reward of the Most High God for those who desire His ways.

By His Grace.

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A Testimony Given.

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In this 1768 parchment, Jekuthiel Sofer emulat...

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The following is from a conversation with someone else.   The Lord allows His people to speak according to His wisdom.  And His wisdom should not be bottled up.  So I post this here that more people might have a chance to encounter the Gospel.

I am not a wise man.  But God is Fully Wise.  It is God who will be glorified.  And it is simply man’s duty before Him to serve in whatever arena God allows. 

The person had made the statement that the first command Jesus gave was that we love our brothers as we love ourselves.

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Actually, the first commandment Jesus gave us all was to Love the Lord with all . . .

Now let me go a bit afield, then I’ll try to narrow it down a bit. I hope this isn’t one of those stupid moments.

I have to go to the dentist soon. OH MAN I HATE GOING THERE! I’ll sit in that chair and she’ll do a number on me. The smell of burning bone is hideous. But I gotta go if I want avoid looking like Mater in the movie cars.

How do I know I have to go to the dentist? It’s because I have a mirror. I notice that I chew kind of awkward. Sometimes there’s a whistle attached to my “S”. And my Lady has kind of let me know a few times that wedding pictures would look better if I went.

Ok… that was as far afield as I planned to go. Let me try to bring it back home.

If the first commandment is to love the Lord, then everything after that is going to have God in it, solid and foundational.

I know the things that suck within me because I have looked long and hard into the words of the Bible and saw as much of my real self as I could stomach. I listened to the preaching and teaching of hundreds of men who knew the intimate details of that Word. I noticed how much of a fool I was compared to the Glorious nature of the God of the Bible. And as for a comparison to my Lady’s comments: We who have accepted the gift of forgiveness of God in Jesus, and allow ourselves to be taught by the Holy Spirit He gave as a seal are refered to as the Bride of Christ. There is a wedding to attend. And it won’t be good to attend full of evil, foolishness, unholiness, and rebellion. So as much as it can be a hard task, pride must go by the wayside, and humility must take it’s place.

The second commandment, which you mentioned is to “love your neighbor as yourself. So if I love my neighbor as myself, what’s that mean? I hate who I am. So am I allowed to hate my neighbor also. Not likely. I find I don’t hate everything about me. What I hate is the stuff that doesn’t align with God’s Holy ways. I don’t hate being alive or free to choose. I hate being a rebellious fool. So when I see others acting like the things I hate about me, I’m allowed to speak up, given that I’ve begun a rapport with the person. And allowing that I’ve at least begun to address the same behavioral problems with in myself.

I know it’s a long answer. But I thought the clarification might be useful.

“Not to mention the Christian God simply cannot exist because it defies every understanding of every fundamental law of physics.”
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The Bible teaches that God is completely “other”. He is absolutely not like us. Nor does He live in a world restricted by the same physics we endure. So I’m not sure judging the validity of Christianity based on the known science of the day is a really sound refute to the claims of the Bible.
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On top of that, something that is supposed to be perfect cannot create imperfection. If God is perfect and created humans, because humans are imperfect that makes God imperfect which would make God LESS than God.”
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What God made is a creature who is able to function with free will. (I have a personal theory why the creation happened in the first place. But maybe that will come up at a later date.) He didn’t create sin. He created a place removed from His Holy Throne where free will could play out among a people who had never seen the face of the Most High God. In the end, God reserves the right to harvest from this place of testing. But there is absolutely no indication that God created anything imperfect. He did warn Adam and Eve that if they chose wrong there would be a deadly horrible price to pay.

And please don’t forget that the Bible mentions another character who has no regard for anything pure or Holy. He plays a rather central role in what I’ve come to refer to as “This Place of Testing”.

By His Grace.