Category: Spiritual

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Spiritual Vision Through Personal Character

My Utmost For His Highest Mar 27

Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place… Revelation 4:1

A higher state of mind and spiritual vision can only be achieved through the higher practice of personal character.

If you live up to the highest and best that you know in the outer level of your life, God will continually say to you, “Friend, come up even higher.” There is also a continuing rule in temptation which calls you to go higher; but when you do, you only encounter other temptations and character traits.

Both God and Satan use the strategy of elevation, but Satan uses it in temptation, and the effect is quite different.

For example, when the devil elevates you to a certain place, he causes you to fasten your idea of what holiness is far beyond what flesh and blood could ever bear or achieve. Your life becomes a spiritual acrobatic performance high atop a steeple. You cling to it, trying to maintain your balance and daring not to move. (Anyone relate?)

But when God elevates you by His grace into heavenly places, you find a vast plateau where you can move about with ease. (What a joy to be so thus surrounded with such freedom?)

I suggest you invest a few minutes today sometime to reflect and compare your spiritual acuity, depth, and satisfaction this Holy Week with your Holy Week memories of last year, to see how God now has called you to a higher level, enjoying a broad spacious plateau in which to operate. We are all continually being encouraged to elevate His perspective through us beyond our comfort zone, and incidentally, never allow God to show you a truth which you do not instantly begin to live up to, applying it to your life. Always work through it, staying in its light.

I’m recalling Carl’s 4 D’s this past Sunday; our destination, its distance, our decision, and of course, all without a doubt, OUR (it’s gotta be our, His & I, otherwise I’ll surely fail!) all-out DETERMINATION, in order to vibrantly declare, IT IS FINISHED after which we’ll hear, “well done thou good and faithful servant.” Perhaps use a Post-It Note to remember your 4-D’s?

Your growth in grace is not measured by the fact that you haven’t yet turned back, but that you have an insight and understanding into where you are today spiritually! We’re not merely performing or increasing our workout repetitions in the gym here! Have you heard God say, “Come up higher,” not audibly on the outer level, but to the innermost part of your character? “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing…?” (Genesis 18:17). Understand here, God has to hide from us what He does, until, due to the growth of our personal character, we get to the level where He is then able to reveal it. Oh, the wonder of it all! Praise His Holy Name!

POWERFUL WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS: You must comprehend the remarkable fact about fearing God is that when you fear God you fear nothing else; WHEREAS, if you do not fear God you fear everything else! “Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord.

Sustaining Encouragement for Further Reflection: Colossians 2:6-23 NIV

[6]So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him,

[7] rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

[8] See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.

[9] For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,

[10] and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.

[11] In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,

[12] having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

[13] When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,

[14] having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

[15] And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

[16] Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.

[17] These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

[18] Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind.

[19] They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

[20] Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:

[21] “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?

[22] These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.

[23] Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

NEXT UP: You’re on your own to personally reflect on your spiritual journey to date, as encouraged in this and prior posts. Happy Easter my friend!

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Sowing Mercy Into The Lives Of Others

Perhaps it is helpful first to remember the Great Commission (Matt 28:19) NIV stated “therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing… teaching…  Whereas the Message reads “Go out and train every one you meet, far and near, in this way of life, making them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in all that I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”

I find this above verse interesting in the fact that traditional public evangelical religious communication is now possibly so polarized, by the public hate speech and media demonstrations, that the evangelical community is effectively being silenced. Rural hamlets or cloistered communities may be the exception, which prompts me to contemplate that sewing mercy into the hateful fabric of our culture, or sowing the seeds of mercy into the hard barren soils now intolerant to scriptural truths or impenetrable to showers of blessings, is possibly preparing us to return to such as the Dark Ages like after the fall of Rome.

I am wondering as Christ Followers and Ambassadors, is the Holy Spirit NOW prompting us to be “upping our game” to expressions of mercy with far fewer words via overtly public preaching and teaching, but with many more under the public radar, heartfelt lingering knowingly loving glances of our eyes accompanied by tender touches, hugs, reassurances and prayers that we understand their pain, whatever the source. I am observing these interactions are being performed quietly and privately building on past events and understandings, regardless their duration.

Actually, such tactics were always to be implemented and utilized in the church, but we in the western church over the years became industrialized, then institutionalized, then enlightened, and now in the last century, educated beyond our competency until too often, we have sadly simply lost our Christian moorings. Now it’s anyone’s guess how our trivially concocted understanding of the end times may sorely refuse to mesh with His, as actually revealed in Scripture.

As Christ Followers, we must be explicitly clear about our mandate of extending mercy as put forth in the first paragraph, as well as the past several posts in preparing us to live victoriously while our chaotic culture and subsequent “off-the-vine-churches” must gasp for air from the worldly system of hospice care for their daily sustenance and even their pain medications. Rather sad, indeed gruesome, and in Christ’s eyes, entirely unnecessary!

Yes, everyone needs mercy because everyone has messed up. We’ve all hurt other people and made mistakes. We’ve all sinned and we all have hurts, habits, and hang-ups as a result of the mistakes we’ve made. Mercy changes the lives of people who have made mistakes, and we who have received mercy freely can change the world around us by showing mercy to others.

Here are four reasons we must keep sowing mercy. Though perhaps a trivial point, I am suggesting “sowing” may slightly elevate the action’s intensity over merely just showing mercy to others. Scripture uses them interchangeably.

1. Sow mercy in others because God has been merciful to you.
The Bible says that God is merciful. It is emphasized all throughout the Bible. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of verses that talk about God’s mercy and his love, his compassion, and his grace.

Ephesians 2:4-5 says, “God’s mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, that while we were spiritually dead in dis-obedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace you have been saved” (GNT).

The point of that Scripture is this: God wants me to act in the same way to other people.

2. Sow mercy in others because God commands you.
In Micah 6:8, God speaks through the prophet to give us three big instructions for our lives. “The LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (NLT).

God says if you want a summary of what life’s all about, and if you’re going to be in his family, this is what’s required of you: You need to do what is right with others, to love being merciful to others, and to live humbly in fellowship with God. One third of God’s requirement for you on this planet is to love mercy. Why? Because God is merciful.

3. Sow mercy because you’re going to need more mercy in the future.
You’re not going to be perfect between now and when you get to Heaven. The Bible tells us we cannot receive what we are unwilling to give.

James 2:13 says, “You must show mercy to others, or God won’t show mercy to you . . . But the person who sows mercy can stand without fear at the judgment” (NCV).

Don’t you want to be able to do that on judgment day? To be able to stand without fear on judgment day? It says the person who shows mercy can stand without fear on the judgment day.

It isn’t the people who have kept more rules than anyone else who get to face their eternity with the greatest confidence. It is believers who have shown mercy to other people.

4. Sow mercy because it produces happiness.
The more merciful I am, the happier I’m going to be.

Proverbs 14:21 says, “If you want to be happy, be kind to the poor; it is a sin to despise anyone” (GNT). Remember, before that can be shouted from the rooftops, it needs to be lived in our spirit, soul, & body; heart, mind, and will.

Being kind to other people actually blesses you and makes you happier in life. And sowing mercy certainly produces greater joy in those to whom you’ve sown it. Would you rather live in a world that is harsh or a world where the people around you value mercy? That is rather plain today!

BOTTOM LINE: You get to help shape a world of mercy around you and allow more people to find freedom from their past when you’re willing to sow mercy.

Note the above italicized four reasons to sow mercy to others was taken from blog.pastors.com/articles/4-reasons-to show-mercy

NEXT UP: Spiritual Vision Through Personal Character

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Finger Pointing 101 and your bill just came due!

When we point our fingers in judgement at somebody in life and say that’s what they get, we have just negated and rejected all of God’s Mercy and Grace in our own life.

And if there’s one thing in life we should know by now, is that our “life choices bill” will always come due. In other words, there’s coming a time to we’ll need to “settle up”, or pay our own bill, and that time is quickly approaching. And when it comes, you cannot help pay somebody else’s bill. They’re going to need to pay their own bill. And their bill will come. As will yours.

Realize now for those of you who sowed Mercy during your life, when your bill comes due, you’ll discover somebody else already paid it, and although you will perceive what you deserve is coming, it never does. What you deserve will never come to you, for you reaped mercy from the mercy you sowed earlier.

Right now, in your life, this level of peace that you’re enjoying is a testament or a witness to the way you’ve been living with and among those in your circles of influence. If you don’t like the level of your life’s peace right now, then make some changes; sow mercy.

For example, has anybody ever heard a person say, “I know this is going to end badly, but let me go ahead and do it anyway.” You ever heard a person say something like that? They already know the outcome. And it will, probably end terribly. But they go ahead and do it. And maybe, even keep doing it!

Which really is not much different than when somebody says “I just can’t seem to make the necessary changes to get out of this rut!”

You see, that’s the problem right there in a nutshell! When you admit to and confirm with your adversary like that, it is game over!

NEXT UP: Practically speaking, how can I begin NOW to sow mercy into the lives of others?

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I May Be In Shambles, But I’M SOWING MERCY EVERYWHERE!

When a person’s life is left in shambles, that’s a harsh place to be in and it can happen to anybody. But let me give you just a little bit of knowledge here. When these threatening situations, such as in the Luke 21 verses above, come into your life, you do realize that’s when Mercy is received? Any Mercy you sowed is received when a threat comes; not before, not days after, but at the time of engagement. Did you know that?

You do not reap Mercy during times of peace, you only reap Mercy during times of great threat. If you have sown Mercy and the threat comes, you will reap great Mercy. Remember, as mentioned prior, sowing mercy has to be real, for doing it as an “actor” or a hypocrite, will not work here, it has to be real. Ultimately, “actors” are separated from their souls as were Ananias & Sapphira.   

But if you’re spiritually real, and if you’ve been sowing Mercy, you got nothing to worry about during these future threatening times. I’m specifically addressing the spiritual female readers right now, for you may have a historical worry of torture and pain, of being hurt, for you are well acquainted with what pain is! And that frightens you, for just thinking will I ever have to go through anything like that again gives you anxieties. Will I have to suffer that torment again? So, let me begin by telling you this; strive to sow Mercy in truth.

Let’s back up first; if there’s one thing Satan is good at, it is talking people out of sowing Mercy, so that when the threat comes, there is no mercy to reap. Don’t let him rob or devastate you like that! He’s likely robbing you right now if he can. Let nothing stop you from sowing Mercy. When you intersect with a wrecked life, you sow mercy. Lend a hand. Have pity and compassion for that person. Don’t point at the person saying “that’s what you get.” Eventually you will see the destruction that will come for those who do such things when they’ve exercised no mercy. Such people exercising no mercy are in direct denial of God’s mercy. Do you know that? Because if they point to a person in the world and say that’s what they get, how easy then will it be for the Living God to point at you and say that’s what you get. He didn’t do that because when you were an offense to all His Righteousness, he sent Jesus, his only Begotten Son. He didn’t point at you and condemn you. Rather, He reached out his hands in mercy to embrace you by way of his Son.

NEXT UP: Finger Pointing 101 and your bill just came due!

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The Coming Storm…

These things are basic principles that are real, that are effective, and they work immediately. When I say work, it’s because your Father has already spoken goodness and His blessings over you. So, what’s stopping them? Perhaps it’s time for us to start asking ourselves, how and where am I speaking against the goodness of the Lord, and go find it, wherever it is. Just find it. Start by listening to yourself speak. Then get rid of the negative unrighteousness, because in the time we’re living in right now, it is FOR REAL time.  

And honestly, part of me is excited, whereas the other part is mortified. Yes, mortified, because this “for real time right now” cannot be seen by many, just like His Word says, “That they would not recognize the end times.” And if he said it, then it’s true! We’re in the middle of something and some Christian people think we’re just about to begin this end time ordeal, and such thinking will catch them off guard.

Now, listen to me, all of you who realize that we’re in the middle of a season, and that season is about to come to a quick close. Should it overtake your brother or your sister who did not know or were not aware, do not ever scoff at them, but rather, lend them your hand. You pick them up, and remind them that the Father is right? Remind them of that. Never sit in the seat of agreement with the scornful. Don’t do that, but rather, pick them up, encourage them with truth.

I believe many Christians are going to correct how they see and interpret the world real soon. Period! And I’ll tell you this also, a day is coming for many of the perceived highly visible holy people of this world, when experiencing the coming chaos and confusion, will have their hearts fail them. In fact, I think this is a good time to insert Luke 21:8- 28 (MSG) for your review.

8. He said, “Watch out for the doomsday deceivers. Many leaders are going to show up with forged identities claiming, ‘I’m the One,’ or, ‘The end is near.’ Don’t fall for any of that.

9. When you hear of wars and uprisings, keep your head and don’t panic. This is routine history and no sign of the end.”

10. He went on, “Nation will fight nation and ruler fight ruler, over and over.

11. Huge earthquakes will occur in various places. There will be famines. You’ll think at times that the very sky is falling.

12.” But before any of this happens, they’ll arrest you, hunt you down, and drag you to court and jail. It will go from bad to worse, dog-eat-dog, everyone at your throat because you carry my name.

13. You’ll end up on the witness stand, called to testify.

14. Make up your mind right now not to worry about it.

15. I’ll give you the words and wisdom that will reduce all your accusers to stammers and stutters.

16. “You’ll even be turned in by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. Some of you will be killed.

17. There’s no telling who will hate you because of me.

18. Even so, every detail of your body and soul—even the hairs of your head—is in my care; nothing of you will be lost.

19. Staying with it—that’s what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry; you’ll be saved.

20. “When you see soldiers camped all around Jerusalem, then you’ll know that she is about to be devastated.

21. If you’re living in Judea at the time, run for the hills. If you’re in the city, get out quickly. If you’re out in the fields, don’t go home to get your coat.

22. This is Vengeance Day—everything written about it will come to a head.

23. Pregnant and nursing mothers will have it especially hard. Incredible misery! Torrential rage!

24. People dropping like flies; people dragged off to prisons; Jerusalem under the boot of barbarians until the nations finish what was given them to do.

25. “It will seem like all hell has broken loose—sun, moon, stars, earth, sea,

26. in an uproar and everyone all over the world in a panic, the wind knocked out of them by the threat of doom, the powers-that-be quaking.

27. “And then—then! they’ll see the Son of Man welcomed in grand style—a glorious welcome!

28. When all this starts to happen, up on your feet. Stand tall with your heads high. Help is on the way!”

It is good that we review and study such passages to remind us of these coming events. Chaos & confusion may overtake us, including even those institutional voices or self-proclaimed narrative purveyors we humanly tend to gravitate toward for their wisdom as witnessed on our device screens assuredly not aligning well with the truths God has revealed to you, either by Scripture or Spirit, in your body, soul & spirit, heart, mind & will. We must be diligent focusing only on Almighty God and the table He’s prepared for us, substantiated by His Love, Grace & Mercy.  

BOTTOM LINE:

And may the Lord have mercy on those people whose lives are wrecked. Don’t point to those people wrecked by the chaos & confusion and say that’s what they get. Don’t do that, and I’ll tell you why. Although the processes of LIFE itself are not certain for anyone, our endings are clearly defined in scripture, for example, as written above.

NEXT UP:  I Might Be In Shambles, BUT I’M SOWING MERCY EVERYWHERE!

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The Mentality Needed for Five Talents vs One Talent

Money is the maturing agent that can cause unrighteous conditions to form in people, changing your speech, your attitude and about all of your other character benchmarks as well. Let me give you the warning again because I believe some of you are meant to be in charge of and the dispensing of great provisions, whether they be physical or mental blessings or gifts in His kingdom. Realize though managing or the distribution of such responsibilities may be accompanied with great sorrow. Let me explain.

Naturally, when you have access to resources, you’re going to get accustomed to them, as our children did with our affluence. Realize you’re not promised to have all that stuff so when it’s gone, it may well hurt. Do you hear me? You better realize this in the beginning, that one day it’s likely all going to be gone. When you get accustomed to those perky provisions, and suddenly they’re gone, your demeanor may go south quick! That’s the potential hurt I’m talking about. The hope is, is that you can build yourself up mentally & emotionally so as to remember, “Hey, I’m not promised these physical or mental blessings or gifts forever, so let me correctly utilize them right now so when they are no longer available, I don’t cobb an attitude and lose my righteousness.”

          BOTTOM LINE:

Do you really think your Father wants to give you something now, so that if & when later it’s gone, you slump into a spiritual or emotional depression and lose your righteousness? Why would the Lord give a person like that anything? Remember and rest in our Father’s provision, as well as His interpretation of the Parable of the Talents and the subsequent rewards.

          NEXT UP: The Coming Storm.

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Watch Out For The Precursor Of Lust!

You remember the Lord teaching us to be content as in I Timothy 6:6 “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out of it.”  That’s what He taught us as the ultimate living servant example in the flesh, whereas our world and culture literally demands we not be content, to always lust after something extra. Gold, silver and stuff is going to be the damnation of many souls. Do you hear me? Our Father said, be content, not to LUST after more.

Therefore, we need to be trained as His servant ambassadors. You know what gets me, for I can see it on some of you, you are meant to have access to considerable resources. You are! But those resources must never lead your heart away from His model of servanthood. Never! If they do change you, they’re no good for you.

So, let me give you this litmus test. If having, or not having resources, alters your mood or perspective of generosity, then it has power over you, and you dare not accept its influence. In fact, you best refuse its association immediately! However that being said, the day your resources increase appreciably, and they do not change your mood or perspective of generosity, that’s the day you understand the additional blessings from God are only gifts from God to be dispensed as His kingdom’s tools. And while living in our “crucibles or furnaces of life” with that servant perspective, the Lord takes delight in loaning or facilitating through us whatever tools we need to complete His kingdom work.

Be warned however, if such a sudden abundance of resources causes you excitement, such that a “shopping fit drool comes out of your mouth,” you can forget it. The Lord is not going to give you anything that will increase the lust of your flesh. He will not.

Be content. Don’t look around your place and complain about what you’re missing. Stop doing that. That’s exactly what Satan wants you to do, because in so doing, you’re cursing God’s current provision for you. If you live in a shack with a leaky roof, I’m telling you right now, be thankful. Be thankful because that is your Father’s provision. For the moment, be thankful. Don’t curse his provision.

Understand whoever is thankful for God’s provision will have God’s adequate provision. Whoever rejects it, will go through a season, just like the Children of Israel did, frequently needing correction. They went through seasons where they had nothing; where everything was stripped away. Don’t put yourselves through that pain! That means right now, look around and be thankful for what you have and realize, truth be told, you really don’t even have to have what you do have! Learn to be content with what you have today. In other words, being content is simply to be thankful.

BOTTOM LINE: Don’t EVER feed the lust of your flesh.

NEXT Up:  The Mentality Needed for Five Talents vs One Talent

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The remedy for defunct alignment/ revelation issues….

Now, imagine you have just realized you’re out of alignment or without revelation, in a relationship or a communication somewhere in your circle of influence, and it’s publicly visible and going to seed! You’re about to become a-real-deal bonafide “actor” sown by the enemy that Jesus spoke of in the Parable of the Weeds in Matthew 13:24. Understand the First Responders are on their way. In the mean-time though…

Step One: Hold your tongue. Don’t speak anything.

Because if you do speak, you’ll speak hypocrisy. See, this is why people who try to speak a goodness into their lives, discover such does not succeed. Let me tell you something. The truth of our Father is universal to all of us. And that means such declarations will not work for just one or two people. No, the truth is for everyone. Even for a heathen if he will accept it. There’s no special technique. None of that nonsense! Truth is truth. God calls it hypocrisy when we speak something that’s not internally aligned or revealed. And he forbids it. But we’ve gotten sloppy and do it anyway. So, what do you do when you know you’re harboring an element of the enemy (negativity) inside you? Too often, we talk too much!

Step Two: Turn off all social media (actually advise that forever).

Flee to your Altar or your prayer closet, and get your soul right by Getting on your knees, Confess, Repent, Forsake, Obey, Re-connect to the Vine, Refuel, Refresh, Rejoice, and Consider only the most-worthy alignment/revelation communications.

It does not take a day. It does not take a week. It’s only a decision! You’re either going to accept or not, just like the last time it happened. Only this time you’ve seen the LIGHT, NOW WALK IN IT, thereby accepting the free (and absolutely freeing) help He provides!

BOTTTOM LINE:  Don’t you let your mouth speak until you’re internally synched with the Holy Spirit.

Next UP: Watch Out For The Precursor Of Lust!

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Hung by the Tongue

Let me be absolutely clear! Not one of you can speak death into my life. Not one. And I can’t speak death into your life. But you can speak death into your own life. And I can speak death into my own life.

Do you understand what’s been happening with you? You have been pushing God’s blessings away by the words you continue to repeat and accept in your heart about yourself. Can you see by pushing away the truth of God’s word in your life by allowing even a single thought to take control of your mind and its subsequent actions, that you are now speaking the opposite of the goodness of the Lord in your life. Do you see that? This is a direct assault of evil upon your life!

I am often asked, “Well, how do you fix that?”

The answer is so simple. “Stop doing it!”

See, because if you are studying your Bibles, you know that God has not recanted his blessings over your life. You’re simply resisting a good word over you. Stop resisting. Stop speaking like Charlie Brown. Stop believing your own death. Just know how you speak is what you accept.

May I give you a great caution yet?

Never speak forth anything that does not align with what God has put in your heart & mind.  Don’t do it. Listen to me, don’t do it, no matter what it is. Do not speak what does not align with what God has revealed to you or given to you in your body, soul & spirit, heart, mind, & will.

By you speaking out of alignment or without revelation is indeed the birthplace of the eventual blooming and going to seed possibly becoming a detrimental source or the root of hypocrisy or similar influence to the Matt 13 Parable of the Weeds (tares). And once rooted & blooming, and going to seed, you’ll become an “actor” in the body of Christ, that speaks Satan’s narratives; innumerable variations of darkness & destruction, chaos & confusion.

By speaking in compliance with what Satan, or even other “spiritual persons” expect or desire you to say or promote, that inwardly does not align with the Spirit within you or has not been revealed to you, will then set you up faster than you can imagine as a Charlie Brown puppet. For suddenly you’ll be out in the dark, stumbling around, hungry, lonely, and feeling, NO, not at all just merely feeling, for you will actually be living like the Prodigal Son. Wake up every one! Hypocrisy has consequences!

The MSG version of the Prodigal Son is much more to the point, “Father, I want right now what is coming to me!” And especially so, if you realize the gross disrespect being exemplified in that culture! We just rather gloss over that, don’t we? We being out of alignment, without revelation, and “a single thought from guess who” will start the whole stinkin’ thinkin’ process! God has totally armed you to destroy these petty distractions. Pay attention or you will suffer. Possibly even die!

NEXT UP: The remedy for defunct alignment/ revelation issues….

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Revealing Signs of My Times: BENCHMARKERS?

Since my 60’s I’ve been tracking my physical limitations by noting those physical tasks increasingly requiring I use a ladder to reach, a pliers to grip, a ramp to roll an implement up, etc. Mentally as well, Pastor Karl challenged us years ago to memorize the Fruits of the Spirit, certainly a worthy task for observing the depth/maturity of our current spirituality. Just understand it has been my continual goal for years to quickly rattle off those nine descriptive words with no conclusive success. Only after forcing myself each morning since this New Years before reading my daily Proverbs chapter, have I accomplished this, and that with the crutch of the acronym of first letters L J P P K G F G S! I possess a strange mind indeed! See why I hallucinate at thinking I’ll ever learn Spanish?

So, as we age and become aware of these revealing and distressing benchmarks, we speak of our “new normals,” which are actually our compensations, in my case, too often excuses for laziness, as Loretta lovingly and patiently reminds me. Actually, God has really blessed me in the fact that after reading Scripture as I do frequently, He then inspires a worthy thought or a concept and I begin to write, and just as the MSG Gal. 5:22 below says that “fruit appears in an orchard,” thus far at least for me, my thoughts appear on the screen. Never mind, how slow they appear, or how long I struggle for particular words, etc.

FYI, I do understand that crossword puzzles and even writing are worthy deterrents for my innocuous less threatening terminology for my brain fog, “new normal” or not! However, I passionately avoid puzzles, both crossword and jigsaw. I presume it’s an expression of a genetic anabaptist workaholic modified gene?

BOTTOM LINE: Reading through Galatians this Sunday, though scuttling my walk, I was greatly encouraged by the directness and the simplicity of Paul’s encouragement to us from Ch 6:9-10 to utilize His resources before our individual & cultural benchmarkers will be removed by the sands of time, actually, even the planet:

9. So, let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit.

10. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

Galatians 5:4, 13-26 (MSG)

4. I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace.

13. It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows.

14. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom.

15. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then?

16. My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness.

17. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at times another way according to how you feel on any given day.

18. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?

19. It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness;

20. trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits;

21. the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on. This isn’t the first time I have warned you, you know. If you use your freedom this way, you will not inherit God’s kingdom.

22. But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments,

23. not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way.

24. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.

25. Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives.

26. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

Galatians 6:1-10 (MSG) 

1. Live creatively, friends. If someone falls into sin, forgivingly restore him, saving your critical comments for yourself. You might be needing forgiveness before the day’s out.

2. Stoop down and reach out to those who are oppressed. Share their burdens, and so complete Christ’s law.

3. If you think you are too good for that, you are badly deceived.

4. Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others.

5. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life.

6. Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.

7. Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—

8. harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.

9. So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit.

10. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith.

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