The Excellency of Christ

Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him.

      The excellency of Christ in its fulness, cannot be described by any human resource because a finite mind can only find words within its realm of understanding. Therefore explaining the excellence of an infinite Christ is outside of our ability to fully demonstrate the perfection of Christ's holiness and divinity. However, this should not stop us from asking the Holy Spirit for revelation knowledge to receive within our capability the understanding of who Christ is and be able to do our best to describe His divine excellency. 

      The fulness of Christ will only be known when we stand before Him in eternity. Perhaps we can get a glimpse of the eye-opening awe of Christ with this example. When the Queen of Sheba declared her amazement of Solomon's wisdom, it was after she had ditched her preconceived ideas because of the things she had heard. 2Chron. 9:5 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. 6 I didn’t believe what was said until I arrived here and saw it with my own eyes. In fact, I had not heard the half of your great wisdom! It is far beyond what I was told. When we meet our Saviour Jesus on that glorious day, our words will be, " I had not heard a trillionth of what was told."

      Prov. 30:5 Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. This proverb says that every word of God is pure. Well, Jesus is the Word, and He is pure. John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was God! Everything that exists was made by Him. John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. The miracle for our hearts to understand is that this Word became flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. John 1:14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. There is so much to take in, but there it is, Christ the perfect and excellent one, chose to come and live among His created beings.

      Man's downfall is when we treat Jesus like one of the boys and compare Him to ourselves and the standard of forthrightness that is exhibited in our world. When we do this, we no longer have the ability to be awe-struck by what is presented as who Jesus is. Yes, we all have that cinematic picture of Him healing the sick, casting out devils, and for the grand finale, raising the dead while looking beatific and in a constant state of meditation. This portrayal of Jesus Christ is our interpretation of what we think God in the flesh would act like. This self-created image gets in the way of who He truly is. He is God in the flesh. Col. 2:9 For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. How can this eternal mystery be accurately explained to a society that thinks God is an old man floating above them somewhere?

      When Jesus was confronting the Sadducees who were supposed to have a basic understanding of God, the Lord said plainly what the problem was and the same problem exists today. Matt. 22:29 Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. The lesson that Jesus was trying to explain was that knowing the Word of God and understanding God's power is the first key to being in a position to hear God and having our hearts open to a relationship with Him. 

      The religious leaders of the day had studied the law of God their whole lives, only to demonstrate that they understood very little of God's love and holiness. Jesus who was the excellency of God was walking amongst them in the flesh, and they had no insight as to who Jesus was even though they were waiting for the Messiah to arrive. Mark 8:18 You have eyes—can’t you see? You have ears—can’t you hear?’ Don’t you remember anything at all? The religious rulers who continually searched the prophetic laws, could not see the incarnate prophecy fulfilled in front of them.

      How do we overcome that same spirit manifesting today that stumed the Pharisees? Many are like the Sadducees and the Herodians, who seemed to have a form of Godliness but were not able to see Jesus the Lord. We tend to be floundering in religiosity. 2Tim. 3:5 Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. How do we break through that religious spirit and grasp the power of God's eternal life at work within us? The Apostle Paul who wrote much of the New Testament was wrestling with the same issue and found himself wanting to know the depth of Christ's excellency and the power of His resurrection. Phil. 3:10a I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. It seems this is the prayer we need to pour out of our hearts to break through the spirit of complacency. Oh, that I might know Him!  

      Thank God there is grace through our Lord Jesus who keeps us from falling into complete stupification and reprobation. As we walk and do our best to know the excellency of Christ, we can be assured that God has us in the palm of His hand. Until we are living with the Lord in eternity, grasping how perfect Jesus is will be a constant pursuit. In the meantime, God will keep us in the covenant He gave us through Christ. Jude 1:24 Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. It's all Jesus and all grace. That is all we have. Amen! 

No Monuments For Jezebel

Proverbs 1:16 For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.

      How true this proverb describes Jezebel. Prov. 1:16 For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood. She was invigorated by evil and fast to shed blood. What an empty legacy she ended up with at the end of her life. All that Jezebel left was a sin-scared nation. She had promoted the evilest activities that would cause suffering within Israel for years to come. 1Kings 21:25 No one else so completely sold himself to what was evil in the LORD’s sight as Ahab did under the influence of his wife Jezebel. Jezebel, with king Ahab's help, led the nation in worshiping Baal, Ashtoreth and Molech. These false gods required the sacrifice of children, often the first-born male child who was sacrificed by fire. The evil spirits behind these false gods were merciless and unsparing when it came to the protection of children and the elderly. We may be seeing a glimpse of those evil spirits at work today in a similar way in that the elderly and children are abused and exploited for the sake of convenience and perverted proclivities.

      Jezebel was a psychopath who enjoyed the suffering she promoted and had no empathy for anyone. Her death was as violent as the creed she had established during her reign with Ahab. 2Kings 9:33 “Throw her down!” Jehu yelled. So they threw her out the window, and her blood spattered against the wall and on the horses. And Jehu trampled her body under his horses’ hooves. At the end of her loathsome life, all that remained of Jezebel was the stench emanating from the dog's and hyena's droppings that were scattered over the fields they roamed in. Jezebel had been eaten, digested, and defecated throughout the lands she had willingly caused abominations to become the custom of the day. 2Kings 9:37 Jezebel’s corpse will be like manure on the surface of the ground in the plot of land at Jezreel so that no one will be able to say: This is Jezebel. That was Jezebel’s epitaph - if stepped in, she was something to be scrapped off of one’s shoe.

      God has a way of making His point very clear to those who would treat children with evil intent. If it is better to be strapped to a millstone and drowned at the bottom of the sea, for causing a child to sin, what will the penalty be for killing children out of selfishness, convenience or bent beliefs? Matt. 18:6 But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to have a large millstone tied around your neck and be drowned in the depths of the sea. 

      No Saints, there are no monuments for Jezebel nor for those who adhere to her ways. It is interesting that lately, the monuments of those who were responsible throughout history for the inhumane exploitation of children, the abuse of the elderly, and racist slave practices have been taken down, thrown away, destroyed, or relocated to dark musky rooms for the time being where fungus, mole, spiders, and cockroaches make their dwellings. 

      Leaving a righteous legacy is what the Lord would like us to do. Someone might say, "But I am only an adherent at a local church." If anyone is in Christ, their inheritance is assured for eternity because Christ's rich legacy is infinitely established and accepted by God the Father. 1Cor. 3:9 For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. Giving our hearts to the Lord results in our salvation and gives us a holy legacy worth having and living in. Remember that what you do in Christ, is eternally valued by God our Father. Col. 3:23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 24  knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ. 

      There may not be any monuments made of marble, plaster, or cement raised to celebrate our righteousness once we leave this earth, but there is a blessing far greater than what man claims to be monumental. We who are in Christ and live in the Lord's goodness will be able to offer our crowns to the Lord in thanksgiving for what He has done. The crowns of righteousness, life, and glory that we receive because of what Jesus did on our behalf will reflect how perfect our Lord and Saviour is. 2Tim. 4:8 And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing. James 1:12 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. 1Pet. 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. 

      These crowns will be the most monumental trophies of our lives. They will have demonstrated the faithfulness that God had toward us in helping us be faithful to Him. All because of the finished work of the cross and the love that Jesus has for us. Jesus demonstrated His love by volunteering to be sacrificed on the torturous cross so that we would have an inheritance with Him. Oh, what a Lord we serve. As God reminds us 2Kings 9:37b So that no one will be able to say: This is Jezebel. or - Jezebel is not worth remembering, however, those who love the Lord and remain faithful will be remembered and have an eternal inheritance that we will live in forever. Amen!

Trivial Things

Proverbs 21:4 The lamp that guides the wicked — haughty eyes and an arrogant heart — is sin.

      

      1Kings 16:30 Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. 31 And it came to pass, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians; and he went and served Baal and worshiped him.

      Ahab was an evil king who ignored what the Spirit of the Lord was saying to the nation of Israel. God's laws and directions had simply become a trivial thing that Ahab nonchalantly shrugged aside like it was the remains of yesterday's dinner. This attitude resulted in a problem for Ahab when he inquired of Baal for help, and of course, the false god Baal did not come through for him and left him in need. Like many people today, Ahab could not connect, understand, or fathom how to approach God which resulted in Ahab accepting counsel from Jezebel, thus causing him to fall into deeper problems. 

      When a person knowingly walks in sin and treats sin as a trivial thing, they lose their reassurance of faith, righteous courage, and spiritual intuition. When anything goes wrong in their life, it becomes an excuse to blame others for all the problems they themselves have created. Choosing to reject God, and to disregard all that God stands for, is choosing death for the foundational basis of one's life. Talk about a dead end. This proverb indeed declares that when wickedness is our guide, our hearts will dwell in arrogant sin. Prov. 21:4 The lamp that guides the wicked — haughty eyes and an arrogant heart — is sin. 

      Ahab's arrogance was so entrenched that he not only blamed his problems on others but also blamed them on the prophet of God for what Israel was going through. Ahab was blind to the fact that he himself and his governing practices, were the reasons Israel was in the grips of God's punishing drought. 1Kings 18:17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, the cause of disaster to Israel?” Elijah sets Ahab straight as to who was causing Israel to go through judgment and punishment. 1Kings 18:18 “I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the LORD and have worshiped the images of Baal instead.

      When evil becomes a trivial thing in our life, it is time to get on our knees and bow our heads and hearts, while crying out to God for mercy and a new revelation of God's holiness. It would be prudent of us to ask God for His help in reawakening the first love and dedication we had for the Lord when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour on His terms. Rev. 2:4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 

      If we become insensitive to sin, then what happens to our families, brothers and sisters in the Lord who are looking our way for encouragement in choosing the Lord's righteousness for life? We are all epistles read by men. What are the pages of our testimony saying concerning the holiness of God? Will those who read our hearts simply say, "Well, if he doesn't care what God says, why should anyone else?" For us to treat the Holy Spirit's ministry of convicting our sins as a trivial thing, is arrogance and vexation to God's heart.

      This scripture verse may be short, but what Jesus says is explicitly clear. John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments. There it is. If we love the Lord, we will obey what the Lord says to do, and adhere to His directions in life. The best part of this command is that Jesus will help us keep it. How good is that? We can ask God to help us obey His word. What an amazing grace Jesus has procured for us who love Him and walk in His light. 1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Notice that the light we are to walk in is not our interpretation of what we want that light to be. We are to live in the light that Jesus says brings fellowship and agreement with the Lord Jesus through His cleansing blood. 

      Most of us are familiar with someone who has fallen away from the Lord and ruined their life because they treated the conviction of the Holy Spirit as a trivial thing. They stopped obeying and hearing what God was saying to their hearts, resulting in them falling into sin's merciless grip and losing so much. For those who have repented and come back into relationship with God and obeyed His word, they will tell you that they carry a lot of scars from their time of rebellion and that the whole mess was not worth the pain they suffered. Is there salvation for those who crash and burn their lives? Yes, absolutely there is, when true repentance emanates from our inner being, there is forgiveness and restoration through Christ.

      Christ's sacrifice is that powerful and able to cleanse the worst of sinners who ask for forgiveness. Why lose everything through rebellion to learn that sin and iniquity are not trivial things? The wages of sin is death, and that law has not changed since the first sin in the Garden of Eden. Don't be an Ahab by looking for life through dead and false gods. Choose Christ who is life, and He will do more than save your life, He will give you a life worth living. Amen!

Whosoever Will

Proverbs 3:23 Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.
     
      Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. The word whoever takes in a whole lot of people and nationalities. The Lord generously invites whoever is inclined to approach God or is even thinking about getting to know God. We are invited to accept His invitation to embrace the love God has for everyone by accepting His Son Jesus, as their Lord. John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Do you qualify as - whoever? Then you are welcome to believe and accept God's gift of salvation.
      Some people think they do not deserve the love God has for them or have the right to ask the Lord for help because they see themselves as - only a .... or just a.... They say things like, "I'm only a waitress. I'm just a labourer. I only collect bottles," and so on. The self-judgment of "I'm just a..." is reinforced by their feelings of unworthiness. The Lord made sure that all people, like the priest, the temple workers, and the whosoevers of the world were included in His covenant. Yes, even the woodcutters who supplied wood for the sacrifices in God's temple were acknowledged by God's law. Neh. 10:34 We have cast lots among the priests, Levites, and people for the donation of wood by our ancestral families at the appointed times each year. They are to bring the wood to our God’s house to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law. Lots were cast among the people, as well as the Levites and priests. That's right, the everyday people were included in God's righteous plan for service.
      Lev. 6:12 The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. How could these law-abiding ministers perform their duties without the woodcutters? Everyone is welcome in the work and ministry within God's kingdom, and we are to do what we do as unto the Lord. Col. 3:23 Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Everyone has a God-given purpose to fulfill, even the crop-pickers, street-sweepers, and sanitary rubbish collectors are all on God's list of whosoevers, and they are eligible through the blood of Jesus Christ to walk in friendship with God.
      If salvation had been left up to the human race to become successful, the caste system of life's rankings would most likely be enforced. The majority of the population would not be able to even think of approaching God. We would all have to jump through burdensome hoops created by class structures and invented by fallible men and women who would cause us all to fall flat on our faces. We would end up forever struggling in the trenches of despair. Look at all the cults that are available in this world. They show us the mess that arises when mankind takes over the rules and regulations as to who can have access to salvation. We find out very fast that our flesh dispenses punishment much faster and uglier than God does. As Anaïs Nin says, "We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are." We are flawed, through and through. Therefore, God steps in and offers true salvation through Christ who eternally works for the well-being of all mankind and all the - whosoever wills. Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.
      It is after a person receives Christ, that their moving forward in life begins to open up to the realm of eternal possibilities. Prov. 3:23 Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble. The whosoever becomes a known person in God's kingdom. The whoever now has a name intimately known between God and that soul. Rev. 2:17b To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. Suddenly, just a waitress, or only a store clerk, becomes a king and a priest in the Lord's kingdom fulfilling their purpose in Christ rather than existing in the social standings of the world. Wow, what a transformation from being - just a .... and only a woodcutter, to a soul in relationship with Almighty God. What a miracle salvation is when looked at through the Lord's paradigm.
     Whenever man tries to improve the state of the human condition, the task becomes difficult because the foundation that man is building his improvements upon is unstable. When God enters the picture and brings His righteous redemption into our hearts, the amelioration of the human condition excels exponentially because God gives us true life. With the Lord at work within our hearts, we become more than a whosoever. We become sons and daughters of the most high God. We step into our roles of kings and priests ministering unto the Lord. We rise out of the mundane stupor of just being a self-declared nobody to the reality of someone God wants to spend time with.
      The Psalmist rightly said in his wonderment of God's interest in each one of us. "What is man that God is mindful of him?" Psalm 8:4 What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? For God to take such an intense interest in our existence, and to sacrifice His only Son for our eternal lives, there has to be something of extreme value that He sees in the creation of each one of us. The amazing thing is that God's love for us is not based on what we bring to the table because the Lord has already set the table before us. We are to show up at the Lord's table and enter into all that He has for us. The Love of God, and His amazing grace, which is available to whoever wants what God has for them, can receive it by saying, "Yes, God, I want your gift of eternal life through Christ, our Lord." Amen!

Parenting-Units

Proverbs 9:4 Are you confused about life, don't know what's going on? Come with me, oh come, have dinner with me!

      No longer can I call my mother "Mom." Nope, now she is the 'birthing person' who dropped me into this world run by fools. I can just see the happy 'parenting-units' being so happy that the first words from their newly birthed prodigy are, "Birttt-innn-perrs..." Aww, how cute. Duudu..dad and mmum..mom are a thing of the past. Don't get me started on application forms with boxes to check off, having the options of male, female, other, and seven extra categories of emotional dysfunction to choose from. I reckon, since I am only one of the parent units and not the birthing person in a civil union, I may not be as sensitive to the hurt and offended feelings people are choosing to have. I will have to learn how to make heads or tails of all the nonsense. 

      Like most of you, I do wonder where we are headed. I am so grateful to God that I am in the latter years of my life on this rotating insane asylum we call earth. What is wrong with our collective reasoning that we have become so willfully dumb? Are the people coming up with this new world order of practiced unintelligence so bereft of common sense that their default setting is stuck in an anti-thought process mode? Isa. 5:20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! This nonsense has become conversational quicksand that just kills the heart of people's desire to want to help or put any energy into honest and intelligent dialogue concerning these endless nonsensical issues of our day. 

      I feel sorry for the Hallmark company which will have to come up with a whole new category of deeply sensitive cards for all the birthing persons on Birthing Person's Day. Roses are red, and violets are blue, I am so blessed to have had a birthing person like you. Aww, the depths of love just oozes off that card. Prov. 9:4a Are you confused about life, don't know what's going on? No matter what zeitgeist, humanism, or God forbid, totalitarianism becomes the rule of the day, I will still call my mother “Mom.” If I get arrested for that, it may end up being a good thing, because I will be locked up with all the sane people who are left.

      It seems like so many officials in positions of governing authority are drunk on their own political moonshine. Like a runaway train, political correctness has accelerated to the extreme side of the ridiculous, and no one knows how to stop the wreck, and yet, this thinking is not new. The corrupt Kings of Israel had participated in extreme evil and had become so focused on wickedness that they too were making policies that were beyond human reasoning. They had encouraged society to sacrifice children and throw them into the flames of a fiery altar. 2Kings 17:17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and interpreted omens. They devoted themselves to do what was evil in the LORD’s sight and angered Him. How had this iniquitous behaviour become a good idea? Were the kingly governing members trying to satisfy every special interest group that came along as the governing bodies are doing today? How had the minds of the people become so dull and vile that they went along with killing children to believe this evil practice would bring good fortune to their lives? 

      No wonder, while nailed to the cross, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do!" How true those words are, "For we know not what we do." We think we know what righteousness is and what is acceptable within society's collective tolerance. But, we end up using a fashionable self-righteousness of the day that has a way of becoming and exposing the evil that self-righteousness really is. Jer. 17:9 The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Self-righteousness will justify anything. This is why we need the Lord's righteousness that comes through Christ Jesus.

       Satan, who is the perfidious enemy of our soul, continually tries to derail our lives by getting us to question our valued existence in whom God created us to be. Our identity can be found in the arms of our Lord. God knows who we are and what we are capable of becoming. The Lord has known us before the creation of the world and has a plan for each one of us. Eph. 1:4 Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. We are uniquely created by a loving God who has given us a life purpose through Christ.

      We are much more than a parent-unit, birthing person, or whatever gibberish is now available to identify with. However, we need to rise and have faith in the value God has placed upon our lives and the salvation He has provided through Jesus Christ. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, and I will call my mother, "Mom."  PS I love you, mom.

An Innocent Man

Proverbs 3:30 Do not accuse anyone for no reason— when they have done you no harm.

      

      There are often lengthy discussions as to how much injustice there was concerning Jesus' crucifixion. Statements like, "He was an innocent man."  "He was a good man who did good things for people." "He was a just and holy man who had been framed by the religious ruling class." These statements seem to be the repeated reasons why some folk express that it was unreasonable that the Lord should have suffered so cruel a punishment because Jesus was such a good man. Acts 10:38 And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.      

      Think about it. The Romans had perfected the cruel art of crucifixion. They had been doing it for hundreds of years, and it was a common punishment used on slaves, Christians, disgraced soldiers, and undesirable foreigners. The system was so well worked because crucifixion was a slow death and there was a faint hope possibility of being taken off the cross if the one being nailed had been found innocent before he or she died. Which meant in itself, that there were innocent, good, and just people who had been falsely condemned to the torture of the cross. Not unlike finding out years later that a prisoner on death row had been found innocent after DNA results proved that the person had been wrongfully jailed for something he or she had not done.

      What was it that made the crucifixion of Jesus so historically important, world-changing, and eternally binding? If it was only that Jesus was innocent, good, and just that made His sacrifice acceptible to God, then why not accept all the other innocent, just, and good martyrs who sacrificed their lives? There had been plenty of Godly men and prophets who had come before Jesus, who had been killed for doing what God had asked them to do. Jesus talked about them with the rulers of the synagogue. Luke 13:34a O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! Heb. 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they died by the sword, they wandered about in sheepskins, in goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated. Why were the lives of those holy men who were mistreated and murdered not an acceptable sacrifice to take away sin?     

      What we call innocent and what the Lord calls innocent are two different views of innocence. As I said, many who had been crucified were innocent of the crime that got them nailed to the cross, but they were not innocent of everything in life or innocent of the sin they had been born into at birth. Jesus was not only an innocent man but a sinless man as well. Jesus' sacrifice of His life was the one whom God could accept because Jesus was the perfect sacrifice that would cover and take away the sins of every person who ever was, is, and will be. 2Cor. 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

      I agree that it was unjust and insidious for the religious leaders in Jerusalem to commit deicide by falsely accusing Jesus and rigging the system to have Him crucified. But God had an eternal plan hidden in Christ that allowed every soul entrance into the presence of God the Father and would allow every person to be accepted and seen as the righteousness of God through Christ if Jesus was accepted as their personal saviour. What an incredible mystery and miracle that had been concealed from the evil one. From the first day after man had sinned, God declared a saviour would be sent to deliver mankind from the bondage of Satan, death, and iniquity, and Satan wouldn't see it coming. 1Cor. 2:7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 

      Had Satan understood the power and mystery veiled in Christ, he would not have instigated the crucifixion of Jesus. When Jesus was nailed to the cross and the moment He shouted, "It is finished," it was finished for Satan and all his minions as their days became numbered. Eternal hell awaits them all. They should have read the proverb. Prov. 3:30 Do not accuse anyone for no reason— when they have done you no harm. That same shout on the cross was the beginning of the liberating force that saved us from eternal death. Jesus' resurrection from the dead confirmed life for evermore.

      We who are in Christ, have been made the righteousness of God through the sacrifice and blood of Jesus. The Lord's sacrifice allows us to walk as innocent beings before our God. Are we innocent of all things in life? I doubt it because being human means we will mess up. However, through Christ, we are now accepted as innocent before our Heavenly Father. This is all possible because of Jesus and the finished work He has done for us. What an amazing gift God has given us. Let us be grateful for our salvation that has been paid for at such a great cost. Jesus is Lord!

A-I And I

Proverbs 21:30 There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD. 

      In his book, The Price Of Tomorrow, Jeff Booth, makes an observation, explaining the impact of AI artificial intelligence on the economy, jobs, and the life changes that will occur because of the staggering effect on our ability to keep up with the fast acceleration of change. When AI is compared to the advent of electricity becoming available for the world's use and the effect it had on human history, AI will be - If electricity was a match, artificial intelligence is the sun. Dan. 12:4 But you, Daniel, keep these words secret and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will roam about, and knowledge will increase. Like most world-changing innovations we eventually catch up and adjust our lives to the technologies available. However, the hypothesis in the case of AI is that we may not catch up, or it may take us a long time to do so.

      I was listening to a news report explaining how fifty-two mortgage brokers who worked for a major bank in Toronto had been replaced by two people who manage an algorithm that could do the same output of work and diagnosis as to whether the applicants for mortgages qualified. One of the major observations is that AI will be affecting the middle-class lifestyle more than other workers because of all the clerical work that will be replaced. In the same report, they went on to explain, that from all the legal files now available online, law firms are starting to use software to find cases and precedents needed to declare in court. There is no need for the same amount of paralegals who once did this work. Plus, this work is being accomplished at record speeds that the paralegal cannot compete with, and the time saved in work hours gives law firms greater profit-margin.

      Of course, the mortgage brokers and paralegals who owe on their student loans, are now scrambling for and competing with those who normally apply for entry-level service jobs, thus causing disruptions for the first-time job finders. These indebted professionals have to pay off their student loans while they consider new loans (a vicious circle) to take new courses in other career choices that may also fall redundant to the advancements of artificial intelligence. A lot of those who have been affected end up moving back in with their parents because the cost of living is overwhelming. Rev. 6:6a Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages. All because of the fast and changing technological advancement coming in at lightning speeds. 

      It is difficult for many of the youth to make career choices for what is not known will be needed in the future. Some young people are graduating after years of study, only to find out their chosen field and the work that was available when they started the courses have been replaced with algorithms. No one saw it coming, including the faculties of the institutions of learning. In some cases, the need for a workforce for that area of service that was chosen no longer exists. These are the dilemmas our next generations are faced with. The wisdom that these future students will need will have to be divinely inspired wisdom to know what to do for a lifetime career. Prov. 9:10 Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.

      After fifty and some years that I have been in business, I have had to contend with change. When I started in the sales department of my company, the average business had an adding machine, a typewriter, and a black rotary phone on a desk. The high-tech office might have a Gestetner machine for rolling off multiple copies of documents. Then the first thermal roll paper photocopy machines came along, and the electric typewriters started showing up, plus a flashy digital display calculator. Green or orange word display screens on small monitors connected to big computers started replacing the typewriters and plain paper copiers were the had-to-have in every office. The thermal fax machine replaced the noisy teleprinters, and on it went until many of my contemporary salesmen were replaced with robotic phone services. 

      Yes, change is inevitable, and it comes along whether we like it or not. I was the one selling a lot of these new office products and kept up with all the advancements until recently when company policy changed and started phasing out the need for sales reps. After all, anything can be ordered within seconds on any connected device. I am fortunate because the older owners of the said companies I serviced for years, wanted to keep using their old equipment until they shut down, and servicing those office products is something I know how to do. So, as strange as it turned out, I have a small niche business fixing and servicing all kinds of older office equipment. Therefore, AI and I get along. 

      Artificial intelligence will never replace our soul's desire to serve the Lord. All the God-haters, who will misuse AI because of their arrogant visions of grandeur, will be like those who participated in building the Tower of Bable. With sorcery and the advancements of their day, they tried to play God, but they ended up dispersed, confused and lost in their communication. Gen. 11:7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other. Thus babbling their way to the next time they tried to be better than God. 

      There is no man-made technological plan or insight that can outwit the Lord or come close to God's eternal genius. Prov. 21:30 There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD. What we see as advanced artificial intelligence and the threatening changes that may occur because of it, will still be child's play to our Mighty God. Look to the Lord for wisdom as to what to do with the inevitable changes of life coming our way. Life with God goes on and it is good. Amen!

God In A Box

Proverbs 30:5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
     
       It must be irksome to God to have people who think they know everything, question God's integrity who does know everything. When we judge God from our human standard, we are demonstrating how dimwitted and ignorant we are because we are missing it; we are deeming God's capabilities inside of our limitations. Mal. 2:17a You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them. They try to promote the idea that God is happy and agreeable with the status quo of our times. When these dispensers of pseudo-knowledge try to expand and explain the idea of God with their inaccurate descriptions of His perfection, they inadvertently put God in a box of distorted ideas of their own making. The great I Am becomes a totem symbol of human invention.
      History has shown us that we cannot contain the fullness of God within our understanding. The universe cannot contain Him. How then can we think we can constrain God within the limited dimensions of our making? Yet, we keep trying to organize and maintain God within a denominational framework that in most cases has only scratched the surface of just one of God's thoughts. After Solomon had built the temple for God, he rightly said, 1Kings 8:27b Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! What makes man think he can box God up and dispense Him as needed? The finite mind that tries to explain an infinite God will have difficulties thinking things through. We have to respond to what God is doing and not the other way around.
      When Naaman the captain of the army of Syria asked to be healed of his leprosy, he had a certain idea as to how the procedure might be done. 2 Kings 5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. However, when Elijah sent his servant out with instructions for Naaman to go dip seven times in the Jordan river and he would be healed, Naaman was incensed, and his pride was hurt. 2Kings 5:11 But Naaman became angry and stalked away. “I thought he would certainly come out to meet me!” he said. “I expected him to wave his hand over the leprosy and call on the name of the LORD his God and heal me! Naaman had expected the healing to be done his way and within the understanding of his ideology of how miracles worked. People are doing the same thing today. They put God in a box and say to Him, "Work my miracle my way, or do it the way you did for my cousin."
      God rarely dispenses blessings or miracles the way we instruct Him to do it. Yes, go ahead and keep praying for the miracle needed, but realize that God works the way God wants so that there is no doubt about where the miracle came from and by whom it was created. Naaman's servants had to reason with him and subdue his anger and pride with reasoning and logic. 2Kings 5:13 But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”
      The good news for Naaman is that he did what he was told, and the miracle is greater than even Naaman could have imagined. Naaman wanted to be cleansed and healed of his leprosy, but God had a bigger and better idea in mind. Not only was he healed, but his skin was rejuvenated to that of a young child. 2Kings 5:14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. God's way is always better than our ways because God is thinking eternally.      
      When we seek God's word on a situation and we are blessed to be given an illuminated answer, then to turn around and ask for another word because we do not think the one we got is good enough, or not powerful enough to suit our inflated opinions of ourselves, we need to stop and repent of our idiocy and self-worship. The Lord has all the answers to any question or any situation happening in the universe and He wants us to ask for His help, not tell Him what to do. God wants to be part of our lives because we were created to respond to God's love and friendship. Jer. 31:3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.
      The mystery is, that God will not live in a receptacle of human invention, but, He will live in a human's heart. Wow, what a miraculous concept. The God of the entire universe wants to live in our hearts, and He wants to be invited in the way He has made a way for it to happen. Through Christ, our Lord, God will live in our hearts. How amazing is that? Salvation is God's plan, not ours. Let us submit to what the Lord is doing in our lives and hand over the pathetic images we try to make of God. Blessings to us all.

Whose Eugenics?

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.      

      Eugenics: The study of how to arrange reproduction within a human population to increase the occurrence of heritable characteristics regarded as desirable. Humm, who are the ones determining what is regarded as desirable? Our history has had a few megalomaniacs who tried eugenising - if that is a word - a race of people that would coincide with their vision of human perfection. This ugly philosophy has a way of sneaking into the scientific community under the guise of wanting to enhance the betterment of mankind. It also has a way of leaking into political rhetoric to protect a certain segment of the population from the unwashed per se. However, as history demonstrates, human beings cannot be perfected outside of God's intervention. 

      The blood of Jesus has the power to change a soul to fulfil the requirements of God the Father's standard of righteousness regardless of who a person is. Eugenics, as practised among the monumental arrogance and the wilfully conceited, may at best, have a limited power to help develop a certain quality of perceived supremacy, (again, whoever determines what that is,) but, at the end of their efforts, they still have a human being in need of salvation. That person's soul will still require the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus to give him or her eternal life. This Frankensteinian approach that says we can create a flawless man is erroneous because it is a flawed man trying to do the creating. God says, "I am your creator." Psalm 100:3a Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves. Plainly said, "It is He who has made us, and NOT we ourselves.

      The Lord's method of eugenics actually works for all mankind because our Heavenly Father is the original eugenicist. God, our creator, had no intention of leaving anyone out of His eternal plan, therefore, our Lord designed diversity within mankind. He also implemented what it would take to bring His plan to fruition. God takes the weak, sick, rich, poor, healthy, and every ethnicity there is and makes us the righteousness of God through Christ. I know this will bother all the pitifully boring supremacy groups, but there it is, we are one in Christ, regardless of race, colour, or ethnic background. Rev. 15:4b All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. All nations, mean all nations. Even though mankind is constantly trying to eliminate a particular segment of the population they deem unworthy to live, God, in His love, still wants all nations to come and worship Him.

      In the book of Esther, we read how Haman hated the Jews and plotted to destroy and remove them from the earth. Ester 3:8 Then Haman approached King Xerxes and said, “There is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire who keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people, and they refuse to obey the laws of the king. So it is not in the king’s interest to let them live. The more things change, the more they remain the same. These plots and ambitions are still desired by some nations today. We can't seem to run out of people to hate. 

      Haman felt inferior and lashed out to destroy the segment of the population that made him feel that way. Instead of improving and growing in character, he chose genocide as a solution. By eliminating a segment of the population, Haman felt it would enhance the standing of the people group he was part of, thus making them a superior race. Prov.14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. The plot backfired as so many of these plots do, and Haman ended up sentenced to hang on the gallows he had built for his hated enemies. Est. 7:10a So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Not only did Haman's prejudice get him killed, but the far-reaching stench of his ignorant philosophy also got his ten sons' hung as well. Est. 9:13 And Esther said, “If it please the king, let the Jews who are in Susa be allowed tomorrow also to do according to this day’s edict. And let the ten sons of Haman be hanged on the gallows.” 14 So the king commanded this to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and the ten sons of Haman were hanged.     

      The philosophies of eugenics and ethnic cleansing seem to run hand in hand and tend to support each ideology with the same evil intent. Eugenics says, "Let's breed perfection into the sub-human race," and ethnic cleansing says, "Let's kill the breed of sub-humans we don't approve of and remove them from our sight." Both concepts are anti-God, anti-Christ, and racist. Let us remember what Jesus said, "Whosoever believed in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life." Whosoever is all nations. Be careful of the rhetoric you start high-fiving. You might be agreeing in terminating your own life and those you love. Most of the people reading this come from a people group who were once persecuted for just being alive. We were all made in the image of God. That ought to be acceptable. Amen!

Conditioned For Cruelty

Proverbs 30:11 There is a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother.      

      

      Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
      I'm paraphrasing here because this narrative is so off the wall. I think this is the gist of it. A news reporter was interviewing a recidivist criminal who was bemoaning the fact that it was not fair that his residence had been broken into and robbed while he was in custody for a crime he had committed. He felt the State should pay for his losses because they were holding him, prisoner, while he was not at home to defend the stuff he had stolen from others. I must have heard the report wrong because surely, this is not where we have ended up in our reasoning. How has this become the commonsense of the day?

      The attitude of entitlement that is now becoming a given in our society, which no longer holds people accountable for their actions, is the result of our nation reaping what has been sown throughout the last generation. Hos. 8:7a For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. We have allowed the moral choices of the last few generations (mine included) to falter and be led by whatever felt good at the time, whether it was righteous or not. As my friend Scott says, "The formally accepted givens or basic standards that people lived by, have changed, and the commonsense givens that most people understood, are gone. The once caring expectations of uprightness that came through regular upbringing will have to be retaught to a generation who have been raised on violent imagery promoting cruel intent, and they have acquired their ethical values from everywhere and anything that seemed plausible at the time." To me, the scary part is that the generation who got their guidance from Beavis and Butt-Head and similar role models are now in charge of the levers that make the world work.

      Every generation needs a God-inspired awakening so they can come through the difficulties of their day, and this generation is no different. We all need the reassurance of God's love and purpose for our lives. God's love can elevate a soul to choose life and find real righteous direction. The Lord's affection and salvation can pull a person out of despair and a visionless life. As the world system tries to equalize and make carbon copies of everyone through the philosophy of human-centredness, the authenticity of a person becomes muddied and uncertain. Plus, humanism, socialism, and authoritarianism in themselves cannot feed the hunger in a soul that was created to be fulfilled by God's eternal purposes. Instead, acts of cruelty become the results of all the emptiness people are experiencing as everyone lives by their own moral code.

      As so many of you are wondering, I am also trying to understand, what are the governing authorities and bureaucratic departments counting on? What is their end game in trying to make everyone the same? What are they expecting as a result of converting everyone's thinking into a vegetative mundane state of existence? What are they counting on? I know a teacher who grinds her teeth when the subject of participation trophies for all comes up. She says, "What do we (as a society) expect when we are encouraging a generation of children who will not accelerate in trying to conquer the hard things that confront them? We give participation trophies for just signing up on a team, even though they do not show up to participate in half of the games. Then, these same kids (and their parents) feel entitled and expect the teachers to give away straight 'A' grades on their report cards even though they have not done the work. Where has this dullness of thought come from?" I think this dullness of thought has come from a few generations sowing sinfulness and expecting liberation.

      Prov. 30:11a There is a generation that curses its.... leaders, teachers, neighbours, nurses, and anyone who has a genuine thought of kindness. The ever-increasing cruelty in life that we are watching unfold has become the world's inheritance. These acts of selfishness are people's expressions of what is in their hearts. Out of the heart will flow the issues of life. Luke 6:45b For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. We are watching the crumbling of human resolve and strength fall apart. What we are seeing and hearing would have been thought insane at one time but is now mainstream thinking for many. The self-righteous declaration of "If it feels right, then do it," regardless of how destructively it affects others, has come back to bite humanity with consequential results. Meditating on cruelty and acting out what the cruelty expressed has become the given within a confused society. Prov. 1:16 They rush to commit evil deeds. They hurry to commit murder.

      We are not the only ones who have ever gone through this mess and felt the heaviness of the times. Habukkuk was written around 586-BC. Habukkuk is describing the very same things we are witnessing daily. Hab. 1:2 How long, O LORD, will I call for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save. 3 Why do You make me see disaster, and make me look at destitution? Yes, devastation and violence are before me; strife exists and contention arises. 4 Therefore the Law is ignored, and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out confused. Confused is right! How true a statement that the world is confused and without remedy.

      The Lord said that we would have trials and sorrows, but to be courageous because He has overcome the world and all the cruelty in it. We are to take heart in that fact. Jesus is letting us know that He has overcome so that we may have peace on this earth. John 16:33 I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. One translation says, "Be of good cheer I have overcome the world." Be courageous, be of good cheer, and take heart when we see all the cruel and unjust events taking place around us because the Lord has overcome the one who is causing the mayhem. Be assured, that Satan's days are numbered.

       God asks us to meditate on what Jesus said because His faith-filled words will bring peace to our hearts and minds in the center of all the chaos. If we keep our eyes on the Lord, then the woes of the world will be a noise in the background as we walk with our God. We overcome because Christ has already overcome the hellish disorder that brings distress to our hearts. Keep praying for the loss and one another, and trust in the Lord's victory, then the peace of God will be our peace Amen!

White-Caning It

Proverbs 16:3 Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.      

      

      Although many blind folks see much clearer than people with sight, my pastor used an interesting expression that brought a vivid mental image to mind. He described people who did their own thing that was contrary to God's will - as those who were white-caning it through life. Literally, the blind, leading the blind. I could imagine all these people with white canes tapping everything around them and each other trying to figure out what to do next as they followed their personal interpretations of morality and the idea of a successful life. The Lord instructs us to realize that God is in control of our lives, and we are to proceed in His direction with our eyes wide open toward God's plan for our lives. James 4:14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”

      My dream or ideal life goal has always been to own an art gallery. I even picked out the one I wanted in Central America and could visualize what types of art would be displayed in each of the spacious rooms and corridors of this magnificent sixteenth-century Spanish architectural building. There is no reasonable limit to the size of paintings that can be hung and sculptures that could be exhibited because the open grandeur of the edifice could accommodate most artistic creativity and mindsets. I was thinking along the lines that this would be the ideal setting for my creativity to flourish and grow when I start to take it easy in later years. Well, as the saying goes, "Man plans and God laughs," came into play.

      It seems that when I would seriously think this idea through, I would get an interruption from God saying, "You have not finished the assignment I have given you. I will let you know when it is time for a new assignment." What I noticed was that when God said, "I will let you know when it is time..." He was not necessarily saying, "It is time to start your gallery." The use of the word assignment seems to be loaded with - I wonder what He means by that? Then, I would find myself white-caning it through the thoughts of getting the art gallery together, and the logistics of accomplishing it seemed overwhelming. It just didn't come to fruition. I don't feel hard done by, and I'm not at all dramatically saddened that my vision for my life, has not come to pass yet. No, I am at peace because the direction the Lord has taken me in has been rather amazing. My Heavenly Father has brought me to a place where I would never have thought possible. Prov. 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding.

      While l was looking and considering the possibilities of opening an art gallery, I was led to start writing. Talk about opposite directions. The idea of writing books was not on my horizon as far as I knew. However, having ten books published to date, God's leading brought me to a place that was beyond what I could think or imagine. Eph. 3:20 Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us. I have not had to white-cane it through the book writing, publishing, or organizing process, because the Lord, in His mercy, has brought the most amazing people alongside me to accomplish what God has set out to do in my life. My heartfelt prayer to God is a request to anoint Miss Jami, Clay, Scott, Masud, and Lee who have put their hearts into making sure my books come out with a standard and beauty of excellence that God can be pleased with.

      I'm not saying I would not have been successful at running an art gallery had I gone with my idea of life's fulfilment. What I'm saying is that moving forward in life with God backing me up in book publication has been a healing balm to my soul and has given my heart noticeable purpose in Christ. I might have missed out on the miracle of being able to leave a written legacy for years to come. This has become important to me because there will be a time in our future when what I expound upon and declare in my books as a writer will be illegal and considered narrow-minded in its scope. The Word of God states that in the end days, the governing authorities will not accept the fact that Jesus Christ is Lord. They will justify their maltreatment of me and anyone who ministers the Word of the Lord by stating that we are anti-humanist subversives who are causing emotional conflict by hurting the feelings of sinners because we adhere to the laws of righteousness in Christ.

      Biblical eschatology declares that my Christian views will not be looked on favourably by the antichrists of a soon-coming day, and persecution may be part of what I have to suffer through to be a lover of God. As Jesus said in John 15:18 If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. Whether you are a pre or mid-rapturists believer, imagine white-caning it through the end times. What a horror show that will be. I would rather have the Lord directing my steps and bringing me home into His presence, than tapping my way through the maze of a demonic world dictatorship. 

      Jesus Christ is Lord! and He is the author and finisher of our faith. It would be wise to let the Lord direct our steps and plans for life so that the finished work that our God created us for, is accomplished. Prov. 16:3 Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. The choice is yours. You can white-cane it through the inventions of your imaginations, or you can walk with your eyes wide open into the magnificence of God's planning for your life. The Lord's wisdom be upon us all, amen!

Let God Bug You

Proverbs 3:12 For the LORD corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.

      In the spring of 1986, I was trying to organize my family's return move to Queensland, Australia. The target date to be in Queensland was mid-July and there were all kinds of things not falling into place for a smooth move back to Australia. A sister in the Lord came up to me and said, "I was praying for you, and I felt the Lord say that if you sold your Cadillac, everything would fall into place, and things would go smoothly." She also remarked that this had been a strong impression in her spirit, even though it seemed an odd instruction. My thoughts were, "I didn't think she is that spiritual and most likely this statement was just her own idea." I wanted to sell the Cadillac in the last week before we left the country so that I had reliable wheels till it was time to leave.

      The next day, as I was driving my metallic peacock blue Fleetwood Brougham Cadillac (one of the smoothest driving cars I had ever had to that point) to work, I could feel a nudge starting to bug me, and I speculated that the nudger was God. As I wrestled with the idea of selling the car, my argument kept coming back to the fact that I wanted to sell the car in the last week before we left to return to Australia. However, the nudges became stronger and turned into a conviction that was starting to set in my spirit. By the end of the day, I had unenthusiastically agreed to sell it if a buyer came along. That same evening, I was reading 1Cor. 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. I got the strong impression that the Lord was saying I had been bought by Him and everything I owned was His. I then sensed the Lord say that I was not to make a profit on the car because the favour of the Lord was on me and He had blessed me with it at a low price. I was using the car for my business, and because of tax advantages, there was a small loan owing to it. I was to simply hand the car over with the balance due. In other words, whoever got the car was to simply pay off the balance of the loan and the car was theirs.

      What God had said was bugging me so much that I blurted out, "If this is of you Lord, then this will take place so fast and will be so clear to anyone involved." Early the next morning, I had to stop by the Bible college where I was teaching a few classes. In the parking lot, a student, Michael, came running up to me and said, "I was praying last night, and asking God for a big solid car that I will need to go to school and work. I need a car that will be able to handle the mileage that I will be putting on it. I heard God's voice in my spirit say to come and ask you!" At that point, I heard an inner voice say, "Is that fast and clear enough for you?" Isa. 30:21 And whenever you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.” I said to Michael, "Just take over the balance of the loan and you can have the car."

      His eyes popped and he asked if God had spoken to me?" I said, "Yeah, He has been bugging me since yesterday and last night about it." By 11:00 am all paperwork was done and the car was his. The same day, I happened to get an amazing deal from a rental company of which I knew the owner. He offered me a deal that was less than the payments of the loan. The car he had was a big boat of a car that he was having trouble renting because it was so big. The proprietor said I would be able to use the rental up to the day I left for Australia. 

      The sister in the Lord who spoke that odd instruction, as she had called it, was right. Absolutely everything fell into place in record time. Everything that consists of a move to another country was done, and paperwork was filled out and accepted a whole month before we left. My wife and I had nothing to do except get on the plane and head for Australia. Not only did things fall into place in Canada, but in Queensland, within the first week, my wife and I both had jobs, a furnished house to rent, and a church to attend. Within a short time, we were moving into a house we had bought. We didn't have to do much as God had prepared the way on both continents.

      What I realized is that when God is bugging you about something, then let Him bug you until you obey because the stage is being set to bless you. God loves you and is correcting your choices so that you walk towards the destiny He has set in place for you. Prov. 3:12 For the LORD corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. God is not the killjoy Satan says He is. The devil is out to kill, rob, and destroy you, and will bug you to choose sin over life, then when you fall, Satan will kick you when you are down with endless accusations of failure. The contrast could not be clearer. God bugs us with His love to preserve our lives, and Satan bugs us to death to destroy our lives. Not really a hard choice to make here. Let God's love bug you into His kingdom where your life is eternally blessed beyond what you can think or ask. Blessings.

Healing Of The Memories

Proverbs 10:7 We have happy memories of the godly, but the name of a wicked person rots away.
     
      Quote, Carl Jung: "I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become."
      She said, "I don't like talking about that, it brings up painful memories, but I want to be healed of my anxiety."  I said, "You can't fix what you will not admit needs fixing." There it is saints, a battle that so many people are fighting and getting nowhere because of their strategy - I don't want to think about it!
     If the memories of your past are not affecting your ability to function, and you feel things are copacetic, then move on and give life the best you can. However, if your memories are haunting you and causing anxious apprehension, which hinders your ability to move forward, then you have to confront that ever-present issue. How are we going to get healed of our past anguishing sore spots that keep showing up if we do not confront them and bring an end to their painful effects?
      When a traumatic memory continually finds its way into our thoughts, then it is time to deal with and forgive the root reason that causes the reoccurring pain. In most cases, we will have to forgive those who did hurt us regardless of how awful the atrocity was, and we might have to also forgive ourselves as much as the others who were involved in causing the hurts that keep resurfacing. Forgiving ourselves is a hard row to hoe. We can be merciless with ourselves and more judgmental than Satan. The problem with this kind of self-punishment is that we end up giving the enemy of our soul ammunition to beat us up with while crying out to God for help. How neurotic is that?
      Once the Holy Spirit prompts a person to acknowledge the hurts of their past, they would be wise to allow God to heal the emotional wounds that person carries. I remember the process I went through when God started nudging me toward forgiving my father for all the evil that he lashed out on my mother, siblings, and myself. It took a few years from the first promptings of the Holy Spirit until I was clear in my intentions to fully forgive my father. Through Christ, the Lord, and by faith, I finally received the healing that was given to me at the cross, and broke the shackles that bound my heart because of the anger and unforgiveness that was living there. The liberation and feelings of peace that filled all areas of my life, could not be adequately expressed or explained. All I can say is that when I forgave my father, I received my healing. Prov. 10:7a We have happy memories of the godly. Was it easy? No, but for me, it was necessary.
      We have to realize that when the Lord is prompting our hearts to reason with Him and become healed from our painful memories, there is no better time to do it. God is leading the healing process and He will guide us through all that is needed to be done in the right way, even if it seems difficult to us. The Lord can be trusted not to betray our exposed souls and raw emotions because His intentions for our lives are always from His heart of affectionate love. Sng. 2:4b And his banner over me was love. God wants us healed and living in His peace.
      There is an epidemic of mental pain and hurts throughout the world and it is just as prevalent in the church. The latest statistics of people who are looking for help because of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and mental disorders of every kind have exploded, and the services available to the public cannot tackle the backlog of people screaming for help. Is it any wonder the number of psychopathic eruptions throughout all aspects of life and locations is manifesting in such irrational behaviour? People who are at the end of their rope, are lashing out with whatever weapon is in arm's reach and destroying anything and anyone in front of them. This is madness gone to seed, because of the raging pain within.
      It is easy to dispense advice and say one should be healed but how does a person go about it? I have counselled people in this area, and I have found a few methods that have worked and helped people take the step of faith toward their healing. For me, my step of faith in becoming healed was to write the whole story down on paper, leaving none of the gory details out. The words written came out in fits of anger and spewed expletives, and that was the way it was. The act of describing the events that caused my deep wounds were a tumultuous and teary experience, but still an act of faith.
      I noticed that once all the horrific events were written down on paper, it seemed easier to voice my words of forgiveness toward my father. Once fully written, I tossed the stack of papers containing the vile story on the table, and as the collated papers slid along the tabletop, so did all the pain that was once in my heart. The old hurting memories were now in the pages that lay on the table and I could see that all the mess described was over there on the tabletop and no longer within me. Hallelujah, there is power in the name of Jesus, who heals all wounds when we call upon His name by faith for our healing.      
      I shared this method with someone who did the same as I did, but he took the process a step further. Not only did he write the whole sordid mess out with snot and tears staining the pages, (I didn't say this was going to be pretty) he then burned the pages as a symbol that his past life was now in ashes and he could rise out of the ashes whole and healed. I have also found that using a confessor who is a trusted friend, minister, or counsellor to spill your guts out and describe the whole pustulent mess in the full vernacular of expression, is also a step of faith forward toward confronting all the structures, devils, and people who were responsible for the past pains and traumas a person may be living with.    
      It is a strange dichotomy that some people can live through the most horrific events and move on without letting anything bother them. Then, there are so many who cannot move forward without voicing a roaring scream that can be heard in a distant galaxy because they are containers of torment. The enemy of our soul is working hard to make sure people remember their past pains while also impressing upon people's hearts to become unreceptive to the idea of forgiving the past that hurts so much. Satan puts in overtime, influencing people to focus on the agonies of the past and the fears of the future so that they do not live a victorious life in the present. The devil maneuvers people into a place where they are torn apart by two opposites of past and future, keeping them unstable in their thoughts and feelings. Their lives become a wasteland and their ability to live stagnates.
      We cannot be slothful in this area of our lives when it is time to confront the burdens of past hurts. Otherwise, our lives will be a mess of thorns. weeds, and broken walls forever in need of repair. Prov. 24:30 I went by the field of the lazy man, and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; 31 and there it was, all overgrown with thorns; its surface was covered with nettles; its stone wall was broken down. Why would anyone want to live that way if they do not have to? The healing of the memories is possible, but you have to want to do it. May God's healing hand be on us all, in Jesus name.