Judgemental Noise – Is It Evidence?

“Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.” – Matthew 7:1‭-‬2 NLT

Since Jesus began His ministry over 2000 years ago, He and His followers have been judged harshly by the world. He has been/is called a liar and a crazy man. He has been/is derided and cursed and humiliated. His followers, called Christians, have been and still are persecuted and tortured and killed. The noise of all that; the people who have denied His origins, His Life, and His ministry – is just that, judgemental noise. I guess that the enemy (a.k.a. Satan, Lucifer, the devil, Death…. you get the picture) thinks that the more noise he can generate around Jesus means that fewer people will hear the Message and follow Him, the Christ. We grow up surrounded by noise. By the time the Baby Boom began at the end of WWII, we’ve polluted our lives with noise. Radios blaring, televisions on, rock and roll music, concerts, huge stadiums filled with cheering…. bullying, jeering, rallies – it all adds up, and the noise of our lives often prevents us from hearing Jesus. Pushed by the enemy, we seem to believe that everything and anything, EXCEPT Jesus, is acceptable. Satan uses judgemental noise to drown out the Gospel story. It’s “good” to believe anything you want to, as long as it’s not belief in our LORD JESUS. To be PC, we have to deny that JESUS CHRIST is indeed the Son of GOD as He claimed to be, and ‘O. M. G. You cannot believe this man actually came back from the dead????’ (Yes, that was sarcasm….)

This passage from Right From the Heart 1-Minute Devotions, Day 126, says it so well:

All through the ages, man has speculated about life after life. Dante’s Divine Comedy seeks to describe it. Modern medical science has added to the speculation with its study of near-death experiences. Now all kinds of religions offer their theories.

But the greatest evidence of life after life is in the historical evidence that Jesus rose from the dead. Christianity is the only faith founded by a man who died and came back to life. No other religion makes that claim.

Historical accounts of His appearances to His disciples and over 500 at one time, were written within twenty years of the event. His disciples faced martyrs’ deaths for refusing to quit preaching of His death and resurrection.

People don’t willingly die for something they know is a hoax. The one thing that would have stopped Christianity in its tracks would have been for Rome or religious authorities to produce the dead body of Jesus. They never did. The best evidence of life after life is the historical evidence of Jesus’ resurrection.

Noise, especially judgemental noise, has a way of finding Christians. The enemy does his best to cover up our witness that JESUS CHRIST is indeed the Son of the Living GOD, that He rose from the grave; and that He was resurrected in order to show all men and women, all of humanity, the Truth. The Truth about JESUS transcends all color lines, all ethnic, social, and political lines. Our LORD Loves every man and woman the same. Satan will use the busyness of your life to create the noise that keeps you from hearing about Salvation. Can you hear Him calling you over the noise? “Be still, and know that I Am GOD! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” – Psalms 46:10 NLT

Will L. Thompson wrote these words in 1880. They are still true. “Softy and tenderly, Jesus is calling….”

 Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
Calling for you and for me;
See, on the portals He’s waiting and watching,
Watching for you and for me.

 

Grasp. Grasping. Grasped.

We are a grasping people. We want what we can’t, or don’t, have. We grasp from the time we are babies. I couldn’t count the number of times a baby or small child has grasped for my dangling earrings, my necklace, my hair, my glasses…. sometimes obtaining their objective, and sometimes not. We grasp for our toys, and move on to try to grasp the toys of others. We want it, so we should have it, right? In the process of growing, we (should) learn that no matter how badly we desire something, it is wrong to grab it from someone else. We become judgemental when we want what we don’t have; what we haven’t earned or been given. After all, if my neighbor has something better, shouldn’t I have it, too? Does the desire for that thing make it okay to reach out and grasp what’s not mine? We judge those we find wanting. We think (i.e. judge) that if they aren’t smart or assertive (or aggressive) enough to reach out and grab for more than they have, then we must be better than they are. In my experience, that attitude seems most prevalent among the people who have the most, whether it was given, inherited, or earned. I don’t like being judged for what I don’t have, so what gives me the right to judge someone else for what they have or don’t have? I work at my goals, and if I can attain them without grasping after them in a selfish or demeaning (to others) way, I will be content that I have reached them in a fulfilling way. I’m as guilty of judging and envy as anyone, but my intention is to be as fair as humanly possible!

Rather than spending my life grasping for what I don’t have, my prayer is that I will grasp the hand of the LORD and remain committed to Him. Contentment comes not from grasping for things, but from grasping the One Who Loves us.

“The Eyes of the LORD search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” – 2 Chronicles 16:9a NLT

Empty Minds, Empty Lives

“Listen to Me, listen, and pay close attention.” – Isaiah 28:23 NLT

When the prophet Isaiah spoke those words to his people, they weren’t Isaiah’s words, they came straight from the LORD. Since the very beginning, God has wanted us, His creation, to listen to Him; to hear Him. Why do we chose to ignore the God Who created us; why not listen to the GOD Who Loves us with an incomparable, incomprehensible Love, a Love that far surpasses anything we experience here on earth? Instead of listening to the Words of Love, we listen to the enemy, the false prophets and teachers that Satan sends.

“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. For in Christ lives all the Fullness of GOD in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, Who is the Head over EVERY ruler and authority.” – Colossians 2:8‭-‬10 NLT

Buddha taught of Nirvana, of karma and rebirth. Isn’t it interesting that he took some of the teachings of the LORD, perverting them to introduce those ideas? Mohammed was another man who twisted the teachings of JESUS to benefit himself. Joel and Victoria Olsten have their “Prosperity Gospel,” teaching that creating wealth is the most important thing in our lives. There have been hundreds of thousands of men, purporting to be prophets since the beginning of time, who have twisted GOD’s Words in order to take us away from the ONE True GOD. Their goal is Satan’s goal: take us away from our LORD. Our Creator GOD had been telling us of heaven since the beginning – live righteously and spend eternity with Him in paradise. How do you know a false teacher from a man (or woman) of the REAL God?

Test them through the scriptures. Look at their lives. Do they live as The LORD commands in His Word, or do they live as the world? Jesus said:

“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ….Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” – Matthew 7:15‭-‬16‭, ‬20 NLT

When our minds are empty of the Words and the teachings of GOD and His Prophets, and especially of the Words of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, we become susceptible to the teachings of the enemy. Listening to music that encourages being selfish, promiscuity, unfaithfulness, greed, even violence and murder leads to changes in our lives and acceptance that these things are okay. Watching the immoral lives of leaders and the so-called society elite, looking at the athletes we cheer on…. What do their lives teach us? Looking especially at church leaders and religious leaders around the world, how many do you see living lives that glorify GOD rather than man? Following any of these causes our minds to empty of the Truth, and that leads to empty lives. Without God, without JESUS, to fill that God-shaped hole, we are truly empty minded and lead empty lives – no matter how successful you are by the world’s standards. Satan is a liar; a wolf in sheeps clothing. I pray for discernment against false prophets.

Listen to “Come to the Table” by Sidewalk Prophets.

Come join the sinners who have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior now
Sit down and be set free…He said come to the table
Come join the sinners who have been redeemed
Take your place beside the Savior now
Sit down and be set free…

Living In The Past

Guilty.

(E/A, I hope you are reading this!)

“Jesus did not promise to change the circumstances around us. He promised great peace and pure joy to those who would learn to believe that God actually controls all things.” – Corrie Ten Boom

This is an immensely powerful statement, coming from a woman whose entire family died in a Nazi concentration camp, and who almost died there herself. Could I find the Joy she speaks of if I were put in her circumstance? Could you? We can’t achieve either true Peace or Joy on our own, without JESUS – Giver of the Peace that passes understanding….

“Then you will experience God’s Peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His Peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:7 NLT

When we spend our time looking back, holding on to the sorrows of our past, we can’t obtain the Joy or Peace Jesus is offering us, because our eyes are clouded over by the regrets. There is a time to mourn for what was and what could have been. People are gone in the space of a heartbeat, and whether they are an unborn baby or the most elderly person, or anyone in between, it hurts when they are gone. I find that many of us romanticize the loss. With babies, it’s especially hard, I think, because of the lost potential, and the lost love. Now, with tbe LORD at my side, I can finally rejoice over the losses of babies in my family and my friends, along with the countless billions who have been murdered through violence, abortion, and disease. How, you ask? Two reasons:

1. Those babies don’t have to grow up in the flawed, sinful world (HALLELUJAH!), and

2. I will see them and hold them in heaven – we get to spend eternity with them! How cool is that?

All of the regrets and what ifs and could haves and should haves will never change the past. It is past, over with, passed through, gone. DONE. Remembering can be good when done in a positive manner. When we lose a spouse or other loved one as an adult, it’s easy to only remember the good, even though we know the flaws. There is absolutely nothing wrong with remembering. The “wrong,” if you will, is in dwelling in the past and wallowing in self pity for all that was lost. I can play “coulda shoulda” with the best, but to what end? Satan loves it when we start the game! Next to suicide, that wallowing is most damaging to our families and our friends. It’s SELFISH to the extreme, shutting everyone out and dragging them down at the same time. I have done it myself, and I have experienced it in people I care about.

God doesn’t want us mired in the gunk of the past. God LOVES us! He wants to give us JOY, and He wants us to have PEACE. He is the Rock we can cling to when the storms of life threaten to sweep us up and drown us. His Arms are the ones that hold us when we hurt, and He is the One Who carries us when we can’t go on. It isn’t easy to let go of the past; the shoulda coulda’s. With prayer – i.e. just TALK to God – and immersion in His Word, with counseling by a pastor or other Christian professional, and a doctor to help us with medicines if needed, we can emerge from the muck and gunk Satan has buried us in. All you need to do is lean into the LORD. Talk to Him first, before spewing your guts to someone (again, I’m guilty of all this, too!) If you don’t know what prayer, just say JESUS. Cry out to Him. He knows.

Listen to “Live Like You’re Loved” by Hawk Nelson, and read “Finding Joy in the Heartache” devotion by K-Love radio Pastor David (10 March 2018.)

Wonder

“Listen to me; listen, and pay close attention.” – Isaiah 28:23 NLT
I wonder, wonder who, who-oo-ooh, who

(Who wrote the book of love)
Tell me, tell me, tell me
Oh, who wrote the Book Of Love…

The Monotones made this a a popular song in 1958. I know it wasn’t written about the LORD of Creation, but if you look at the lyrics from the chorus, Who else could it be about?

“For this is how GOD Loved the world: He gave His ONE and ONLY SON, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have Eternal Life.” – John 3:16 NLT

The LORD offers us Life; the LORD knows what we need to fulfill our lives. He knows Who we need – and it is JESUS. It is all about Love, and it doesn’t cost us anything. The price has already been paid in full for us by JESUS. He paid it forward so that we could have LIFE. Listen to this message the LORD gave to the prophet Isaiah.

“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink – even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk – it’s all free! Seek the Lo6rd while you can find Him. Call on Him now while He is near. Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the LORD that He may have Mercy on them. Yes, turn to our GOD, for He will forgive generously.” – Isaiah 55:1‭, ‬6‭-‬7 NLT

The WONDER of it all!

Horses In Heaven

Then I looked up again and saw four chariots coming from between two bronze mountains. The first chariot was pulled by red horses, the second by black horses, the third by white horses, and the fourth by powerful dappled-gray horses. [Red, yellow, black, and white, we are all equal in His Sight!!] “And what are these, my Lord?” I asked the angel who was talking with me. The angel replied, “These are the four spirits of heaven who stand before the Lord of all the earth. They are going out to do his work. The chariot with black horses is going north, the chariot with white horses is going west, and the chariot with dappled-gray horses is going south.” The powerful horses were eager to set out to patrol the earth. And the Lord said, “Go and patrol the earth!” So they left at once on their patrol. In a vision during the night, I saw a man sitting on a red horse that was standing among some myrtle trees in a small valley. Behind him were riders on red, brown, and white horses. I asked the angel who was talking with me, “My Lord, what do these horses mean?” “I will show you,” the angel replied. The rider standing among the myrtle trees then explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent out to patrol the earth.” Then the other riders reported to the angel of the Lord , who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have been patrolling the earth, and the whole earth is at peace.” – Zechariah 1:1-‬11 NLT

“I looked up and saw a white horse standing there. Its rider carried a bow, and a crown was placed on his head. He rode out to win many battles and gain the victory.” – Revelation 6:2 NLT

“Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and wages a righteous war.” – Revelation 19:11 NLT

No horses in heaven, you say? Oh, I think know there will be!

Crippled By Fear

“And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the Words of the LORD JESUS: ‘It is more Blessed to give than to receive.’ ” – Acts of the Apostles 20:35 NLT

The Apostle Paul was a prolific writer and seasoned traveler. Every place he went, he worked to provide for himself so that the people he was visiting didn’t have to support him. We know he had some kind of “thorn” to deal with himself, although it is unclear whether it is physical or some sort of emotional or mental problem. In spite of his difficulty, he did what GOD called him to do. He was uncompromising when it came to his ministry. Too often, we allow ourselves to be crippled by fear: fear of failure, fear of physical or emotional pain, fear of losing…. there are many things which can literally paralyze us and prevent us from doing what we know we should do. We compromise over and over, letting our calling, our ministries, fail.

“For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at GOD, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred….. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up wit h pride, and love pleasure rather than God.” – 2 Timothy 3:2,4 NLT

I want to be as uncompromising as Paul was. I hold the life of JESUS up to scrutiny, and His was as uncompromising as Life and Love itself. He had a mission, a ministry, that consumed His days on earth. Even when faced with false accusations from the Jewish leaders, torture at the hands of Roman soldiers, and a horribly painful death by crucifixion, JESUS was uncompromised. Can you imagine? Given the choice of compromising your beliefs to prevent an agonizing death – could you do it? Are you uncompromising in your faith?

“….. I don’t know what awaits me, except that the HOLY SPIRIT tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the LORD JESUS – the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful Grace of GOD. And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the LORD JESUS: ‘It is more Blessed to give than to receive.’ ” – Acts of the Apostles 20:22‭-‬24‭, ‬35 NLT

Protection From Danger

If I write about the responsibility we have to protect our children and elderly and those unable to help themselves in light of recent tragedies, I could make this a highly charged political rant…. and in fact, at some future point I probably will. Today, though, is about God; my GOD, The GOD. He is the only realistic and lasting protection we could ask for, and yet, millions deny Him every day. I want to be like David and Solomon, calling on the Name of LORD for protection and relief from oppression, and for wisdom in my decision making.

“(1) The LORD is my Light and my Salvation — so why should I be afraid? The LORD is my Fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble? (4) The one thing I ask of the LORD — the thing I seek most— is to live in the House of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD’s Perfections and meditating in His Temple.” – Psalms 27:1‭, ‬4 NLT

When I focus on the LORD, rather than on the troubles I face, there is a peace that comes over me. When I acknowledge that the LORD has my future in His Hands, I remember that worry pulls my future from HIS hands and into my grasp. Not good. FACT #1: When we let go of our lives, and we relinguish control to the LORD, we will have Peace in our hearts. It may be chaos on the outside, but it is total relief on the inside. FACT #2: When we don’t let go, and we try to keep control of our lives, we are actually handing it over to the enemy. Remember the adage “You cannot serve two masters?” It’s true! Something is going to be at the top.

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve GOD and be enslaved to money.” – Matthew 6:24, Luke 16:13 NL

When you look for protection from life’s ugliness, who do you call on? Are you depending on the One, the Almighty, or on yourself? In the coming battle, I pray that you will be on the right side, between the arms of JESUS and under His protection. FACT #3: Without His protection, your future and your ETERNITY will be unbearable…. and yet you will have no choice but to bear it. FACT #4: JESUS, LORD, Savior, is waiting beside you, ready to put you under His Protection in the space of a heartbeat. Call on Him, today. Once He’s got you, He will never let you go!

Listen to ‘Point to You’ by We Are Messengers

Doing Right

“He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” – John 15:2 NLT

I love to garden. I picked it from my Grandma, and I can hardly pick up my garden tools without thinking of her. Some of my best memories of childhood involve her, with her vegetable garden, her flowers, and her grapevines. She made the absolute best grape jelly, too – move over Welchs and Smuckers! At the time, I didn’t really grasp the concept of pruning and digging and work that attended to all of this until a few years ago when our county extension agent showed me the necessity of pruning branches and vines to get a better crop. We had purchased a place with an old garden spot that included three apple trees. That first year I was too busy with other things to really look at the trees until the apples got ripe. There were bushels of fruit…. but they were all really small. (I made a lot of applesauce and apple butter!) I wanted to know how to get bigger apples because they were heirloom and delicious. The agent came out and looked and said, take out a third – a THIRD – of the branches this winter, and next year do the same.

That’s a LOT of pruning the branches!

Because of all the work, we were rewarded each fall with bigger and better fruit. JESUS does the same thing with us. When we neglect our LORD in favor of our own wants, He has to come in and prune back the branches we have sprouted. Things like self-absorption, refusing to follow His Will; ‘doing our own thing,’ putting anything above our relationship with Him, prevents us from growing properly. The fruit of our lives can become tiny and lose its sweetness, and it can become wormy, without His touch. It can hurt when the LORD has to come in and discipline our branches. I know!! The benefit of submitting to His pruning, cutting out the diseased parts and removing superfluous branches, is having a happier, more peaceful life. It allows for the fruits of the Spirit to shine forth. My life been like those old apple trees, unpruned and neglected because of my choices. GOD has done some serious pruning, and I have no doubt that there will be more! It may sound strange to some, but I am grateful that He loves me enough to want to prune my branches. It’s really very simple, and it boils down to this:

“Do what is right and good in the LORD’s sight, so all will go well with you. Then you will enter and occupy the good land that the LORD swore to give your ancestors. For we will be counted as righteous when we obey all the Commands the LORD our GOD has given us.’ ” – Deuteronomy 6:18‭, ‬25 NLT

“If you love Me, obey My Commandments.” – John 14:15 NLT

What are His Commandments? Again, JESUS cuts right to the chase with His response.

Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your GOD with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the First and Greatest Commandment. A Second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:37‭-‬40 NLT

Listen to Hillary Scott and the Scott Family sing Thy Will, from the album Love Remains.