Reasons why Christmas in your heart is important

I know, I know, I did a blog posting on some reasons why Christmas shouldn’t be celebrated, but a song kept wanting me to celebrate Jesus at Christmas this year and it wasn’t a Christmas song.

 

These are some of the lyrics:

“It’s all about You, Jesus
And all this is for You
For Your glory and your fame
It’s not about me
As if You should do things my way
You alone are God
And I surrender to your ways”

1) Christmas is for Christ’s glory.

It is rather refreshing to think that all this that is being done all around the world at this time is for our Lord and Savior.  It is for His glory and His fame.   It’s true that some people have taken advantage of it through commercialism and even it is regarded as a pagan festival with pagan symbols, but God created each day with a purpose, it was only man that came in and tainted it so if we look at it as an important day to honor Christ then it’s our perspective that needs hold on to Christ not to the things of the world.  We are in the world but not of the world.

2) Christmas shows how beautiful Christ is.

I know what I said about the tree really detracts away from it’s beauty, but if you think about the grace that Jesus has given where He doesn’t remember our sins anymore, but He sees His blood, that reminds us that no matter what the Christmas tree’s history – now it is here to celebrate Christ.  It isn’t here to remind us of anyone else, but Him.  Now some people don’t go through the trouble of putting a Christmas tree up, and in Colossians it says we are not to be caught up with the traditions of men, but if it is done as a reminder to all the world that Christ was born into the world and puts the focus back on the beauty of Christ then I can see how that would be a good thing.  If people look at the Christmas tree and think, isn’t Christ beautiful, wouldn’t that be a marvelous thing?

3)Christmas is a time when the world gets to read/hear the Bible and/or go to Church.

Remember when I said I used to watch soap operas – well one of them was General Hospital, and every year the kids would go to hear one of the doctors tell the Christmas story.  It is the one time of year when people actually crack open the Bible.  It is one of the two times of the year that church attendance goes up.  That means even people who are not Christians or maybe nominal Christians go to Church, and it is a great witnessing opportunity.  If there is a time when people want to know who Christ is, then it is Christmas.

4)People go out of their way to give

It’s true that these days people give out of obligation, and a way to one up the Joneses’, but to think that people go out of their way to go and give gifts shows how much people are willing to put on the line for someone else.  Do you think the people are going into debt just to buy something for themselves?  No it is to give.  It is the giving nature.  So giving is important.  In my previous post, there was some pagan myth tied down to giving if I remember correctly, but some people take this time to spend money on someone else.  They sacrifice money for someone else.  This was a kind of reminder of the agape love that Christ came to give, but now people have gotten really overboard with it.  Saint Nick was someone who went out of his way to give, and I found out the true story of what he did through the 700 Club, but this man was a true believer and he gave gifts in the stockings so that these two girls could have their dowry to be married or else they would be thrown in the street, or if I remember correctly.  People have gotten so carried away with it and gotten mystical with it and gotten so distracted with turning away from God in this one thing, but it is a good opportunity to tell the children who Saint Nick really was and though he doesn’t come through chimneys today, we can show them he is a good example to follow, and better yet we can show them about Christ and how he gave and gives today from what it says in the Bible.

5) It is a time for repentance and turning your hearts back to God

Christmas is a time that God can use to turn you back to Him, to make you become close to Him, to let you follow Him.  It is also the time of the year where the whole world takes a Sabbath.  If there is any business that is supposed to be open on all days then most likely it will be closed on Christmas.  Isn’t that remarkable, that there is one day where the whole world takes a Sabbath?  This year because of all the things I had read about Christmas it seemed that the little fire inside had died, and that I was in fear of drifting away, but I got a chance to recommit and turn my heart back towards God.  I began to realize as I realize even more and more that it is not about what you do, it is about who you are – in Christ.  Christmas was a good reminder of that for me.  It was a good reminder that when all the world was seeking for Him, He was seeking for me.

I know this is a short list of all the reasons to keep Christmas alive in your heart, but I just wanted to come and glorifying Christ during Christmas so that others can see what this holiday is really about.

 

 

 

Do not believe in false “Christs”- Jesus has not come back or reincarnated

After seeing a headline of an article in the news – that Jesus has come back in another place – I want to point out very clearly what Jesus said in Matthew 24:23-27:

²³ “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, I have told you beforehand.
²⁶ “Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. ²⁷ For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

Jesus said very clearly when He comes back He will be as lightning until then no one will be able to see Him.  Anyone and I mean anyone who claims to be Jesus and goes against His Word, is a liar.

After Jesus came back from the Mount of Transfiguration He said, “Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.”

The apostles knew that Jesus was going to rise from the dead so they were expecting to see that.  But about the end of the age, which is the last times, He made it very clear, that He will be as lightning coming from the east flashing to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

There is no mincing of words here.  There is no room for misinterpretation.  If you are deceived in the last days into believing that anyone claiming to be Jesus, there is great trouble ahead for you because no one is Jesus is accept for the One who sits at on the throne, and will be coming as lightning is from the east to west.

Anyone who comes saying that they are Jesus is a false “Christ” or even an AntiChrist and may even be the Anti Christ so don’t be deceived into believing in them.  So if you see an interview or see an article popping up showing that someone has done all these miraculous things, or whose philosophies sound convincing, or even live a pious and holy life, don’t believe it because John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God and the Word was God.”  That Word, is the written word Logos.  His Word is also exalted above His name.

Time is getting short people.  See that you do not be deceived.

 

 

 

 

 

Noise Pollution, Sleep deprivation and Searching for peace among the storm

Here’s a Scripture verse compilation that really touched my heart these past few days:  “²³ Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴ And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep.”

Now when many people talk about this passage they talk about how Jesus said that we should not be fearful and have more faith to face the storms of this life.  What gets to me is that there was a hurricane, or tornado around Him, and He was able to sleep.  After days of not getting adequate sleep I find myself marveling at the characteristics of Jesus and the Holy Spirit that I would like to attain in my own life.  When I wake up I feel tired and not refreshed, but in hopes of a new day I begin my day, but on the weekends when I just want to relax and find some sleep to make up for many days of having my sleep interrupted I hear everything from the dogs barking, the helicopters and airplanes, the boom boxes of the car stereos, the motorcycles, and even when I put my earplugs on I hear the sound of my own heart beating.  What am I supposed to do then, tell God to make my heart stop beating so that I can have some sleep?  As you can tell I am a very very light sleeper.  I would say I have new parent syndrome, but I don’t think it was this bad when my little sister was born – I was still able to sleep.

We are often told that the Holy Spirit is a like a dove, and that it is so sensitive, that when you make the slightest movement it goes away, but what gets to me, after I heard from a television pastor making this revelation known, that Jesus who had the Holy Spirit in Him, was not moved from the peace of the Spirit by all the things like babies crying, foul odors, and all the situations and circumstances around that the Holy Spirit in Him, He was not moved.  That same Holy Spirit is in those which believe.  So if we have that same Spirit, then I can find a few reasons why people like me have not been able to sleep.

One of them is that in times when I chose not to sleep at the time I was supposed to and I slept later like past midnight to 2 or 3 am and didn’t think it was going to catch up with me, well I was wrong.  Lack of discipline in a certain area can lead to consequences later on.  Another thing is that when you are struggling with issues so seriously and deeply and maybe even worrying about whether or not you are going to get to heaven, or be cast out, then that worry is from the devil.  The Lord says we should not worry, but take everything in prayer and supplication and make our requests be made known to God and it says simply that those that believe will receive salvation.  I have looked at the commentaries for Luke 13:23, where the person asks will few be saved to Jesus, and the whole thing there was that don’t worry about whether few or many will be saved, just make sure you yourself will be saved because your own curiosity can hurt you.  Another thing is overstimulation.  This society in the modern age is full of overstimulation with all our gadgets, cellphones, computers, and other technologies, as well as things like coffee so we are “wired” all the time.  We thought this was a thing only for today’s college students, but it seems more and more people are getting wired like this instead of taking time to just “Be still and know” that He is God.  I have tried many times to “Be still and know” just to have some kind of rest and peace, but every body everywhere with all kind of electronics are making all kinds of noise.

It didn’t seem to be so bad before, but now even after 10pm to Midnight there is no quiet.  Psalm 23 says “He leads me by the still waters and by the quiet stream”.  This reminds me of a cartoon I used to watch on Animaniacs where Dot used to go around saying, “All I want is quiet, quiet, quiet, this I can’t deny it”  and then when it was quiet she said, “Why’s it so quiet?”  The world has seemed to have gotten louder and louder.

Recently I had a situation where I was praying for some healing for my ears which were experiencing hearing loss.  I know I appreciate all that I have, but when I want to go to sleep and I hear all these noises I find myself almost wishing I couldn’t hear and that is a very dangerous place to go.

I was reading a article that the Pope has been going through some exhaustion and feeling very tired for quite awhile, and I even though I am not Catholic, I can see that there is something going on here.  I’ve seen the people in Israel in the news and some of them seem like they haven’t been getting much sleep.  What we need here is the peace of the LORD.  We need the peace of knowing that no matter whatever our circumstances we can find rest in the LORD.  Part of the problem is that people have not been observing the LORD’s Sabbath.  Now I know it is debatable on exactly which day it is, but in any case there should be a day where everyone rests.  In the Old Testament, they couldn’t as much lift a pencil up on the Sabbath.  This time is not be used for mowing the lawn, or doing things that would not allow other people to rest.  Even the animals were supposed to rest during this time.  When Jesus came and was accused of doing things against the Sabbath it was because the Pharisees had taken it overboard, and they were trying to prevent Jesus from doing any good during that day.  These days we use the weekend to take care of household chores and things like that.

In the Jewish customs it used to be very different.  Men would go out 6 days a week and find food for their families and take care of the cattle.   The women would stay home and take care of the house and the children.   During the times of the Apostles they knew their main work was to spread the Gospel, but he still worked hard to be worthy of the food that was brought to him.

I don’t know if it is just me or not, but in these times people seem to be running around like chickens with their heads cut off and being very busy and even Christians don’t seem to enjoy the simple things because they are too warn out by being Martha’s and even the ones that want to be Mary’s can’t seem to be Mary’s because satan has tried to steal the love that Jesus has so freely given to give a sense of fear, guilt, and condemnation.

Matthew 11:28-30 says “²⁸ Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Heavenly Father,

During these times of the hustle and bustle of everyday life and for all the people that worry about finding jobs and making an income and surviving during these hard times, help them find rest for those souls.  These weary bodies that are worn out by stress, or anxiety, or just things of everyday life that have gotten them bogged down, I ask You to let them be able to relax and enjoy life to the full until it overflows.  Let the people not worry no matter what goes on around them.  Let them not sense any unrestlessness, and let them have a wave of calmness wash over them just as Jesus did in the boat when all the storms of life were around Him.  For all the sirens that go off each day, heal the people, put off the fires, protect the victims and find justice for them.  We repent as a people for turning away from you and not obeying your Word and your commands to love each other and love ourselves.  We repent for not obeying Your Sabbathtime of Rest.  Help the people find rest in knowing that you have provided all their needs.  Forgive us all with Your abundant grace.

In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,

Amen.

 

Some Good Rebuking and Hard Biblical Pills to Swallow

The Bible says in 2 Timothy 4:2-4 “² Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. ³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; ⁴ and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. ⁵ But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

So many preachers on television, and even in some of my postings, have been kind of soft on the people because we have given things that are pleasing to hear, but sometimes, as the saying goes, “The truth hurts.”  This kind of hurt is a good hurt, and it is like a bitter pill that when it goes down it is hard to swallow, but in the end it turns sweet.  So to fellow online bloggers, I encourage you guys along with myself to continue to not just preach things that are pleasing to the ears, but preach according to sound doctrine.  I have done that myself, where I got a rhema about a Word, and I know that God uses all things for the good for those who love Him, but time is getting shorter, and Jesus is coming sooner, and now we need to start seeing Jesus as the Judge and be ready for Him when He comes.  Even Paul emphasizes this 2 Timothy 4:8 where he talks about the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, will give to him on that Day; and not to (Paul) only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

How do we know that these are the last days?:  2 Timothy 3:1-7:  ¹ But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: ² For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ³ unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, ⁴ traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! ⁶ For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, ⁷always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Some of these were like ouch for myself and I can see some of these in the world right now.  If you don’t believe this just read AOL or Yahoo News.  I always thought and described myself as always learning and thought it was a good thing, but it is not always a good thing, when you are always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of truth.  This is because right now in the last days there are so many deceptive doctrines within the people that call themselves Christians, and many false prophets in this time.  Now I know the body of Christ each has its purpose to fulfill, and they have to be of one mind and one purpose, but unless we know what is the Truth -which is God’s Word, and we are led by the Spirit, then these things will be hard to determine and this takes the Spirit of discernment.  We can be searching for things that will ease our conscience and still be lost in a mass of confusion and confusion comes from the devil and not from God.

What is Sin? Galatians 5:18-21:

¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,^[c] fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders,^[d] drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

One of Jesus’ most difficult statements and I think the hardest one for me to hear is this one:  ²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”  Matthew 7:21-23

 

Paul Continues in Galatians when he talks about the opposite of sin:  ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

This is so important that we walk in the Spirit….that we walk with Jesus and allow Him to rule our lives.  Our prayer lives are very important and sometimes we, including myself, don’t feel like praying, or we are so busy, or we have many things to do and even we don’t know how to pray, which the Bible says in Romans what we do when we do not know how to pray as we ought- we pray in the Spirit.

Now from Isaiah we get a profound contrast on what the LORD does to the daughters of Zion who turn against Him [Isaiah 3:16-26, and what He does to those who remain pure [Isaiah 4:1-6]:

¹⁶Moreover, the Lord said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks and with undisciplined (flirtatious and alluring) eyes, tripping along with mincing and affected gait, and making a tinkling noise with [the anklets on] their feet,

¹⁷Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the heads of the daughters of Zion [making them bald], and the Lord will cause them to be [taken as captives and to suffer the indignity of being] stripped naked.

¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away the finery of their tinkling anklets, the caps of network, the crescent head ornaments,

¹⁹The pendants, the bracelets or chains, and the spangled face veils and scarfs,

²⁰The headbands, the short ankle chains [attached from one foot to the other to insure a measured gait], the sashes, the perfume boxes, the amulets or charms [suspended from the ears or neck],

²¹The signet rings and nose rings,

²²The festal robes, the cloaks, the stoles and shawls, and the handbags,

²³The hand mirrors, the fine linen [undergarments], the turbans, and the [whole body-enveloping] veils.

²⁴And it shall come to pass that instead of the sweet odor of spices there shall be the stench of rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and searing [of captives by the scorching heat] instead of beauty.

²⁵Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty men in battle.

²⁶And [Jerusalem’s] gates shall lament and mourn [as those who wail for the dead]; and she, being ruined and desolate, shall sit upon the ground.

The contrast is Isaiah 4:2-6:

²In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be excellent and lovely to those of Israel who have escaped.

³And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem and for ^[b]eternal life,

⁴After the Lord has washed away the [moral] filth of the daughters of Zion [pride, vanity, haughtiness] and has purged the bloodstains of Jerusalem from the midst of it by the spirit and blast of judgment and by the spirit and blast of burning and sifting.

⁵And the Lord will create over the whole site, over every dwelling place of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory shall be a canopy (a defense of divine love and protection).

⁶And there shall be a pavilion for shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge and a shelter from storm and from rain.

Now this is talking about the Daughters of Zion, and since it is in the prophetic, I am not going to go into whether it is talking about the Church, or whether it is talking about Israel itself, because it is relevant.  All we need to know is that Jesus is coming back and He is coming back to show punishment for the wicked and protection for the righteous.

Now if you are at a point where you have accepted Christ into your heart and may be a new believer or may be in a place where you don’t know exactly who you are in Christ, then some things you need to know.  The first thing that you did when you became born again was to repent of your sins.  Then the next part, which is continuous is to seek God, in a continuous relationship with Him.  Having a relationship with God may be difficult at times because you always have someone wanting to get in the way and also since God is not tangible, you need the Holy Spirit to walk with you.  You need to be more and more in tuned with the Holy Spirit.  One thing I have learned from the book of Job, is that he had three friends – and they may be like your spiritual elders, but they were not able to make him feel any better and his scenario may not be what you are going through, but you need to know that God is there for you.  There are times when you will go through a dry spell.  In those times you need to push through and persevere through it, and just pray even though you don’t feel like it.  Talk to God.  He’ll listen.  He’s there.  Sometimes it is not about a feeling you get, but it is about a consistent walk of faith that you believe that He is there, and then it gets to the next level where you know He is there.

I am going to go back to 2 Timothy 3 and talk about some of the common lifestyles that we are facing in today’s society and even the Church:

The Bible says that people will be lovers of themselves – does that mean that we don’t follow love God, love your neighbor as yourself?  No, what it means is that people love themselves more than God or other people.

The Bible says that people will be lovers of money – we see that so much today even in the churches, and yes I understand that people need to make money to live and even to support a church, and pretty much to survive, but satan is going to take advantage of the people’s love for money when people won’t be able to buy or sell without receiving the Mark of The Beast, or the infamous number, which is not worth posting.  Look at the credit card systems, and the major focus in all the world today…It’s by God’s grace alone that any of us have any money to do anything because as much as we have worked for something it could go away in a second, and we see that happen.  The Israelites were in slavery because they were doing hard work and they were not getting paid, and they cried out to God to deliver them from this torment they were going through, and He did because He heard their cry, but we as a society have taken God for granted in so many ways and in so many things that we have done.

Boasters, proud, haughty people the Bible warns are going to be in the last day.  There are so many people in these days that are boasters, proud, and haughty people… and there is a such a thing is false humility where people are even proud to be called humble.

Many people blaspheme God all the time – we see it in the world and all over America.

Today’s teenagers are being disobedient to parents.  I’ll leave that issue alone.

Unthankful – enough said.

Now this is a real eye-opener – unholy – how many people in today’s society are unholy.  That’s why in Isaiah it says only a remnant will be saved.  Jesus says that only a few will enter through the Narrow Gate.  He says it will be difficult.   He says those that endure to the end, will be saved.   How many of us can live holy?  None without the Holy Spirit.

The Bible also warns of unloving people – Do you really love God with all your heart?  Do you really love your neighbor as yourself?  If you do it will show by your actions.  Do you find yourself walking around like a zombie?  Or is your heart filled with passion and compassion?  If it is like the former then ask God to fill your heart with a fire for Him.

I have done several messages on the issue of forgiveness…it is an area that needs to be worked on us all.

I have also talked about slanderers and gossipers and this is not just confined to news reporters and papparazzi, but it is also talks about each one of us in our Christian walks.

This is the one that gets me – self-control – this is a fruit of the Spirit, but it is also a discipline that needs to be developed.  We all have our areas of self-control when it comes to temptation and lusts, so we need to control ourselves in these areas.  I am not just talking about physical lust, but there is all kinds of addictions out there.

There are brutal and despisers of good.  Enough said.

Traitors, and headstrong  or stubborn people  – Ouch!!!  Let us all not be so stubborn.

Lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God..Do we seek after pleasure?

The last one I may discuss at another time.

With all these things that are going on in the last days, how do the people of God, and the Church keep itself prepared?  We have to keep our oil alive and we have to keep the fire burning and the passion alive…how do we do that?  The easiest way I know how is to worship or praise God and give thanks.   Sometimes as Christians we experience burnout.  We may be doing all these things, but then when it comes to intimate times we may so overdrawn, that we have forgotten the rest and the intimacy, and the peace, and the worry free life that Jesus has promised us.  Sometimes your faith is tried, and you are tested, but you have to keep on going on.   Even when you feel dead inside, realize that there is a fire inside you that comes from the Holy Spirit, that keeps you alive and that keeps you burning for Him.

I have come to realize that I don’t know everything, and that I probably will not know everything and have all my questions answered until I get to heaven, but I trust God….and I know that He is faithful despite what I feel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deceptive searches for spirituality and awareness

In the last days, the ones we are living in, there will be many people who will try to deceive people into thinking that Jesus is not the only way to God, and to Heaven, and that He is not the only way that we should go…but there needs to be something very important that Jesus said, “¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because^[a] narrow is the gate and difficult isthe way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

He goes on to say – “¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”

Many people are lead into finding “spirituality” in the last days and in their hunger and thirst for the supernatural they will come to be deceived because Christ is the doorway to get into eternal life and to get into heaven.  Even if you don’t believe in heaven, there is a hell and it is waiting to punish those that don’t believe in Jesus Christ as the only way to get into heaven.  There will be many people who will search for signs and wonders and when they see them they will be amazed, but in the search for these kinds of things they will only be deceived and led into destruction.

Many of these things are such as: yoga, meditation, lucid dreaming, and trying to find the “inner light”, but Truth be told the only light that there is in the world is the Light of Christ.  Demons can appear as angels of light, but they are meant to destroy you.  When searching for anything other than Christ, and His Word can lead to a way of error.  When a person accepts Christ, they receive the Holy Spirit, but this is the Spirit that comes from God through Christ alone.  When people who don’t know Christ try to find something spiritual within, they are actually being exposed to the devil, and Caryl Matrisciana says that many of these things can lead to a way of summoning death.

The problem is that most people don’t accept Christ because they are led into a way of sin, and they refuse to repent.  In the Bible says that what God did to those people who refused to repent.  He loves us all and He wants to see us with Him, but when we refuse to repent, He can get close to us as He wants to.  We need to repent, in the sense that turn to God instead of turning away from God and seek to hold the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  The devil is liar and he is very cunning and manipulative and he would not like to see anyone turn to Christ so he has put all kinds of things on earth as means of a copycat to deter people away from the Truth.  Have you ever seen a counterfeit dollar bill?  Hopefully, you haven’t, but a good counterfeit looks like the original, but it is not the original, it is a copycat.  When people try to make themselves greater than God and try to achieve a form of self-awareness, then that get really destroy someone.  That was what buddha was trying to do through meditation, but in the end it got him in a grave, and what happened to his soul- if he was really following what buddhists believe now it would have ended up in nirvana, which is nothingness.  Do you really want to end up in nothingness?

We are going to have eternal life after we die, but it is either going to be in heaven or in hell.  But the good news is not to scare you, or to make you be offended, but to show you why walk down a dangerous slippery path, when there is a God, our Heavenly Father who just wants to show you how much He loves you.  He doesn’t want to see you separated from Him, but He is holy, full of light and pure, and there is no darkness in Him at all.  He gave through His Son, Jesus, the Light of this world, to show the way to have eternal life.  So if you want to just glance at this blog posting and ignore it the choice is yours, but ultimately you will have to make a choice to either accept or reject Jesus, and God looks at the heart, and if you have rejected Him, even now He is crying tears for you in heaven, but you will have to live with the consequences forever.

 

The Grasshopper Season

I don’t know how many of you guys have ever heard the story of the ant and the grasshopper, but here’s how it goes-well at least my adaption of it.  An ant was preparing for the winter floods in the summer by gathering food and preparing it’s home so that it wouldn’t get destroyed by the floods.  The grasshopper was lazy and did not prepare and kept procrastinating and saying, “It’ll be ok when the floods come.”  I think the ant might have even told him to prepare for the flood, but he just didn’t listen.  He just had better things to do than to prepare for the floods.  Then one day the floods came and it came and the grasshopper came knocking on the door of the ant’s home, but the ant only prepared enough for his family.  The floods came and destroyed the grasshopper.

Proverbs 30:25 says this about ants:

²⁵ Ants are creatures of little strength,
yet they store up their food in the summer;

Proverbs 6:6 has this to say about ants:

Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise!

 

Then there is the parable of the foolish virgins and the wise virgins –

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

¹ “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ² Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. ³ Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, ⁴ but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
⁶ “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming;^[a] go out to meet him!’ ⁷ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
¹¹ “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ ¹² But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
¹³ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour^[b] in which the Son of Man is coming.

I’ve been also looking at these few verses and just trying to comprehend the depth of these statements:

I Never Knew You

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ [Matthew 7:21-23]

I’ve taken apart as many ways as I can and still all I can come up with is?  Do I really know the LORD?  Or better yet does the LORD know me?  We need to be sure of this.

When the Bible talks about ants and even in the story I gave in the beginning sheds light on certain seasons of testing that we have in our spiritual lives.  Some people go through a season of testing based on how much they prepared in the previous season they will reap when that harvest cycle comes into completion.  There are four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.  Whatever is gathered together in the Spring is harvested in the Fall and whatever is gathered together in the Summer is harvested in the Winter.  Sometimes if we are not attacked physically, we can get attacked emotionally, or mentally, or financially, or even spiritually depending on how much time and effort we have sown into the kingdom during the harvest cycles.  The Bible says that we are to grow from glory to glory so that means that we are supposed to increase in growth, maturity, and fruit from season to season.  But when happens when God draws away from us, or it just seems to get harder to be in the Presence of God, or to gather anything from your daily Bible readings?  What then?  Are we just supposed to give up?  Are we supposed to spend all that time buying and listening to cd’s from other preachers,  when we cannot seem to have clarity of thought and seemed to be pulled apart in every direction?

Jesus talks about the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.  In that Parable He says that both the foolish and the wise were sleeping, but the wise virgins had oil in their lamp, and they actually told the foolish virgins to buy from someone else lest, they would run out of oil.  Oil is the anointing and the presence of the Holy Spirit.  He is encouraging people to pursue their own relationship with God, and not draw from other people, because in the end the other people will let them down in the end, but the ones who had been prepared and had done their work before hand in keeping their oil in their lamps fresh would get to meet the bridegroom when He comes.

So then you look at Matthew 7:21-23 – and that really hits you right between the eyes, and in the middle of the heart.  These people that had the “anointing”, they were doing things like prophesying, casting out demons, performing miracles, or they could have even been blogging, and preaching the gospel, but Jesus said that He will say, “I never knew you…depart from me you workers of iniquity (lawlessness)”  I guess I am just a Christian that tries to love by seeing the best in other people, but that statement was like, “Whoa God, What can I do so that you don’t cast me out?  What can I do so that you will accept me?”

That brings us to the will of the Father.  What is the will of the Father?  There is only two that I can think of:

John 6:40 – ⁴⁰ And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

And the other one- I don’t know where it says it, but the other one is to give thanks or to be appreciative or grateful of all that God has done.

Can these people who are going to be cast out of heaven be thankful, appreciative, see and believe in Him, and still be cast out of heaven?  The Bible says that anointing is without repentance, so how come anointed people are being rejected by God?  How is repentance achieved when we are supposed to be saved by grace, once and for all?

All these questions started entering my mind and in this season of testing, where the enemy knows you are weakest, he will try to attack you any way he can.  So if he can’t attack you physically, he will go after your mind and heart.  Which is why we need that time with the Holy Spirit, and to actually cultivate a relationship with Jesus.  These are the times when we  have to seek Him more.  In essence so that we know without a doubt who He is.  It is a time for us to know without a doubt who we are in Christ.  It is a time to change from victim mentality to victor mentality.  So if you know your season of testing is coming up it is wise to prepare and keep your oil lamp lit so that when that time comes you can be full equipped to engage in spiritual warfare, and at the same time draw closer to the LORD and to guard your hearts and mind.

Let us be like ants preparing bit by bit, line by line, precept by precept, preparing the way of the LORD, and leading people to repentance, without giving them a feeling of condemnation because that’s when they will know that they don’t have be grasshoppers in a grasshopper season, but they are like ants in a grasshopper season.

 

 

 

 

Trusting God when you don’t understand by Joyce Meyer

Trusting God when you don’t understand pt. 1 Joyce Meyer

Trusting God when you don’t understand pt. 2 Joyce Meyer

 

These sermons for anyone that has questions about why stuff has happened in their lives….I was really touched by these sermons.  Also these sermons are only available for a limited amount of time.

 

 

My apologies to you

As I am looking at the way I harbor unforgiveness I came to the realization that I may have hurt someone in some way maybe through this blog, or have shaken someone’s confidence in the LORD or deterred them away from a deeper relationship with God.  If I have done that then I am truly sorry and that was not my attention.  I don’t want anyone that I blog to – to have a spirit of condemnation, but to know that God loves you and He will work with you to change.  I want to use my experiences to build you up, to encourage you, to uplift you…and I only try to rebuke someone when I know the lesson is worth learning.  Thank you guys for the support during this blog.  I am working on the breastplate of righteousness, and part of that is forgiveness.  I learned today that some of the things that people don’t forgive is what they have been guilty of themselves, so I want to say I am sorry for having anyone’s feelings hurt.  I am going through some refining processes and God has been working on some of my heart issues.  Sometimes I even feel like a hypocrite from time to time because I’ll say something one way and that I’ll go and do the exact opposite, but I am still learning.  Thanks to God for His abundant Mercy and Grace even though I fail, He still picks me up and dusts me off so we can continue to run the race together.

Pierce your tongue

Many of us are offended because we cannot control our tongues.  We gossip and backbite, and many people are offended because of what people say.  The Word says that, “Life or Death, is in the power of the tongue.”  When people continue to use their tongue whether it be people in the pulpit or people in the pews, it can cause divisions and factions among people.  This is what Paul was talking about in Corinthians when he said, “Some of you say I am of Paul,” “Some of you, of Cephas, and some of you of Apollos”.  He was talking about the divisions between the factions among the people.  He was trying to unite people, while people were just trying to pick sides in the Body of Christ, when the Body of Christ is actually one.

One of the contributing factors to disagreements between church members is gossipping and backbiting.  When we can’t control our mouths, and this is part of the fruit of the Spirit, then this leads to areas of our lives that can lead to destruction because when we can’t control our mouths, the destiny to love has been taken out of the picture.

This is why I find James 3 very profound, and very applicable to the way we are supposed to lead our lives.

Taming the Tongue

 ¹ Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. ² We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

Sometimes we have church leaders, and they have their spiritual leaders, who in their preaching may cause others to stumble if they are not careful.  They may be trying to preach the Word of God, and what God has revealed to them, but they have to take in to consideration and so does the rest of the body of Christ – 1 Peter 5

To the Elders and the Flock

 ¹ To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: ² Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; ³ not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. ⁴ And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

 ⁵ In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

   “God opposes the proud 
   but shows favor to the humble.”^[a]

 ⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

 ⁸ Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

 ¹⁰ And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. ¹¹ To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

 

When we let their be disagreements between our leaders or others in the Body of Christ, then the whole body is hurting.  These disagreements can also be dug in deeper when talk about the leaders or other members in the Church.

One of the things that deters forgiveness in a person life is not being able to control the tongue.  There’s a saying – if you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.  So what are Church members supposed to do when they are seething inside.  This is a time to talk to God because the whole Christian walk is about your relationship to God and how much you know Him, and how close you walk to Him.  You really need to spend time with Him.  Sometimes that may include getting into His Word, but sometimes, and it should be more often cultivating this relationship with Him, where you can confide in Him, when you don’t have anyone to confide in.  You can trust God with your problems and He is there to answer, and He will be the solution to your problems.  Some people have been so sheltered that they always have somebody to talk to, but the real test comes when you are alone with Him.  When you are alone with Him, how do you spend your time?  Some people might think, how can I come to Him always with problems, but that’s what He is there for.  He is your Counselor.  He is there to meet your needs.  He is El Shaddai, He is Jehovah Jireh.  He is Jesus Christ our Lord, and in Him we can trust.  Sometimes we just have to go through things with that relationship with Him without contributing to idle talk, gossip, and slander.  If you know someone else is going to gossip about someone, avoid talking to them about the person they don’t like and just stay on neutral issues.

James 3 continues:

 ³ When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

This particularly talks about how what we say can set a whole things in motion.  What we say can affect our thoughts, attitudes, and emotions.  They can keep us walking out of love.  So we must bridle or pierce the tongue as not to start a whole forest fire of problems, which no one can control, and it just takes God’s glory out of life.

 ⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

 ⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Apparently, the Holy Spirit had given James an understanding of human nature, which is so prevalent in society today.  He says that we can be singing “Hallelujah!” at church, and then come home and say, “I don’t like the way the pastor is preaching; I don’t like the way the worship team is singing; I don’t like the way someone does this or that.”  He new it was human nature, but it wasn’t Christ’s nature, He didn’t gossip about people.  Proverbs talks about widows that are true widows and false widows who are just busybodies, that like to go around gossipping about other people.  That kind of reminds me of the Matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof, (I have yet to finish watching that movie), but Proverbs talked women that had no other business than to go around and talk about other people.  The Bible also tells us to “mind your business”.  It’s your own life you need to be worried about, and not theirs.  Proverbs like I mentioned before in one of my other blogs says “Foolish people vent, but a wise man keeps things to himself.”  It takes restrain on our part that helps in that area and discipline.  We can be going two or three days without talking about the person, but then can we keep it up?  Can we keep it up for the rest of our lives?  Can we say to ourselves that I am not going to let anyone’s actions defile my mouth?  Because it may be too late in some cases and it can even tear you away from the Word of God because you won’t be able to concentrate and have the proper focus and rightly divide the Word of God because you have set your rudder off course by not controlling your tongue.

Some Christians even though they think they are well intentioned say, “Please pray about this person. This person has this ‘sinful issue’ or ‘unsatisfactory walk with God'”  But they are defaming that person’s reputation.  No one wants to defame the person’s reputation, but it gets defamed.  I think we’re all guilty of that as Christians at some point.  Remember what you do in secret, God rewards you openly.  The same can be applied to what we say about others in secret.  Everything is going to be revealed.  Nothing is hidden from God’s sight. God is going to look at you the same as he looks at the next person.  We shouldn’t judge others because by the same measure we will be judged.  You can start off your gossip by saying, “I don’t want to judge, but…”  Well if you don’t want to judge then don’t.  If you don’t want to criticize then don’t.  Jesus said, “Treat others the way you want to be treated.”  If you wanted someone talking about you everytime you walked out of the room then would you like that?

If you’ve ever been around a Schizophrenic person who has paranoia and thinks everyone is talking about them, then that is a devestating thing to watch especially when it’s you who is going through it.  If you wouldn’t want everyone watching you and talking you and mocking you and gossipping about you then don’t do that to other people.  Stay away from people that like to gossip and learn to be happy in silence.  If your still suffering in your heart then talk to God about it.  I am sure He understands.  He will bring peace to the situation.  Pour out your heart to God.  After a while of gossipping so much about a person you start to distrust them, and when you distrust them, then that shows that you have built distrust into into your character.  Or that you have a critical nature that has to be put on the altar.

Remember in Exodus the Israelites were complaining about Moses and Aaron, and how they didn’t like the way the two of them were leading the flock of the Israelites?  Moses and Aaron said, “who are we that you are complaining against us?”.  Sometimes we hold people in leadership up on a platform that we judge them by higher standards, but essentially we are to not judge them as much as we judge ourselves.  Jesus said, “We see the speck in our brother’s eye, but we don’t see the plank [or log]in our own eye.”  Sometimes when we hear a sermon we think, oh, so and so can use that sermon, but we fail to look at our own heart and say that this really applies to me and how can I change?  If it doesn’t affect you then, it will affect you later.

I think Joyce Meyer put it best, “Sometimes you have a nose brushed right up against an armpit”.  It may be uncomfortable for a while, but if you can endure to the point that you do not sin then that is victory for you and every little victory builds up in this tower of faith that’s being built for the kingdom of God.

I was going to talk about this message before, and I don’t know if I have a post with the same exact topic, but this needed to be said.  Especially now.  Especially now that the Church or Body of Christ and Pastors are being attacked like never before.

Heavenly Father,

I pray that You unite the Body of Christ each according to it’s function and restore peace among it’s members.  Unite us with You being the Head of the faith, and let people founded on the rock of Your salvation enter into your rest.  Help the Body of Christ in it’s weak areas and help build us to be divine carriers of the Christ kind of love to the nations.  As it declared in Heaven so shall it be on Earth.

In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,

Amen

Prayer for suicidal depressed people

Heavenly Father I lift up whoever is feeling suicidal or depressed today,

 

May they find the Jesus that lives in You, LORD God.  Let them know that they have a purpose in life, and that you have called and chosen them for Your purpose so they can see the Light of Your Kingdom, and live with the hope of knowing that despite all the pain and rejection that they are experiencing, that You have been there.  You have been right where they are, and You actually died and rose again so that should have life to the abundancy.  Let them know that there is nothing that they have experienced, which you don’t already know about and have experienced in some form or another.  Let them know that by Your stripes we are healed, and that there is healing in Your wings.  Let them have a purpose in this life.  Lord God, be with them this very hour, and take the pain out of them.  Let them know that “No weapon formed against them shall prosper.”  Let them know that they are loved of God.  Let them surrender their lives and commitment into Your hands.

 

IN Jesus Mighty Name I pray.

Amen.