Tag: #NotReligion

Could It Be Any More Simple?

Jesus spoke quite plainly to the Samaritan woman and to the people who followed Him, saying,

“If you only knew the gift God has for you and Who you are speaking to, you would ask Me, and I would give you Living Water.” Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the Water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them Eternal Life.” Then Jesus told her, “ I Am the Messiah!” – John 4:10‭, ‬13‭-‬14‭, ‬26 NLT

“I tell you the Truth, you want to be with Me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the Eternal Life that the Son of Man can give you. For God the Father has given Me the Seal of His approval.” They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?” Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the One He has sent.” – John 6:26‭-‬29 NLT

The Bread of God. Living Water. What is Jesus talking about? How can I never be hungry or thirsty again? It’s too simple. There has to be a catch. “….. ask Me, and I would give you Living Water. Believe in the One He has sent.”

We are so conditioned to everything having a price. Nothing is freely given in this world. It might be not be much of a price in the overall scheme of life, but still a price – and it could take everything a person has left to pay it. Even the love of our earthly fathers and mothers isn’t unconditional. That’s why it’s so difficult for us to believe that a gift so huge can truly be free! There is nothing to give up in order to receive this gift. All we have to do is open our hands and accept it. Freely given.

“The True Bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven and gives Life to the world.” – John 6:33 NLT

Painting “Christ and the Samaritan Woman” – Henryk Siemiradzki, 1890.

Have Patience – Be Blessed!

“God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the Crown of Life that God has promised to those who love Him.” – James 1:12 NLT

Do you believe it? Are you living it? A favorite mem of mine (all the way from the 70’s) is of two vultures sitting on a limb, with this caption: “Patience my a**, I want to kill something!” Patience is not a virtue of mine. Never has been. My little brown boy (he’s a dog – don’t go all PC on me) has much more patience than me. I can scoop him up and hug on him, and when I (finally) let him go, he just lets out this big sigh. He’s perfectly content to let me carry him around, and if he can spend his day in my lap – he’s good.

The little black boy (again, don’t judge!) is more like me – I want it now, and I’m willing to growl and climb all over you to get to whatever it is I’m trying to reach. Don’t try to hold him or keep him from doing his thing, because he’ll squirm and wiggle and express his displeasure over being kept from doing his thing over what I want him to do. Oh, he’ll mind me if I’m forceful, but he has a very strong will of his own.

I’m getting better. I can sit and wait for traffic to clear so I can pull into the road or turn, and rude drivers don’t cause me to go all road rage anymore. I do talk to them (like they can hear me – lol!), and ask them if they are setting a good example for their kids or if they are paying attention …… If I am waiting for an appointment or for a waitperson or a cashier or I’m on hold – as long as there isn’t an emergency – it’s not such a big deal anymore, because things often happen that are out of our control. Things don’t always get done in the timeframes I have set in my mind. Sometimes it’s because of my own physical limitations, sometimes because I have to wait on the availability of another person, and sometimes it’s a financial limitation.

God is in control. I’ve been reminded several times over the past week that His timing is not my timing. He doesn’t always say yes. Sometimes He says no, and sometimes He says wait. He allows temptation, and He allows testing. He gives us consequences when we don’t listen and when we disobey Him. Am I patient? No, not at all! Do I strive to be? I do, because I do love the LORD and I want Him to be proud of me, and I hope to show that love for Him in my life.

How patient and perservering are you? Give it to the LORD! He is all the help you need!

Honor – and Ruin: NOT PC

Honor – and Ruin: NOT PC
Define hon·or – noun
  1. high respect; great esteem. “His portrait hangs in the place of honor”
  2. adherence to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct. “I must as a matter of honor avoid any taint of dishonesty”

What has happened to honor? Aren’t we supposed to honor our government officials – if not the person, then the office? That’s how I was raised…. Unfortunately, politicians are making such a laughing stock of their positions and their office, and straying so far from our constitution and our laws, it’s becoming more and more difficult. So many think they are above the law. They can hold a position, an ideology, that they present as what we the people need – but it doesn’t apply to them.

I “should be” grateful that they want to oversee and control my life, providing me with what they think I need. Since when is that even remotely okay? I live in America. The United States of America. We have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights. Some of my ancestors migrated here in the 1800’s and early 1900’s – and some were born here. We (almost) all have ancestors who came here to escape poverty and/or lack of freedom, and they came legally as immigrants. Some came as indentured servants, and some came as slaves – of all colors. When my ancestors arrived, they did several things: find jobs (not welfare), and learned the common – English – language.

Some became well-off financially, and some struggled, but I believe that regardless of their financial circumstances, they came and stayed because of the freedom afforded them. Freedom of speech, freedom to protect themselves instead of having to rely on the police or a police-state. Freedom to move around the country without governmental restrictions. These are all reasons that I choose to stay and protect my country.

You see, true immigrants don’t move to another country to make into a mirror of where they come from. We don’t move from one community to another in order to change it to what is familiar. We move so that we can find like-minded people whose ideas and beliefs mesh with our own.

Why do people come to America today? The majority, the ones who do it legally, do it because of the promise of freedom. They leave their country of origin because of oppression; because they believe they can have a better life here. They learn English and they find work.

I believe that we the people had better get a grip! Honor isn’t being taught in our homes or our schools, and it isn’t even up to our schools! We aren’t teaching our kids to honor their parents or other adults. We aren’t teaching them to honor our country, or our Constitution. We aren’t teaching them the principles this country was founded on – freedom and honor.

Without those, we are ruined.

The GLORY

“The heavens proclaim the GLORY of GOD. The skies display His craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make Him known. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world.” – Psalms 9:1‭-‬4a NLT

WOW.

Verse 3: “There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.” The heavens, the skies, the sun and the moon and the stars; the planets …. the clouds all display the Majesty and the Glory of GOD! It isn’t just the heavens, either.

“Sing a new song to the LORD! Let the whole earth sing to the LORD! The gods of other nations are mere idols, but the LORD made the heavens! Let the heavens be glad, and the earth rejoice! Let the sea and everything in it shout his praise! Let the fields and their crops burst out with joy! Let the trees of the forest sing for joy before the LORD, for He is coming! He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world with justice, and the nations with His Truth.” – Psalms 96:1‭, ‬5‭-‬5‭, ‬11‭-‬13 NLT

Throughout scriptures, everything that we (humans) see as inanimate comes alive in praising the Creator. Picture a black night sky positively bursting with stars, or an impossibly blue sky full of dancing clouds! Can you see the fields and valleys literally glowing with new grasses and flowers and leaves, rejoicing in the breezes? The sea, as the whales and dolphins leap and the fish fly threw the air? Smell the scents of the forest, dirt and pine and newness of life. How can you look at new life, animal or human, and not see the Hand of the Creator GOD?

It just happened?? Who in their right mind could believe it?

Kiss of Friendship

“A judge who says to the wicked, “You are innocent,” will be cursed by many people and denounced by the nations. But it will go well for those who convict the guilty; rich blessings will be showered on them. An honest answer is like a kiss of friendship. Don’t testify against your neighbors without cause; don’t lie about them. And don’t say, “Now I can pay them back for what they’ve done to me! I’ll get even with them!” ” – Proverbs 24:24‭-‬26‭, ‬28‭-‬29 NLT

I can’t think of anything that bothers me more than finding out a friend/family member gave me an answer to a question that wasn’t honest. Telling me what you think I want to hear isn’t being honest! Telling someone else that you think I’ve made a bad decision and not telling me, or getting frustrated with me and not telling me ….. that’s not being honest with me, either. I would rather hear the truth, even if it is upsetting to me, and know that you said it because you care.

Really.

I’ve been reading through social media posts (again), then I read the verses (above) from Proverbs. I wish that every commentator, every blogger, every politician, every news person, would read them, then apply them.

Just my 2 cents.

Child of GOD – 1 John 3

“We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous.” – 1 John 3:12 NLT [Genesis 4:1-16]

Am I like Cain or Able, shepherd and caretaker or tiller of the ground? “Why are you so angry?” the LORD asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” – Genesis 4:6‭-‬7 NLT

I’ve heard many questions about this passage – what was Cain doing that was so wrong, that GOD refused his gift but accepted his brother’s? I don’t know exactly what Cain did to anger GOD, but I think it is a warning to us to be careful about the how and the why when we do a thing. Being a gardener or a farmer, or a rancher or hunter – these are all noble occupations. GOD gave us the earth to be caretakers of it all. After all, they both feed us and clothe us; farmers with all the various plants, and hunters and ranchers with meat and hides. GOD wasn’t angry because Cain was a farmer. Was it pride that triggered Cain’s anger? In verse 7, it is very plainly said: “Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you.”

As we grow in our lives as Children of the LORD, we offer different gifts to Him depending on how we have been gifted. I would not offer to lead a choir (it would be disastrous!), but I could happily wrangle the animals for the Christmas pageant! If I insisted that I be the one to lead the choir and direct the pageant, would it be sinning? I expect so, because it would be pride alone speaking, not ability, because that is not where my talents lie. Was that where Cain got his anger? Was he jealous of his brother? It seems to me that much of our stumbling can be laid at these feelings of pride and jealousy. Stubbornness, too. I have kept on a path, knowing it was wrong, just to prove I could still reach the desired end – only it never works out well, because it is that sin crouching at the door that trips me up. Every time.

“But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the SON of GOD came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into GOD’s Family do not make a practice of sinning, because GOD’s Life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are Children of GOD. So now we can tell who are Children of GOD and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.” – 1 John 3:8‭-‬10‭ NLT

As Children of GOD, we want to break the cycle of sin. How do we do that, when it has such a strangle hold on us? Certainly not on our own power! When we accept JESUS as LORD of our life, the desire to do good and to follow in His example should – will – begin to grow, especially as we begin to study and learn His Word. Will we ever get it right? No. Sorry to disappoint, but no, not as long as we live in this sin-filled, imperfect world, with sin ready to waylay us at every corner. Don’t let that stop you! Every slip, every stumble, is an opportunity to grasp the Hand our LORD has extended to us and take another step up and forward. Remember, even though we may let go of Him, He never lets go of us! Now that’s a PROMISE.

“Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before GOD. Even if we feel guilty, GOD is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.” – 1 John 3:18‭-‬20 NLT

Again: “Even if we feel guilty, GOD is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.”

Guilt zaps confidence. GOD already knows our feelings, and He is greater than our feelings. He knows our heart. Guilt is not what He wants for us. He has taken away our sin, so why do we feel guilty? What do we have to feel guilty about? That feeling of guilt is not placed there by the LORD. It comes from the devil, the Enemy, and from the depths of hell. Guilt is not from GOD.

“Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to GOD with bold confidence. And we will receive from Him whatever we ask because we obey Him and do the things that please Him. And this is His Commandment: We must believe in the Name of His SON, JESUS CHRIST, and love one another, just as He commanded us. Those who obey GOD’s commandments remain in fellowship with Him, and He with them. And we know He lives in us because the SPIRIT He gave us Lives in us.” – 1 John 3:23‭-‬24 NLT

HALLELUJAH!

The Offering of Cain and Able, 12th Century mosaic, Palatine Chapel, Palermo

Are You Thirsty?

“My soul thirsts for GOD, for the Living GOD. When can I go and meet with GOD? ….. Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in GOD, for I will yet praise Him, my SAVIOR and my GOD.” – Psalm 42:2,11 NIV

Psalm 42 was written as a poem to be sung by the sons of Korah, the highest choir of the land for King David. The psalm tells us that though our road to heaven is trying, it is the same for the king. It helps to know that we aren’t alone in our struggles. However, we have a major advantage over King David and his people: we have seen JESUS, the Living GOD, MESSIAH, Who has come and fulfills the prophecies! JESUS is the embodiment of what the prophet Isaiah spoke of in this passage, which JESUS refers to in John 37.

“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance.” – Isaiah 55:1‭-‬2 NASB

“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast [the Feast of the Booths], JESUS stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'” – John 7:37‭-‬38 NASB

Have you drunk of the Living Water, or do you depend on yourself and the world to satisfy your thrist? Without JESUS, you will never be satisfied.

Truth, unvarnished and unrepentent.

Good works, being a “good” person – these will not satisfy your soul, and at the the time of Judgement, when you face the LORD on His Throne – only one thing matters: have you received the Salvation freely offered, the Living Water of JESUS CHRIST? Not Buddha, not Muhammad, not Nostradamos or any other human prophet; not the greatest good deeds nor the best intentions…… only JESUS.

Are you thirsty?

References: https://www.biblestudytools.com and

https://bible.com/bible

Fear of the World?

There is so much violence. Every time I watch the news or open a social media app, war, violence against persons, terrorism – these grab the headlines. As Christians, followers of JESUS CHRIST, should we be afraid of this ugliness? I am concerned for the spiritual safety of our children as socialism and radicalism take center stage, because we have strayed so far from our moral, our Christ-centered base. I know where I will be when the LORD returns with His army to destroy the Enemy and the world as we know it. Do you? Are you certain, without a shadow of a doubt? What we are seeing now, this destruction of our society, is nothing – NOTHING – compared to what is coming. Are you experiencing fear for the present?

Read the Bible. Compared to the return of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, now is tame. Don’t be afraid of today, and look to JESUS so that you have no fear for the future. He is the only way to avoid what’s coming.

“Before them the earth shakes, the heavens tremble, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The LORD thunders at the head of His army; His forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys His command. The day of the LORD is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” ” – Joel 2:10‭-‬12 NIV

-Rubens-

Scarred

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” – Romans 15:4 NIV

I heard a song today. It’s been out for a year, and I know I’ve heard it played, but today I heard it. Have you ever experienced this? The song is called Scars, and is by a group called I Am They. A part goes like this:

I’m thankful for the scars
‘Cause without them I wouldn’t know Your heart
And I know they’ll tell of who You are
So forever I am thankful for the scars

Why would I be thankful for scars? The world promotes and values flawless beauty, and scars are disfiguring. They are ugly marks on our bodies ….. but they also show the world that we have survived. I think scars are beautiful. They show something deep and determined and resilient about the bearer. Our Saviour is a perfect example. The scars that JESUS carries on His hands and His feet and His side show an incredible depth of love. Who is more perfect than the Son of the Most High GOD, Creator of the Universe? He willingly placed His perfect body in the hands of His enemies, who beat Him and crucified Him. I can imagine the Enemy was howling with laughter at the damage being done to JESUS’ body before His death. And yet, can you imagine anything more beautiful than those scars? They symbolize our freedom from an eternity in hell, and they are the very visible signs of His absolute love for us.

Scars are beautiful.

Scars – Publishing: © 2017 Wordspring Music (SESAC) (admin. by W.B.M. Music Corp.); EGH Music Publishing / Be Essential Songs (BMI) (admin. at EssentialMusicPublishing.com); I Am They Publishing / Be Essential Songs (BMI) (admin. He left at EssentialMusicPublishing.com)
Writer(s): Matt Armstrong, Ethan Hulse, Jon McConnell, Matthew Hein