LOVE IS LIKE HEALING WATERS

 No longer behaving contentiously with God about seeking her own desires was such a relief for her.  It was nowhere near over yet.  But the battle was the Lord’s now.  Had always been. 

Excitement is in the air at the thought of reconciliation back with the eternal Father.  She is more than ready now, and willing, to be under His “yoke.”  His “burden is light” in comparison to the exhausting, prodigal events that sought to consume her life thus far.  Just like the Bible profoundly describes it in Psalm 131: 2, “Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.”  To be weaned, taken away from the thing that sought to corrupt her entire soul, is beyond comforting.

b

All is quiet now, back in her apartment.  The thoughts which are orbiting her mind right now make more sense.  Tis true.  It is wonderful to once again be able to think on His goodness.  To be enlightened by the true Light, watching it unfold before her eyes.  Seeing the scales and stones begin to defrost and melt away from her heart.  The hard, fallow ground, at last to be cultivated by the hand of God.  Hope was in her sights, although there would be many more battles to fight in order to realize the outcome of her newfound victory. 

     ~It will take years and years~

Each day, during the early hours, from the time that she awoke until about 3:00 p.m., listening intently, tuned in deep fellowship with her heavenly Father.  Making herself completely available; contentedly sitting before His throne with attentive ears. (Consider this to be a ritual of friendship,  not a sacrilegious exercise of appeasement.)  It was more about being attuned with God, sharing a genuine joy of presence, and not preoccupied or pressed with her own interests. 

Time for reading the Bible again was eagerly reinstated.  Hmm?  Where to start?  First choice.  A hunter green Gideon Bible taken from, where else?  And second choice.  The only other Bible she owned at the time had been gifted to her from the funeral parlor where her estranged mother was eulogized (1990).  It was a gift that she held close, and still possesses to this present day (2014).  Both Bibles would require a light dusting after years of avoidance.  Too many years had gone by.  But regardless, it was a start. 

b

It was most important that she listen for His voice!  Yet, learning to listen was a challenge. We must attain the ears to do this.  It was such a mild, meek voice that it might easily be missed.    For His voice is His presence, and His presence is like a dove (i.e. easily ruffled).  If she, for instance, watched endless hours of television or talked constant on the phone she might miss when He spoke, if not careful.  So it became of utmost importance not to habitually engage distracting activities such as these.  Instead, the days were heavily meditative.  Had to be.  Distractions are deceptive.  It causes you to miss out:

“Sing to me,” she would sometimes hear His voice speak to her heart.  

 “It’s been a long time since I sang any songs;”

 “I don’t think I know all the words to any,” she would sheepishly reply.  

 “How about a song you used to sing when you were a child?”  He would gently chide.

As she thought about which ones that might be, His Spirit reminded her of such familiar songs. Waves of excitement rushed her as she recalls the easy lyrics and repetition of these lost songs.  They are the most simple and sweetest songs to sing.  She gladly sang as many as she could remember with joy.  Honored to do it!

Mystery of the Matrix

Moving forward, the upcoming topics will begin to address the reader at large to not only spectate, but will begin to challenge you to identify and participate in working out your own situation.  The woman in this story is done speaking for now.  Her story has been told.  Therefore only one perspective will be addressed from this point on, to sincerely navigate those who desire it into a better way.  Jesus Christ is the Way.  In my opinion, He is the only right way to go, though there may be many ways to follow after.

   ~Welcome, to the twelve-step program.  Symbolically speaking~

You have taken a huge leap toward the first step if you have been persuaded to acknowledge the idea of a new birth experience in Christ as the necessary step.  Oh, it’s okay if you are not sure exactly how to proceed further.    Right here, right now, is where you begin to rewrite the script.  Reboot!  Rebirth! 

Mysterious sounding, isn’t it?  But mostly, a simple prayer is involved and a “leaven” amount of faith.  And actually, whether you know it or not, a prayer is already at hand within the archives of your heart.  This, along with a small measure of faith, jumpstarts your journey back to God.

b

There is a story in the Bible about a man unidentified by his given name (called himself Legion). As it is told, Jesus saw fit to go and see about him one day.  All that this man had left in him, after being tormented and driven by devils, was a cry of the heart and hope that someone would hear what he was really trying to say thru his torrential screams, and thru his public display.  In the Book of Mark, Chapter five, you’ll find his story.  As you read it, you get the sense that others were repelled by him; yet Jesus was compelled to come to him, to answer the cry.  Jesus could not ignore the faith of that man.  For that man was not crying out to be a public nuisance, disturbing the peace; but he was crying out to God to come save him.  Neither was he cutting himself just for insane purposes.  He did it to stay alive.  And for as long as he did cut himself, and all the rest, he knew he was yet alive able to hold on to his hope.  Hope is the one thing the man had left.  This demoniac (maniac) man held on to all that he owned, which was a “mustard seed” faith, believing that he might be saved in time.  Before what happened to the swine could inevitably happen to him.   

Jesus understood that this man wanted to be in his right mind.  To be a sound member of society, not an outcast.  Nor a byword, the one everyone else in town gossips about.

I think that homosexuals face this same plight.  No one, but God, understands a troubled soul’s predicament.  God understands all languages and peoples; all cries of the heart.   

On the flip side, the swine in the story, that immediately ran off into the waters and drowned, could not have possessed that same will of this man to live.  Or display any measure of faith, to hold onto any hope until things changed for the better, because they were animals without any ability to cope.  No animal knows how to recover from this type of trauma or any trauma of substance, for that matter (i.e., mad cow disease, mange, rabies, swine flu, foot-mouth disease).  In such cases, they are fit to be put down, mercifully so, in order to avoid more suffering.  A ‘mercy killing’ is about all that can be done for them.

From this tale we get to see how man is much more resilient and adapts to suffering longer than other created beings. A few give up hope, most do not.

b

A simple prayer of the heart may express itself in the form of an insane cry, hushed groans, shed tears or spoken in a few words.  He even bottles up every one of our tears.  Salvation is given to whoever willingly receives it.  Salvation means to set free, to give without restraints.  There’s no catch! No trappings.  Remember ever seeing the Take One, Please placards—this implies that something is free if you’d like to have it.  There exists many prayer templates that you can reference to attain (release) your free gift.  Here is one from II Samuel 24:10,

“Lord, I have sinned greatly in what I have done; 

But now, I pray, O Lord,

Take away the iniquity of Your servant; 

For I have done very foolishly.”

I receive Your forgiveness

And thank You for forgiving me for all of my sins.  Amen. [Adlib]

In Job 33:27, 28 it says, “…‘I have sinned, and perverted what was right, and it did not profit me.’  He will redeem his soul from going down to the Pit, and his life shall see the light.”  See, you can say it too, 

Lord, I have sinned

And perverted that which was right,

And it did not profit me;

Please deliver my soul

And help me to see the light of your love

Through Christ, Your only Son. 

I thank You, Father God, Amen. [Adlib]

The New Testament prayers are even more precise if you believe the words you repeat in your heart.  For instance, by quoting from John 3:16-18, pray,

[I believe]

“’For God so loved the world

That He gave His only begotten Son,

That whoever believes in Him

Should not perish

But have everlasting life. 

For God did not send His Son into the world

To condemn the world,

But that the world through Him

Might be saved.’” 

[I confess]

“’He who believes in Him is not condemned…’”

Thank You, Father, God.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen. [Adlib]

b

It is good news to know that Jesus is the Door that we must walk through.  He has access that only a Son can have.  As any parent can attest to, there have been those times when their own children invited peers home who were a little shady, often allowing entrance to them based on their child’s vouchsafe for those standing at the front door.  Knocking, waiting to get in.  Admit it, many parents have been tempted to hesitate (think twice) more than a few times, or resisting the urge to give a thorough pat down after they are ready to leave the premises. 

Well, Jesus does the same for us. We gain access into the Kingdom through Him.  And God, as Father, grants all those who come in Jesus’ name free admission.  Our Father is saying, in part, Welcome to the Family!  As a part of the Family of God you are welcome to partake of all the riches found in Christ Jesus.  The good, and not so good, are welcome.  Jesus has left His keys, “Keys of the Kingdom,” for us.  But He is the Door.  It is as simple as that. 

b

Last of all, you can pray words from your own heart, such as: 

Dear God,

I believe that You have always loved me. 

And I thank you for sharing Your Son with us,

In the way that You did;

For the purpose of saving us. 

He took my place and was sentenced to death

So that I would not have to die for what I do,

For what I have done already, and will do. 

I am who I am 

And I come as I am

Because You invited all to “Come as you are.” 

I believe in Jesus Christ, that He is Your only Son. 

I believe that I am saved

Because of what He unselfishly did for me. 

Thank You, Father, for forgiving me even before I asked.

Let Your perfect will be done,

Amen.

If you prayed any of the prayers cited (or your own prayer) and believe it in your heart, then something truly special is taking place.  And I mean NOW!

b

It has been quoted that hindsight is 20/20.   As we begin to rethink the matrix of the world that we live in, we will come to understand just how true that statement is.  Upcoming is an insightful depiction that  helps explain what is invisibly happening inside each of you who prayed these prayers to God: 

 Throughout history, we have tried to recreate the paradigm of the paradise we lost.  But it will never be that way again as long as Satan is here and has high-jacked our earth.  The affairs our enemy connives in the world are vicious; as this hypnotic world follows along, feeding off its’ own lusts, savagely striving for what is temporal, wasteful, and rotting treasures here on earth. 

We are all guilty of having followed on blindly with the rest of the world.  As individual creatures of creation, we have the chance to no longer be blind mice chasing after any of these temporary treasures.  The Bible talks about this very thing in James 4:1-3, “Where do wars and fights come from among you?  Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?  You lust and do not have.  You murder and covet and cannot obtain.  You fight and war.  Yet you do not have because you do not ask.  You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” 

Yes.  The life we were born into resembles a warzone (once known as a paradise).  The sincerity that is truth lay as its remains, buried deep inside your core.  It has to be awakened.   It is asleep on the inside, entangled in a web of lies.  This is the essence to the reference “dead in sins.”  That real, authentic person that you are, is buried in a seed-form, eager for life.  Through much study and understanding, it does become easier to receive our sight and to see our need of hope.  And the key is in allowing full exposure to the light of truth—the beginning of freedom we long for. 

This will be the hardest thing that you will ever have to do—to understand your freedom and stand firmly in your liberty.  Freedom is worth fighting for, worth maintaining, even as this world is constant with its lures, dangled in front of your eyes, to keep you from seeking any depth of wisdom into the real person you are meant to be.  

b

Is not the body a type of womb, temporarily housing our spirit body?  I think so.  Our spirit (hologram) is kept either in a state of death (inactivity) or in a state of life.  Remember, our spirit lost the ability to generate life in the Eden.  As it stands, we can only generate death in us. 

So where does life come from?  We are the soil God has chosen to use, having been formed into man and woman, and are made for planting.  Planting?  Planting what?  His Seed.  Most people miss this, that not only literal seed has been implanted in man but spiritual also.  The Lord God is the Husband (husbandry) and He holds the Seed.  Mankind is the Wife, spiritually.  That explains why the Bible says there is no more “male or female,” not in the Body of Christ. 

Just as the body proves to be the perfect embryonic vessel in which to experience birth naturally, it makes perfect sense that the same applies spiritually.  This concept ideally makes a wonderful groundwork to recreate a new life or a new beginning.  It is where everything is made good once again. As the very Seed of His Spirit becomes newly planted in our spirits, opportunity for “good and evil” fruit to sprout becomes impossible! 

Our spirit (seed) along with God’s Spirit (Seed) planted into the very heart of man is what germinates spiritual life in us.  This constitutes only the conception of life, or the beginning.  There will be a birth later, as in the natural.  This mystery is defined as rebirth, or born again.  This means we embody a new creature (creation) now in this life!  It will look like you and be in character like the living God. 

God does this impossible thing!  He makes all things new!  That is why it is a must that the seed of life newly planted in us be well-watered with the Word of Truth—In due time a ‘born again’ you will arrive.  Born of the Holy Spirit. 

Mary (Mother of Jesus) bore the Prototype (Jesus the Christ).  If this is accurate, then, we who receive Christ have become impregnated, also, with His life bearing qualities. 

It is Written

 Here, in this segment, I would like to quote from a highly respected commentator, Matthew Henry.  His explanation and text relates so well to what needs to happen for us to maintain the gift of liberty we have been given through Jesus Christ.  In Matthew 4:4-10, there is a famous passage of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness.  The following are excerpts of Matthew Henry’s take on that experience:

1)                  It is a comfort to us that Christ suffered, being tempted:  for thus it appears that temptations, if not yielded to, are not sins, they are afflictions only;

2)                  It is one of the wiles of Satan to take advantage of our outward condition;

3)                  Outward afflictions are the great augments Satan uses to make the people of God question their sonship;

4)                  The devil aims to shake our faith in the word of God, and to bring us to question its truth;

5)                  Christ answered all the temptations of Satan with, ‘It is written.’  He is himself the eternal Word;

6)                  The devil can but persuade, he cannot compel; he can but say, cast down thyself; he cannot cast us down;  

7)                  Every man is tempted, when he is drawn aside of his own lust {all lust is not wrong, some lusts are God given i.e. Hunger} . . . [lust is] not forced, but enticed;

8)                  Is Satan so well versed in scripture as to be able to quote it so readily?  It seems he is so.  He misquotes it;

9)                  If we expect that because God has promised not to forsake us, therefore he should follow us out of the way of our duty:  that because he has promised to keep us, we may willfully thrust ourselves into danger… This is presumptuous this is tempting God;

10)             The best of saints may be tempted to the worst of sins.  It is their affliction, but while there is no consent to it…it is not their sin;

11)             Christ was tempted to worship Satan.  Some temptations are openly wicked, they are not to be disputed, but rejected.  It is a just indignation;

12)             Satan will yield, if we keep our ground.  Knowing the truth about God is a must, in order to believe in the good news about salvation as well as what is written about yourself.

~Did you know that God made you good?~

Think about what this means.  Because remember, God is holy.  All that He created was of an excellent nature.  Anything contrary to His holy nature is known as abomination (falls into the abomination category). You may read in your Bible where many such things pertaining to the earth are viewed in this context by a Holy Father.   Any person, place, or thing opposite of what God originated, is basically opposing what and how the Creator of the person or thing authorized him or it to be used.

 For example, God has given us Saturday as the Sabbath Day of rest, but certain people choose Sunday.  Why?  Just because they want to.  Because they can.  God has the sovereign right to claim that doing so is an abomination! 

  Look at it this way.  As long as something is brand new, its status is subject to change almost immediately after the first handling of it.  Everyone accepts this as normal business practices, the cost of doing business.  Drive a purchased, brand new car off the lot of any dealership and then try to return it a day later.  You won’t get the same price that you paid for it, only the day before, will you?  New shoes become scuffed shoes the first time you wear them.  A new stove in the department store won’t look the same anymore once you fry grease on it in your own kitchen, will it?  Same with furniture, clothes, or anything you can name.  Department Store policy does not permit them to resell an item as ‘new,’ even if unopened or unused.  Everybody knows that.

The point being, God, in His role gave the perfect start to man!   Whatever falls short of that perfection will always be characterized as abomination or as unacceptable to receive God’s approval.  He is simply communicating to us, via His veto power, regarding such substandard conditions in which mankind reduced themselves.  He did not do this to man or make man this way.  He did not play a part in this outcome.

For our natures to perform in this way so easily; finding these acts to be quite enjoyable, is far from holy.   It should be understandable, therefore, if God’s reaction is likened to a disgruntled restaurant patron, who declares,

“Excuse Me, I did not order this!”

Here is the very last example on this.  Let’s say a most famous, expert pastry chef is contesting with rival chefs in a bake-off.  No one is privy to the others secret recipes, containing all the pertinent ingredients and precise measurements that make these cakes world renown.   Everything is meted out as it should be, according to the directions.  When this unsuspecting chef turns away to preheat the oven, however, sabotage takes place behind his back.  One of his unscrupulous competitors has added a cup of salt to the cake batter while this chef is busying away.  Salt is now the dominate flavor of the entire mixture as it is baking, without any clue that there has been a violation in this contest.   A golden beauty, the cake finally comes out of the oven; it smells delicious.  It evenly stacks up to a five-star quality.   Pristinely decorated, it is plated and placed before the tasters.  Yet, there is the matter of the one ingredient which dominates all of the other ingredients (like sin).  One after another, judges are seen spewing cake from their mouths, crying,

“Foul!”  

“This cake is foul!” 

Now, of course, God was well aware, unlike the chef, of Satan’s wiles in the Garden.  He knew that Evil was present.  I think He was counting on Adam and Eve to trust Him in regard to handling any “knowledge of evil.”   All they would have had to do was enjoy the benefits of the “good.”  However, they had been tricked into eating.  And as soon as they ate, their eyes were opened (they tasted a mouth full of salt).  Just as the salt dominates, sin now dominates all of Adam and Eve’s posterity. 

While under better circumstances, salt usually would be appreciated, if used in accordance.  Likewise knowledge would usually be appreciated for its value, if used in its proper terms.  But, it’s just that “obedience is better” than all the knowledge in the world!  Obedience is better than knowing how evil tastes, no matter how sensual it may look.  Negate the desire to touch, when God says, “Touch not, taste not, handle not.”  It should suffice.

This audacious deed (disobedience) cannot be undone unless you were to bake another cake that is entirely new.  One that does not have impurity in the mix.  Our Father understands this, frankly.  That is why He put on our same flesh and experienced the promptings from our same nature so that He could understand it even more.  Take notice of how every day that He would visit in the garden in Eden, He did not come to smell the flowers or pet the animals.  He came there to be with us, mankind.  He has always wanted to be “God, with us.”

Regime Change—The Art of Spiritual Warfare

It is crucial to note what comes with Satan’s intense, direct, step-by-step plan of attack against all of creation.  Every specific tactic implements a usage that is detrimental to our good-will, and which plays a role to help facilitate our defeat.  A big disadvantage for us is in not knowing that we are under this attack.  Let’s face it, we were born into a war.  A spiritual war is going on in the heavens and every newborn on earth is a target, including the baby, Jesus.  Who said all is fair?  All is not fair.

  ~Unfair warfare~

Potential for ruin typically comes directly from the family tree, historically.  Generational curses that are inherited (held within the family) have allowed Satan to maneuver a range of opportunities to pollute entire family lines.  For instance, if a person is divorced, they probably can find a history of it in their family.  If a person is a teen parent, they can discover others in their immediate family have followed this same course.  If a person has participated in homosexual relationships, surely if they screen the family tree they will find an overt link within the family. Whether posing under the ruse or umbrella of adultery, pornography, promiscuous casual sex, or other closeted sexual perversions, it’s all in the family.  

Showcasing this acuteness in familial dynamics, plus one’s own impetus sin nature, adds sin to sin.  Collateral damage of this magnitude is never easy to overcome nor to readily succumb to.

 ~The ‘It’s Just Sex’ generation of yesteryear, exists today~

However, there is much we may take comfort in valuing Jesus Christ’s contribution to the cause of our victory in this war.  Unlike the boy Jesus, who himself “grew in spirit without measure,” we were not afforded this Divine advantage.  He was the One Tree, and only One, whose fruit had life in it.  The Bible stipulates that he had “no guile” in his nature.  It states that Jesus learned well how to subject himself to his parents.  Jesus learned well from the elders in the temple of his day, besides.  He gathered and understood the facts about his enemy, and ours.  He came as the Word (a Spokesman) in the flesh.  The Son of God and the Son of man.  There is no way Jesus could be blindsided by the war as we had been.  He recognized Satan, his devils, and his tactics implicitly.

b

CONCLUSION

Can any feel the presence of real peace, knowing what you now know?  Those of you who have made the impressionable decision to believe the Good News?

 For others who are still not as sure, the question to ask your own self is everything.  Jesus (Yeshua) wants us to “count the costs” of this spiritual venture.  No question is inappropriate, really.  For this is a matter of life and death.  It is a big undertaking.  

Go ahead.  Seek, and you will find, if you are ready.  Ask yourself.  Am I ready?  To be reborn?  To drink new wine?  To renounce the past?  To throw away old patterns of lies?  To end enslavement to my habits?   To cast away this world’s stones of condemnation?   To laugh and leap in my heart again for joy? 

If your answer is yes to any one of these questions, please note that #IAMTHATIAM  is standing by to usher you, personally, into His Family.  God is at peace with all of mankind. 

Luke 20:17, 18 reminds us (and Satan), “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone’?  “Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.” Why these references regarding mountains, rocks, stones, sand, and dust in the Bible?  We are dust.   That’s why. 

 How about the one that states if we keep silent and hold back our praises, then the stones would cry out.  Or what about moving mountains out of our way.  Or breaking up the fallow ground. 

It is safe to say that ashes come from mountains.  Sand from the rocks.  And dust is everywhere.  Here to stay!

b

This is a new time!  It is a new day!  Sufficiently secured is the status of mankind, through a gift.  A peace offering. This undertaking by God does not in itself contain the idea of joint obligation on any of our parts.  Our contribution is nil concerning salvation.  We are in the natural predicament of the little drummer boy who had no gift to bring.  The Lord of all the earth is urgently offering an opportunity to accept this salvational rescue for all-time!  These intimating details of God’s truce are spelled out for us in the new (better) covenant.  God has invited us to come.  Come lowly.  Come just as you are.  Come without money! 

One day we will all have our day to stand.  This day is fast approaching.  See, we are all in the same sinking boat; same mire; same quicksand.   It is okay that we are unable to satisfactorily cleanse our own vessels. Our Father provides this service for us.  All of His eternal favors await us.  While we wait on that great day when these promises will materialize, we have a perfect example to follow after—Jesus, who performed an extraordinary exercise.  He washed feet.   In this instance, the disciple Peter expressed his willingness to be thoroughly washed from head to toe.  And Jesus assured him that He who is bathed (from their sins) needs only to wash his feet from time to time, but is completely clean otherwise.

If you come, He will humbly wash your feet.  He will graciously wash your soul (soil).  He will dress you in the finest.  And you will feel no shame to be in His glorious presence. 

As He washed the feet of His disciples, this symbolic gesture in turn taught a good lesson to these men on how to “wash” away the blight offenses of others that were sure to come after he left them. This is Jesus’ lesson to us, too.   We can show mercy and forgive too.

Jesus is surely showing us today that the priority of discipleship is to forgive and give mercy to others when people hurt, offend, and wrong us, because we all will get our feet dirty as we travel (travail) this earth. 

Their sins (and ours) will need to be washed away over and over again to keep up with our continuous traipsing about in this mean-spirited world.  Simply put, we are all prone to sin and fall short sometimes.  We will all trample others sometimes to fulfill selfish pursuits.  And yes, we will feel the guilt of our choices.

Truly, if we had to place value on what we think the world owes us compared to what we owe God for all that He has done and continues to do faithfully, the significance of all the wrongs done to us, combined, would only amount to about one [$1] dollar.

~Heard someone teach on this once~

Surely we can afford to ‘let it go’ if someone owed us a dollar.  We owe God much more than that.  And He is able to forgive us.  God knows our debts can never be repaid and so do we.  Unfortunately, some of us do not think that we owe anything to anyone.  Especially God.   How sad.

God outdoes us every time, though.  He would have to withhold His sun, His moon, His air, His rain, and His manifold blessings that never cease to begin payment of our debt!  He would have to withhold our very breath in order for us to pay Him back for what we really owe! 

~Can anyone say Insufficient Funds?~

I say to you, all that any man or woman has done to offend you in a lifetime, combined, is still not worthy of our vengeance or grudges, or any justifiable feelings of hate. 

I hope this consideration sheds some light on the importance to forgive fellow debtors. Especially when Jesus says we are clean already, assuring us that He took care of the rough part of the climb. 

He just wants for us to do our part, to be hospitable enough to forgive one another when it is needed; when it is so obvious that we owe one another that much.

 I am guilty.  Guilty of not doing this when I should.  Are you?  May God please forgive us all!

b

How do we do it?   How do we learn to effectively showcase this newly acquired hospitability and to accept the hospitability of others likewise?  Practice, practice, practice!  There are more than enough people on the planet, who will push our buttons, who will afford us many opportunities in order to master the art of forgiveness, compassion, patience—the stuff love is made of. This becomes our ministry now.  This is what we do as newly made “temples.” And this kind of service calls for a welcome mat. 

A welcome mat is a place for people to wipe their dirty feet.   Even when we don’t particularly care for a person’s company, even when they were not invited, we know that they have dirty feet because we all do. 2 Corinthians 4:1 says, “Therefore since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.”

b

Our heavenly Father says that He wants to bring you into a “larger place,” but first you must take your eyes off of the Lie and focus.  Because of the work of Christ, you can live life with an abundance of expectations.  Expect life to bring in a yield of thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold. 

This means God will measure your love for yourself and for others. God will measure your joy over your circumstances. God will measure how much of a peacemaker you are and how you handle yourself in the midst of your problems. God will measure  your faith to see if it succeeds in conquering  those habits we wrestle with.

Are you patient?  God will know.  Or are you angry and puffed up every day?  This is what God will measure.  God will measure how long you are able to suffer or put up with the unfair way things are going.  God will measure, if you are kind or cruel, to animals, to children, to strangers.  God will measure your integrity, your principles?  Do you have any?  Especially when you think no one is looking?

Humble yourself when it calls for your will to remain humble; and trust that God knows best, instead of doing what suits you, because that will be measured also. 

And finally, the last thing that God will surely measure is your ability at wrestling, at resisting, at taking control of excessive, habitual, carnal desires.  Your mastery at being agreeable, in relationship, with the Holy Spirit  will be definitely measured.  These are some of the works that God will be assessing (judging) in the Day of Judgment, folks.  I cannot pray this enough, Lord please help us!

Do not allow Satan—try your hardest—to put you neatly into a box (or a closet).  His box of tricks are endless, seeking to enclose (close) your mind into his yoke, his prison, and his dead end. 

You can always light the candle of truth and good news anywhere, anytime, when you light (enlighten) your own heart foremost. 

Everybody is invited to carve a place in this earth in which to have a fulfilling, purposeful life, that brings in the best harvest he can (with the Holy Spirit’s help).

One day soon,  the costs of all our labors will be added up, in that Great Day of the Lord.   Our good works will be our yield, the return on our investment.  And it has nothing to do with the price of our salvation.  Jesus paid that price.  This has more to do with ‘walking the walk.’

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 I do not believe that God requires a person to travel the world-over, to Romania, Africa, Russia, or Asia in order to be effective on this world’s stage.  So make life count for something.  Do not be like the “rich man.”  You remember the story about the rich man?  He did nothing but serve himself.  He was given opportunity after opportunity to do any one of those good deeds that I listed above. 

Do you remember Lazarus?  He was the poor man in this story (can’t have a rich man without someone being poor).  Poor Lazarus had one lone role to play—to suffer for as long as it took to convict the conscience of the rich man, because God cared deeply about the rich man, too, and did not want any man to perish in the splurge of his evilness.  God gave this unscrupulous man opportunity after opportunity, at Lazarus’s expense.