God Thinks of Me.

 Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 

Jer 29:12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 

Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. 

Jer 29:14  And I will be found of you

These verses from Jeremiah are not simply speaking to us as individuals, if you read it in context you'll know what I mean. Yet, so much of our Lord's word is for our hearts to take in, to absorb as much needed comfort. The Word of God is such an amazing thing, it truly goes beyond full comprehension. This gift of His to us, this living, eternal life giving, most Holy Word. 

Isa 28:10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little

Those words of Jeremiah, oh how wondrous to imagine hearing these words spoken to me! … 

I know the thoughts I think towards you (Dorene), saith the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you (Dorene) an expected end. Then shall ye (Dorene) call upon me, and ye(Dorene) shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you (Dorene). And ye(Dorene) shall seek me, and find me, when ye(Dorene) shall search for me with all (Dorene)your heart . And I will be found of you(Dorene).   

He thinks peace not evil towards me! He wants to give me an expected end! When I call upon Him, I will find him, when I search for Him with ALL my heart! He WILL be found of me!

Oh, Lord God, I'm searching for You with ALL my heart! I long to be Yours! I know that expected end is eternity with YOU, it's life as the creature you created me to be, not the creature sin has tainted, the creature you intended me to be, a creature cleansed by the blood of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, a creature made new by YOU, only by you through nothing I do, but believe. I believe You LORD, you have the power, you have the love, you've shown that in the most holy sacrifice of Jesus the only begotten Son! He died for me! For me! And I simply have to believe I am His and the Holy Spirit will live in me convicting me of all that is evil in my life, all that would separate me from you if I allow. I cry out like Paul…

Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 

Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 

Rom 8:33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 

Rom 8:34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 

Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 

Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 

Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

What? Who? Shall separate us from the love of Christ? NOTHING! NO ONE! Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord! NOTHING! 

I'm searching with all my heart, seeking to be known by You, seeking to find You and You will let me find you! 

Please, Lord let me find you as I ever seek you.

Amo_8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD

Let me hear Your words LORD, let me ever hear Your words! I need to hear Your words always!

Come soon, Lord Jesus, come soon!

Salvation- A Gift.

 

Salvation is a gift freely given that so many want to pay for.

Did you ever have someone give you a surprise gift out of the blue and your first reaction was along the lines of … 'Here, let me get you some money for that! I have to repay you! You're too kind!' I know I've done that myself. The generosity of some people is amazing and they find out you have a need and want to gift you with that needed thing, but at the same time you're feeling beholden to them, even though that is the last thing they want you to feel. 

Jesus' offer of salvation to each of us individually is a gift from God.  A gift. We will never deserve such a gift. Sometimes people will treat the gift just like the above, they want to pay Jesus back for this amazing gift of salvation. They want to pay Him back by 'being good', by 'not sinning', by 'keeping all the commandments', by 'going to church', by 'giving to charity', and so on. Our actions after we accept salvation through Jesus are not us now having to pay Jesus back - as if anything we possibly do would even begin to pay the price He paid for us. 

We do not gain or keep salvation by any of our works. Yet we often believe once we have salvation we need to pay for it by our actions, our behavior. The idea of there being only one thing we are to do, in order to do the work of God, is an odd idea because we are sure we have to do so much more to keep salvation. 

There is only ONE work of God that we are to do! That one act you can do is BELIEVE in Jesus Christ to SAVE you.  When you believe in Christ ALONE  to save you then you are automatically denouncing any thought, any belief you might have that you can save yourself.

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 

Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. 

People want to have some sort of hand in their own salvation, just believing doesn't quite seem to be enough. That is why when they stumble and fall, failing to live up to the life they perceive is God-fearing and righteous, they are quick to lament of ever being 'good enough' to warrant being saved. They trampled on the salvation given them, they ruined it, they dirtied it up with their sins and now there is no point in trying to be God's because they are just too bad to keep salvation. Now, if they had not been bad then they would have *DESERVED* to keep salvation, right? That has to be their thought or else they couldn't be bad and undeserved the salvation gift they accepted.  The opposite must be true then, but is it? You know the answer. 

We were and are in need of a SAVIOR because we COULD NOT SAVE OURSELVES! What changed with that after we accepted salvation? Was salvation supposed to enable us to save ourselves from that point on? NO! Salvation is EVER a gift from God! You will NEVER be able to save yourself! All you can do is BELIEVE with a belief that is constant, Jesus is YOUR SAVIOR. Jesus is YOUR DAILY SAVIOR. Jesus is YOUR FOREVER SAVIOR. 

Does this mean it's okay to keep your life of sin and just daily ask for forgiveness? No. Jesus did tell some of those He healed- 'Go and sin no more.'  Sin is forever to be shunned, ever to be resisted. All temptation is to be resisted and if we still succumb to sin is it not because there wasn't a temptation battle fought and lost, but because there was and the desire for true repentance  is still there because you BELIEVE in the overwhelming, amazing, all consuming love of God and His Gift to us! You must engage in the spiritual warfare by comprehending you will never stop being tempted to sin, but through GOD you can fight the good fight against consenting to sin.  You'll engage in this fight NOT to get SALVATION, but because YOU have salvation and despise the sins that so easily best you!  You are given the conviction of sin in your life by the Holy Spirit- every single sin no matter what it is you will be convicted of when the Holy Spirit is a part of your life. You seek forgiveness constantly, constantly because you know that sin is a transgression against the very GOD who died to save you! You don't want to hurt the God who saved you! You believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior, and now live for Him because you love Him with all you are! 

We are told to forgive seventy times seventy… symbolically forgiving others always. Would Jesus do no less for those who sincerely seek forgiveness seventy times seventy times, always? Believe in a Savior who SAVES. Don't believe in a you that cannot earn saving.

This is the work of God- BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST!

Recognize-

Our Father Which Art In Heaven!

Recognize-

Hollowed Is Our Father's Name!

Recognize-

Our Father's Kingdom Come!

Recognize-

Our Father's Will Be Done On Earth As It Is In Heaven!

Entreat-

Give Us, Our Father, This Day Our Daily Bread!

Entreat-

And Forgive Us, Our Father, Our Trespasses As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us!

Entreat-

Lead Us, Our Father,  Not Into Temptation!

Entreat-

But Deliver Us, Our Father, From Evil!

Recognize-

For Thine, Our Father, Is the Kingdom! The Power! The Glory forever! Amen!

Recognize- 

This Is The Work Of God!

Recognize-

That Ye Believe On Him (Jesus) Whom He (the Father) Hath Sent!

Please, Father, we would believe, help thou our unbelief!

Dear Heavenly Father, 

Was I good enough today? Did I lose salvation  because I was angry without cause? Has my gift of eternal life in Christ disappeared because I can't stop coveting what others have and I do not? Did that brief spark of fierce jealousy wrench away my chances to be with You in the kingdom? Heavenly Father, I am so weak, so incredibly weak and I need a Savior. I found the Savior You provided and accepted Him into my life and He gifted me with Salvation, and now… now Lord, I'm still so incredibly weak, I still need a Savior. Do I still have my salvation gift, Heavenly Father? I do, don't I? You won't take it back will You, because I am still so undeserving and forever undeserving. I needed a Savior then, Father, before I accepted the Savior and I still need a Savior, I will forever need my Savior saving me! Forgive me, Heavenly Father, forgive me. I believe… I believe Jesus Christ is my Savior, that He died so I could live! I believe Jesus Christ has saved me and will continue to save me! I love you, Heavenly Father! I love you Jesus Christ, my Savior, I love you Holy Spirit - please never leave me. Amen.

Sin Exists. Salvation Exists.

 I know some people do not even believe that sin exists and that's their right- to believe as they choose. God is not about force. God presents His love and we choose whether we want it or not. Not a single person has to worry about being forced to love God against their will- it's impossible. Not a single person will be forced into salvation. Not a single person is forced to obey the royal law. The option is before us, we choose freely. God wants us, but He wants us to want Him of our own accord.  

Jesus spoke these words-  'Go and sin no more.'  Jesus recognized sin's existence so we cannot deny what He recognizes, or rather we can deny what Jesus recognized, but only at our own peril.

If you choose to believe in God then you are choosing to believe that there exists an evil in our world that taints it thoroughly. It's present all around us in every single death. Death would not exist except that sin exists. 

We long to be God's, wholly God's. We despise the thing in us that wants anything but God's will done in us, God's way in us. We live in a world of sin so blatant and so disguised at the same time that very few choose to recognize sin for what it really is. Instead people choose to befriend sin as if that somehow alters it into no longer being sin. We seek to justify reasons why something is not a sin and is acceptable. We say the times have certainly changed, we no longer live in a world where the Bible is logical. We hold up an outdated custom- not commandment- and decry the entire Bible. What if, just…what if, the Royal Law of God's Love were our only standard? What if there were no other customs, laws, and such except those of the ten Royal Commandments? What if those ten laws could be summed up in a broad way by saying- Love God, Love Man? Out of love for God we would naturally follow His commands. Out of love for mankind we would naturally treat them as God commands us. 

In the Old Testament, the part of the Bible written prior to Jesus, things were one way then when Jesus started His ministry He began to teach the living law, a law that would be in effect after He stripped away the parts of it that were ceremonial in nature, and shook off the traditions that had been piled onto the Royal Law making it oppressive, not a living, breathing, life giving, life affirming law of love that was intended. 

Do you think I'm foolish? Do you think I'm deluded? Do you think I am crazy because I believe these things? I'm okay with that because I know I'm not any of those things.

I was given a book, that book contained provable prophecies that came to pass, several of them, one after another- HISTORY proved these prophecies true!  Logic dictates the remaining prophecies will ALSO come to pass. Proof beyond doubt. God given proof, the Bible is REAL, God is REAL!

Peter an apostle wrote-

Act 2:22  Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know

When Jesus ministered many believed because of the miracles, the wonders, the signs that He did through God His Father.  People want proof! We are a skeptical lot! And in many ways that is a good thing, because Satan is a great deceiver and he is going to use his power to deceive all but the very elect of God. YOU can be an elect of God.  

As I said, I'm not foolish to believe as I do, I have no choice in my own conscience but to believe what has been historically, literally, beyond a shadow of a doubt proven to me. Yes, I could go against my conscience and slip into Satan's deceptions very easily, this hold to truth is not an easy thing in a world of unbelief and deception. This is a warfare, it simply will not be easy.

Sin is real, believe it or not, your choice. I believe it is very real.

The following is a one sentence excerpt from an inspired writer-

'No man can be forced to transgress, His own consent must first be gained…' EGW'

If a person is literally forced to sin by another, if they are completely and utterly unable to stop sin from being committed by being tortured then it's not them sinning at all- it is the one forcing them. As a general rule- beyond any forced sinned- the above is true.  WE cannot be forced to transgress, we must consent to transgress. Sin doesn't just happen to us, we allow it to happen. There are sins of ignorance,  but once that ignorance is gone, it is no longer considered the same- you've been convicted of that sin in your heart, convicted of its wrongness.

God's word says-

James 1:14 But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.'

'Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death.' James 1:15

Satan would have us despair of being unable to stop sinning.

Satan wants us to look at our lives and our actions and our very thoughts and believe we are hopeless beyond redemption. 

Satan loves to make salvation seem impossible. 

Satan wants us to believe we are saved when we are not, and wants to be believe we aren't saved when we are. He doesn't care which ploy he has to use, he'll use them both if need be. 

Satan longs to torture us and if we belong to God, he will do all he can to make our lives so miserable that we turn from God. We need to recognize the reality of Satan and the fact he committed the very first sin and ever since then he only wants others to follow him down the path to destruction. 

Mark it well- Satan WANTS us to believe we ARE saved when we aren't. 

And Satan WANTS us to believe we AREN'T saved when we are- having doubt lead us to despair and that despair lead us to lack of faith, and without faith it is impossible to please God.  Both tactics are deadly snares set for us. A great man prayed thanking God that he wasn't like the others (sinners) the sinner prayed recognizing his sinful state. The great man who believed he was saved, was not, but he believed he was! This is a parable of Jesus'! (Luke 18:10-14) We must ever recognize our need of our Savior, never counting on ourselves for salvation. 

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation for when he is tried he shall receive the crown of life which the LORD hath promised to them that love Him.

We are tried by being tempted. 

Every man is blessed by enduring temptation. 

Tried by our lusts- enticed by Satan.

Temptation is not sin.

Temptation is a trial by fire for us. 

Temptation is powerful, alluring, and hard to resist. 

Temptation speaks to every wrong impulse within us.

Temptation screams our weakness at us. 

Temptation is not a frivolous, powerless thing and if we think it should be we are susceptible to its becoming even more powerful through its deception.

Temptation cries out to our evil core.

Temptation pulls on the strings of the sin seeker that we inherited from Eve and it is in all of us.

We are born with a selfish nature. A baby simply is not cognizant of the selfishness it has. Being unaware of its selfishness makes the baby guiltless. Guiltless but not free from selfishness. The guilt appears only when a knowing between good and evil is achieved and a choice for the evil is chosen. Even children are susceptible to temptation once they know right from wrong and are tempted towards wrong. 

Choosing self first- temptation always appeals to our self-seeking, self-preservation, self protection, self-pleasing, self in any way possible. 

Temptation, let me remind you is NOT sin.

Temptation is the ENCOURAGEMENT towards sin. 

Temptation is being drawn away of our own lusts.

We will be constantly bombarded by temptation. We are constantly tempted. We each have lusts that are unique to us. We are each enticed by those lusts particular to us. When we are enticed- it is then we must recognize the enticement for what it is, a lure to sin. That enticement is the SAME enticement used upon Adam and Eve. They were enticed. The were tempted. Temptation is powerful make NO mistake, do NOT treat temptation lightly. We are told, "…make not provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof." Romans 13:14. We are not to encourage our propensities towards sin by purposefully surrounding ourselves with temptations. 

Temptation will cry out to us without any encouragement. Sometimes temptations scream loudest when they are unseen.

To put ourselves out of the reach of being tempted to commit any sin at all is IMPOSSIBLE. We can sin by encouraging the lusts in our minds, in our thoughts, in our hearts. 

THIS IS WHY WE NEEDED A SAVIOR! 

We need the power of GOD- outside of any action we could possibly make to save ourselves. 

If we could save ourselves what need of a Savior would there be?

Even when we are told to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Philp 2:12) that working out is a realization of NEEDING TO BE SAVED BY JESUS CHRIST!

Adam and Eve were not presented with lusts pertinent to our generation, the things that exist now that didn't then, those evils spawned by the very first evil. There are a myriad of sins that exist now because of the fall to the first temptation, the first sin, and that does NOT mean that Adam and Eve had it easier than we did. NO, they did NOT have it easier. I say that emphatically because take a moment, just a moment to really think about their temptation. Are we EVER tempted with the chance to be like God?  Eve ate from the tree of good and evil, the knowledge of good and evil. She was tempted with these words- "…the day that ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened an ye shall be as gods knowing good and evil." Gen. 3:5

And this was what tempted Eve…

"…a tree to be desired to make one wise." Gen. 3:6

Satan said- they would be as gods and Eve interpreted that to mean she would be wise. Wise like who? gods. This was a temptation to be something OTHER than what she was, as if she didn't have enough knowledge and enough wisdom already. To be a creature of THE CREATOR was suddenly NOT enough. She could be MORE. She could gain an awareness she didn't possess. Eve was looking upon herself! Her eyes were taken off God and pointed to herself. 

What sort of self-awareness do you imagine Eve had prior to being told she wasn't good enough as she was? Genesis 2:31 "And God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was VERY good, and the evening and the morning were the sixth day."  God had created man and woman on that sixth day- they were VERY GOOD. Yet, Satan told Eve she wasn't good enough when he told her she LACKED the knowledge of the gods. He told her she could have this knowledge and he made Eve believe that this was special knowledge and it would be a very good thing to have. Eve would not just be very good, the very good creation God had made her- she would be LIKE- she would be as WISE as a GOD. She would be as wise as the God who created her! 

Eve was not stupid, she could not have been stupid and be considered very good. If she'd been lacking the ability to make an intelligent choice there would be NO GUILT on her part. If she couldn't make an informed decision she was helpless to know what to do. She saw the fruit, she knew this beautiful creature told her that she could eat this fruit and be like a god. She would be a god with the knowledge that a god possesses- not a HUMAN. There it was- RIGHT there, the ability to be MORE than she was. The ability to commit a SELF-SERVING action. She knew…she knew she was taking her eyes and her heart off of her Creator and putting them on herself- she knew.

Tell me, could we ever be tempted in this exact same  way? You might think, sure, people are tempted to do bad things to gain knowledge. That's NOT the EXACT same thing! Can anyone right  now ever be tempted to ingest a piece of fruit in order to know good and evil, and be as wise as a god? No. You say we already know good and evil- and are as gods in this respect so we can't be tempted. We, through the choice of Eve and Adam, inherited a tendency towards self pursuit, self-first. We can't be tempted as the first human was tempted, but we are tempted in everything unleashed by the knowledge she wanted to be wise to. God knows all about evil, and He knows all about Love, all good, on a scale beyond our full ability to comprehend. We know about evil and about love, we know about evil and good. We know, and what a price we pay for this inherited knowledge. 

The tree of knowledge of good and evil was forbidden to us, along with all that was in the Garden of Eden. ALL we can be temped with are the evils that resulted from Eve's single bite into that fruit.  A fruit of knowledge- God's knowledge meant only for God, that's knowledge belonged to the Father God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God. That knowledge wasn't meant for us. We, through Eve, took that knowledge we weren't meant to possess. We wanted to be like a god believing we were created to contain the knowledge that belonged to only God. 

That knowledge in us enacted instant corruption of what we were meant to be, it did NOT make us like god. It did not make us wise! It made us creatures of disobedience allowed to endure the full effects of the knowledge we stole.   We did not become gods at all. We had no right to that knowledge we stole, and we have to be willing to let go of that knowledge.  (Please, don't get bogged down in the fact it wasn't *YOU* it was *EVE* who did this to you- what's done is done and every sin you're prone towards simply continues to prove humanity would chose all over again to sin-- but, but, you protest you're only prone to it  because of her first sin! She didn't know the pain, the anguish, the horrors that were to come through her choice- she didn't know what dying meant in reality, but she chose to serve herself over believing in the One who created her! We could argue all day that we are innocent victims, but we are ALL descendants of the first that chose- proving our race as humanity would choose this path UNLESS…. They were SAVED, unless they were given the FULL realization of good and evil, and THEN they were allowed to CHOOSE- just as Eve was allowed to choose, after she succumbed to that first temptation. This is how we are able to choose.

WE choose. We have to be willing to give up SELF. 

What do I mean by that? We have to let go of the self part of us that caused us to want that knowledge to begin with. Our belief MUST be in our Creator, NOT ourselves! We will never be equal to our Creator and this must be comprehended and accepted! God alone has the ability to save us from all evil. 

We must recognize this truth. We are LOVED and SAVED BY THAT LOVE! Or…we choose not to be loved, and we are not saved because we cannot save ourselves now, anymore than Eve could have prevented the results of sin once she made her choice, she couldn't save herself- she had to be saved, and allow herself to be saved.

We recognize that GOD ALONE has the righteousness to save us! If we believe a single act we commit gives us salvation we do not believe in God alone but in ourselves. We can't save ourselves it's by Faith alone. Faith in Christ! Believing in God as the ONLY GOD, choosing God as the ONLY GOD. Choosing to believe GOD over self. We are allowed to make this choice. We are given an opportunity to make this choice. Because and only because the unfathomable LOVE God has towards us wayward as we are had Him provide a way for us, a provision was made before we were even made, just in case we succumbed to evil. That provision being should the new creature- humans- choose SELF over God by being allowed to be tempted, enticed towards self, if this new creature chose the enticement, succumbed to being enticed then they would be given the opportunity to know the depths of God's love for them in His Being willing to DIE for them! 

They would know what death is. They would know what suffering is. They would know what pain is. They would know the horrors of sin. They would KNOW all about what that knowledge of EVIL they ingested was, firsthand! And then they would know that their GOD was willing to endure ALL the results of sin without having ever sinned or be deserving of sin's punishment, they would know the depths of the GOOD of God. Their God would know all the pain and agonies undeservedly suffering and dying JUST for them to redeem them and give them a chance to choose to believe in GOD over self! A chance to choose to believe GOD. 

You say Eve should never have fallen that she had a perfect life-- you are given the same choice she was given and you know the depth's of your God's love for you.  

The choice to sin… NOT the choice to be tempted, we don't choose that unless we deliberately place ourselves in the way of temptations. That choice to sin, to let the temptations we are called to face - just as Eve was called to face- is ours. We are WEAK through our sinful flesh- with almost six thousand years of degradation in this sin-filled world, but our GOD is stronger than any temptation! Our God would have us DAILY seek HIM, DAILY acknowledge our need of HIS LOVE! He could have ended humanity's existence, instead, He made a way for us to be restored to the creatures He designed us to be, such LOVE! Satan would have you think otherwise, he'll do all he can to twist your thinking about God's love just to keep you from ever gaining eternal life in love- something that Satan himself forfeited and wants as many others as possible to forfeit as well. 

Romans 3:23-25

For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Faith in Jesus. 

Heb. 11:1 - Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things unseen.

Heb. 11:6 - But without faith it is impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is rewarder of them that diligently seek him. 

John 5:30 0 I can of mine own self do nothing. As I hear I judge and my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will but the will of the Father.

Seeking God's will NOT SELF WILL.

Jesus did not seek His own will in anything. Jesus showed us by example! The will of the Father in Jesus' life, in our life!

John 6:38 - For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will but the will of him that sent me

Joh 17:20  Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 

Joh 17:21  That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 

Joh 17:22  And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 

Joh 17:23  I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 

Joh 17:24  Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 

Joh 17:25  O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 

Joh 17:26  And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. 

Jesus' love, God's love, the Holy Spirit's love - in us.

All by HIS AMAZING GRACE! Thank you, Lord Jesus! Thank you! Thank you! Come into our hearts, Lord Jesus! God first! Others first! Please, Lord, all through Your redeeming love! Your Sacrifice! All praise, glory and honor unto You, now and forever! Amen! 

I Did It, By the Grace of God, I Did It. Jerry would have been so pleased.

 I had to do it, or did I? I could have asked someone else to do it, I know several people who would have probably been happy to do it for me if I'd asked them, but I didn't. Why didn't I ask them? Because there are a lot of things I could ask other people to do because they are too hard for me to do, but I don't think that would make me feel better at all, not really.  Part of the process of grief is confronting the hard things, the things you know you have to do and don't want to do because it hurts emotionally to have your heart squeezed so tightly you can't breathe. No one likes that heart squeezing experience that causes your whole body to shiver as you try simultaneously not cry even as you are crying. That war against the tears is an awful battle. You might think it's easier just to cry, but when you've cried so much it's just not easier. The struggle to not cry versus the crying outright and trying to figure out which is easier, because neither is better than the other, is just another aspect to my grieving- four months in. 

What was it I had to do? It's Hurricane Ian's fault, but I had to clean Sunjo- the chainsaw. If you've read any of these posts in the past you may remember me mentioning that cleaning Sunjo was Jerry's special job. Today I had to clean Sunjo because the 15ft (or so) Mango tree I grew from a seedling 8 years ago, needed to be sawed into pieces so it could be carried to the curb. 

I picked the filthy Sunjo up and set it down on the little circular table on top of an old flat piece of cardboard, and just looked at it for the longest time. The memories came crashing back full force. YOU sat at this very table, YOU sat in this very chair, YOU had Sunjo right there in front of YOU! The LAST time you worked in the garage! YOU…YOU…YOU… you… tried to show me how to do it, you DID show me how to do it, but every single thing you showed me that day decided to slip into a deep, dark brain crevice marked inaccessible, emotional overload, please avoid this area for the time being.

There was deep agonizing going on as I stared at the chainsaw, the innocent Sunjo, we laughed at for having given it a name. Sure we could have just called it a 'chainsaw', most people just call their chainsaws- chainsaw, as in… "I'm going to get the chainsaw, I have some work to do." Or "Where'd you put the chainsaw it's not where it's supposed to be?" They don't give their chainsaws names. We weren’t very original in our name giving as you know- Sun Joe is a company that sells chainsaws etc.  There probably are others who call their chainsaw Sunjo too, but I don't know, and it's just silly anyway to be even talking about it. I'm deflecting, I know I am, but it's necessary- it splits the moments up into bearable chunks of emotional pain, rather than settling down on the whole glob of emotional goo overload at once. 

Sunjo, truth be told, you weren't our first Sunjo, you should have been called Sunjo 2.0, but it doesn't matter, I need to stop deflecting. I sat there and I can't tell you how long I sat there- the clock in the garage died a couple months back and I keep looking for it in the place it used to hang- the place you liked it to hang, the place I'd go to, or Matt would go to twice a year to change as daylight savings time messed with us, or other times when the battery would die. The clock just died and no battery could revive it, no…. Battery could revive you either and you did have one right there in your chest, a battery to jump start your damaged heart, a battery that was never used for that jump start- your heart gave out too quickly for it to spark you back to life.  Uhoh… deflecting turned very dark, time to change the subject…

I sat there and finally I realized I couldn't do it.  I know I said I did it, and I did do it, but I didn't do it right then. I got up and went in the house and grabbed up the metal file box you kept where all (most) of your manuals for all the many things you bought through the years was, and brought it to the kitchen table. I spent the next hour or so going through ALL the manuals sorting them into categories- Electronics, Kitchen, Health, Garage…  and even after I came across Sunjo's manual, I kept sorting until I was done. There was one more pile though, the garbage one on the floor where I tossed the useless manuals. The useless manuals for the things we no longer had, or the things that would never need a manual (do you need a manual for the bathroom scale you bought five years ago?)   

After I put everything back away in order for the most part I took Sunjo's manual outside to the garage and yes, I sat down in front of Sunjo once more. The deep grief didn't claw at my heart this time, but rather settled inside it like the heaviest of rocks.  I had to do this, but at least now I didn't have to try to access the inaccessible brain file which seemed to have put up a few more padlocks in the last hour.  I didn't WANT to remember your instructions, I know I didn't and I know why… because they came with the memory of the sound of your voice, with the look on your face, with the dirt on your hands, with the tools I'd handed you, with the overwhelmingly 3D, 4D, 5D, holographic, sight, sound, smell, touch memory of YOU! OH THE PAIN!!!

(Pause)

(Continue)  

I had to do it, I did it. I cleaned Sunjo and for now… for right now that's enough, even though there are so many more details I could share. Enough is enough for one day, I'm tired…bone tired…heart tired.

My yard is minus one mango tree while the other tiny mango tree Jerry's bought- an Orange Sherbert Mango Tree- is still struggling to stay alive, propped up quite inexpertly by Matt and I.

The wonder of God, the wonder of our loving LORD, God of all creation, can be seen perfectly as all the plant life that can is fighting back with new shoots, new roots, new life after being whipped in winds that stripped them bare, weathering a category 4 hurricane or was it 5 I don't know. Much like my heart- stripped bare, but there are new shoots, new roots, new life because my Lord and Savior is the keeper of my heart, the healer of my heart now and forever!

Psa_27:14  Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Psa_28:7  The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

Psa_31:24  Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

Jesus Prayed- Keep Them From the Evil.

 "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou shouldest keep them from evil."  John 17:15

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Jesus prayed. God on Earth prayed. Emmanuel God with us. Before Jesus took on flesh- He was only ever- prayed to. He was God chosen to be our Savior. He had an existence before His incarnation, before He took on flesh and He was prayed TO, not one that prayed. We need to think about this a moment-  when Jesus took on flesh He took on the NECESSITY of having to pray to God the Father. He had been God with God, the counsel was between them both (Biblical references look them up- Jn1:1, Zech.6:13. He was the God who created the world -Col.1:16. He was prayed to. He was the God who was with the children of Israel as they wandered the desert for 40 years-1 Cor.10:2-5. Jesus was this God who was in heaven before He emptied Himself of His omnipresence(ability to be everywhere) and omnipotence(His unlimited power to do anything) and took on the flesh tainted by thousands of years of sin. As soon as He took on that flesh and became human He had to rely upon God the Father for everything! Hence… Jesus PRAYED TO the Father God after having been a God that was prayed to. The amazing, unfathomable love that our Creator had and has for us made Him choose to lower Himself to our level to prove that sin was possible to overcome through God our heavenly Father. Ro. 8:3. Such wonder is truly impossible for us to fully comprehend, we can only catch glimpses of the depths of God's love for us! 

Jesus prayed to the Father for US, that we weren't to be taken out of the world- no- we were to be left in an evil filled world. Would you agree the world is filled with many evils? Today people don't quite see the sinfulness of sin as they once did. Then again, in some respects they see the overwhelming lack of love in the world and some have their eyes opened- but Satan loves to steal them away too. In fact, Satan will allow a person to see the complete lack of love of one type of person towards another and cause that other person to in turn burn with hatred towards the one without love- leaving two without love while each believes they alone have love.

This world as it inevitably grows ever closer to it end is earmarked by it's lack of love- 'Because sin abounds the love of many shall wax cold' Matt. 24:12.  Love isn't what love is supposed to be any longer it has become a cold, cruel thing- loving only where we believe love is deserved and despising where we think it is not. We have come to hate not the sin but the sinner when we should hate the sin and love the sinner- showing deep compassion, showing deep sadness when there is a blatant refusal of the love of God. 

Yes, we are to be kept from EVIL, and there is so very much evil. Jesus prayed for us to be kept from the evil in the world we must live in, He did want us to be consumed by the evil, deceived by the evil.

Does this mean I believe there is no love on earth just because I recognize the evil, and the growing trend towards LOVE waxing cold? No, I do believe there is love on earth. I see an overwhelming wealth of love being displayed on a daily basis during the crisis my little world is in right now recovering from a catastrophic hurricane. The love shown towards one another is amazing! The world is in crisis and the love explodes along with the evil schemers, the selfish do-gooders. What?! Did I just say selfish do-gooders? Yes, sadly I did. God's word tells us this- 'And make no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness..' 2 Cor11:14,15. Satan's ministers transformed into ministers of righteousness…deception. God alone knows our hearts, and He alone know our love for Him and for each other. We aren't to pluck the weeds out that grow close to the thriving plants, that's not our job to do. We are to love… truly love with the love of God, and as the true love of earth waxes colder and colder, when deception has us seeing love where there may be no love at all, may we be kept from ALL evil whether it's the horror of evil everyone recognizes or the hidden evil few can detect. 

Let us pray Jesus' prayer to the Father, pray that we are kept from evil, pray that we are kept in God's love. Pray that we are cleansed of all unrighteousness, and no hidden evil lies within us. Our hearts are wicked, Jer_17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Jer 17:10  I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.  

Psa 139:23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: Psa 139:24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. 

Our merciful, loving God has made a way for us to escape the evil world we live in, that escape is found through the salvation offered by Jesus Christ our Lord, He died so we may live forever with Him. Right now we live in this world drenched in evil, and in evil disguised as good in so very many, many ways so that we can scarcely tell evil from good, or good from evil because Satan has weaved his web of deception so thoroughly. We read this…  Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 

Deception will be so great that it will ALMOST be possible to deceive the very elect!  Almost. This coupled with knowing their will be few compared to the many who are Gods has to have us earnestly praying to belong to Him, to be kept from the evil. May God bless us and KEEP us right now and always! All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, we believe, Lord help thou our unbelief! Amen!!!!!!!

Overcoming the World.

 Do you want to overcome the world? What does it mean to 'overcome the world'? Why would you want to overcome the world? 

In the world we are going to have tribulation, a lot of tribulation. In the world we have temporary existence only. Everything around us is temporary, we are temporary on this world. We put our affections on the temporary and when we do that, we are not putting our affections on the eternal.

We must love one another- for we all have the possibility of the eternal. 

We must love God- He is the eternal. 

The world we live in has so much that takes our eyes and our hearts off the eternal. We need to overcome the world and all it's temporary distractions and enticements - and there are so many of them. They are here today, gone tomorrow- without any real substance. If you live for the temporary- placing all that is temporary above all that is eternal, you will be temporary, you will not overcome the world because you see no need to do so. 

Jesus overcame the world and He said-

Joh 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

 

We read-

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 

1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

1Jn 4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 

1Jn 4:5  They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 

1Jn 4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 

No, we can't be taken out of the world, and we aren't supposed to hide ourselves away- each individual completely alone- we can't love one another if there are no others to love around us. We must live God's love as we live in the world. Jesus was our example when He lived upon the earth- loving. People might think to not love the world is anti-love and therefore anti-God, but that's not true at all. This world has its beauty- but it also has so much pain. Overcoming the world, is overcoming our attachment to the temporary- not actively despising everything in the world- flowers, animals, plant-life etc. Overcoming the world while living in the world is overcoming all things that threaten your relationship with Christ in any way. Is there anything in your life you would not give up if your Savior asked you to? Before you answer this remember if you died tomorrow you take nothing with you- nothing at all, not a single solitary thing in this world- other people included. We take nothing with us and we cease from living in this world, and sleep until our Savior returns. Yet, we place so much value on clinging to things refusing to even consider giving them up should we be asked to do so. Paul counted everything DUNG but Christ Jesus. 

Php_3:8  Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ

Paul overcame the world. Paul lived in the world and loved others with the love of God. Paul overcame the world like Jesus overcame the world and like we are to overcome the world.

We overcome by faith.

1Jn_5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 

More on faith tomorrow by the grace and will of our Lord and Savior, In Christ Jesus' name! Amen!!!!!!!

Blind Faith.

 Blind Faith.

A blind person has to have a lot of faith. They have evidence of things not seen all the time, right? Blind from birth the person is told all about the sun in the sky, and about colors. They have no conception of the truth of these things. They can feel a round ball and be told the sun in the sky is the shape of that ball, and it radiates the heat they feel on their flesh. They don't have any real basis for colors though do they? You can say the object they hold in their hands is red, and another object blue- but given the same objects at another time those colors could have been changed and they'd know no difference at all. Color is something they have no real ability to know because they are blind. They believe you when you talk about colors because they have faith in what you say to them and they have no reason to doubt you.

Faith is blind, seriously, to have faith you must be willing to be as one who is blind - the Bible tells us that 'Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen.' Hebrews 11:1  

Evidence of things NOT SEEN. 

The blind person takes you at your word, that something called colors exist. They are going by the evidence of the unseen- a BELIEF in what they've been told. 

FAITH in Biblical matters is the same- we believe in a salvation not seen. We are blind to the reality of eternal living. The closest thing we get to seeing eternal living is… nothing really. Perhaps we get a taste of it in the seeming eternal existence of things in nature. Oceans, rivers, the sun, moon, stars, and landmarks that have existed since history was recorded for us to learn from.  We know the sun, moon, stars and all existed already when the first human being came into existence and they still exist for us today. But we know we aren't eternally living people, we end. We get to witness the end of many people we love, and many who are strangers to us. We know one day those people exist and the next they don't any longer their presence in our world is gone. Just like that their life ends and we know that same fate awaits us all. We know we don't live eternally. We know we have a time limit on our existence. ONLY faith can give us the option of believing that one day we will live again, that one day we will become beings who live eternally. Nothing but FAITH gives us this wonderful belief, this amazing hope!

Some call faith crazy- believing in the unseen. What ISN'T crazy is being told certain things are going to happen and then being allowed to witness them happen! Imagine that blind person we spoke of earlier suddenly being given sight and witnessing for the first time colors! There they are! They were told all about them, and now, there they are! They see them!  They believed in their existence through the faith they had in people telling them they were real and then they were able to have that faith rewarded.

God hasn't asked us to believe in Him, to have faith in Him without offering us amazing proof. He gives us a basis for believing what He tells us is all true. Just as the blind person has a reason to believe you when you tell them about colors, we have a reason to believe God when He tells us about eternal life. You say that blind person has a reason because they can verify a lot of things told to them by touch and so on. Well, God has given us a way to verify a lot of things He tells us! We HAVE a reason to believe GOD! Prophecy. 

Prophecies are predictions for the future. Prophecies can prove reality, just as a blind from birth- person- receiving sight will know colors are reality. 

Maybe you're a person who has never heard of Biblical prophecies but you still have faith based on what you've read and heard from others, how you were raised etc and your faith is real without needing a reason to believe, you don't need anything verified, praise God! But there are a lot of people who refuse to believe in supposed fairy tales written to subdue people into some sort of submission. There are a lot of skeptics, and that's okay, a healthy skepticism will keep you from deception too. The skepticism has to be a healthy one though, not one filled with the disease of self-deception, arrogance, pride and what have you. Skepticism twisted by absolute refusal to admit to being wrong about something, is very unhealthy. Skepticism that refuses to seek truth from a whole picture, and only likes to pick apart bits and pieces, is very corrupted. If you need to verify God, to verify truth, to verify a reason for having faith, it is given to you. Let me tell you how- and do not scoffed instantly, to do so is just to reveal your unhealthy state of skepticism. 

We've had Biblical prophecy from near the beginning of Creation.  Prophecies over the last -close to six thousand years- have come to pass as predicted in the Bible- yet people still refuse to believe the Bible is true. They, unlike the blind receiving sight accepting colors, choose to remain blind rather than believe truth, irrefutable truth, they refuse to accept sight preferring their blindness. Why do people do this? Because their blindness is comfortable, it is well known to them, they would be lost in a world of sight- their entire life would have to be changed in light of their new understanding. We are creatures of habit- often loathing the very idea we might have to give up a cherished belief handed down to us from generation to generation. 

Let's assume for a moment that you choose to study these prophecies, and find out some people long ago did the same. A few of those people had the prophecies passed down to them from generation to generation as they waited for them to be fulfilled. Many years pass and several of the prophecies came to pass as they were told would happened. What if you were them, what would you do with this information? Ignore it completely? Sure, you can do that, many have, many do and many will continue to do so. What you could do is study the history of these prophecies throughout the ages and see for yourself what has occurred. You could also try to find out if there are more prophecies yet to take place and if so what they are and how they might just affect you if they should occur during your life time.  To me, that would be the logical thing to do. 

To simply ignore something - for whatever reason you choose- is rather ludicrous, especially if it concerns the possibility of you eventually having a life that goes on forever. 

If the knowledge that not everyone is going to have a life that goes on forever is told to you then you'd think you might be a little bit curious about this business about life going on forever. If you're all happy and content to believe that the life you are living right this moment is the only life you'll have and when you die it's completely and utterly over, just simply over- then that's your choice no one can take if from you, no one. Me, I'm going to study those prophecies and find out all the facts I can about all of them past, present, future and if my research reveals to me that real prophecies have really come to pass, over and over again, then I'd be very, very dense to believe the rest of those prophecies will not occur at some point in time.

If those prophecies point to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and His bringing the good news of salvation, the good news of eternal life, the good news of heaven, the good news of love-true love- then I'd simply have to believe that too was all true, wouldn't I? If these go hand in hand I can't pull them apart as I choose. No, I didn't see the prophecies being given. No, I didn't see a lot of them come to pass- history has been their solid proof. No, I don't see the future so therefore I can't see future prophecies as I can see those of the past. I have solid proof - not by faith, not by the unseen, but by history itself! I have solid proof by faith, by the unseen, because I believe the rest of the prophecies will come to pass even if I do not see them. 

Prophecy tells me that there is going to be eternal life given to people, not all people, but to people who choose to have eternal life. If you are reading this and just told yourself that you choose to have eternal life, then praise the LORD. Now, how does prophecy tell us we are given this eternal life we choose to have? 

Prophecy predicted a Messiah, a Savior from eternal death, from eternal nothingness. That prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.  ((Don't believe me, go study all the prophecies, there are a lot of them that predicted Jesus' birth, life, death, resurrection long before it all occurred.))

We are given eternal life when we choose to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior and we do this through FAITH. We are made righteous through faith, we are changed by this righteousness into a being able to gain eternal existence. Jesus isn't going to come to you right now in the flesh, knock on your door, ask you to step outside so He can talk to you for a few moments- perform a couple of miracles on you so you have reason to believe, and then go on to the next house. Faith doesn't work that way. We are given ENOUGH information to prove that we have every reason to have FAITH in what we cannot see for ourselves but must believe without sight. 

Faith. righteousness by faith is believing my faith will give me the righteousness I need to have eternal life through Christ- and the prophecies of the past, present and future reveal that righteousness IS Jesus Christ. 

My belief is Jesus Christ, His righteousness- past prophetically proven, future prophetically predicted. 

Jesus Christ by faith. Jesus Christ the evidence of the unseen, the substance of our hope!

Jesus Christ dwells in me! HE is that righteousness in me!

Jesus said- John 6:56  He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, DWELLETH IN ME, AND I IN HIM.  

Luke 22:19  And he took BREAD, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. 

Luke 22:20  Likewise also the CUP after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. 

1Co 11:23  For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took BREAD: 

1Co 11:24  And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 

1Co 11:25  After the same manner also he took the CUP, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 

1Co 11:26  For as often as ye eat this BREAD, and drink this CUP, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 

BY FAITH- we believe this example of Jesus' given to the apostles to enact, this exact ritual in taking bread, just as Jesus took bread, taking wine, just as Jesus took wine- the SAME way He did it- real bread, real wine, two things that are  usually readily available always to all in SOME form. We take this food and this drink and we eat and drink it in REMEMBRANCE of Jesus Christ our Savior who gave His body and blood for US, dying to save us! We do this ritual as He instructed, REMEMBERING HIS LIFE AND DEATH, and when we remember His life and death we also remember His resurrection, His new life! By FAITH we do this. My belief is Jesus Christ, His righteousness, I dwell in HIM and HE dwells in ME! His righteousness is in me by FAITH in HIM. I don't see this, yet I believe it, I have faith, unseen evidence, hope! I believe, Lord, help Thou my unbelief!