Hit a rough patch today. Listening to my Christian music station at the moment trying to get my mind around the events of today. Trying to wrap it all up and hand it over to God. This is one of those things I have not quite figured out how to do though.
Last year I was so overwhelmed with so much turmoil that I nearly never stopped saying the Lord’s pray over and over. The Lord brought me though that and I give Him all glory and praise for that.
Last year is not this year. Today is not yesterday.
Just writing this is allow me to get my mind back on the right track.
Each day is different. Each day has different trials. Some you can face alone due to past trials that God has placed you through. But there are times when the weight of several events in one day just seem to hit you all at once. That is now, that is today.
Again and again I repeat “Praise you Lord God, Praise you Lord Jesus.”
It is a familiar place that I have been to be for and here I sit typing. I survived those past events. I will survive this event until the Lord decides it is time for me not to be here or the rapture occurs.
“All Praise and Glory unto God the Lord Almighty. The creator of the universe.”
Christian
Confessions of a screwed up middle-aged man
What is it to love a woman? What are the factors that cause you to choose one person from another? I have cared for several girls and women since I first realized I liked the opposite sex. How old was I? Four?
The first girl I cared for was in Great Falls, Montana. Her name was Wendy. She was a brunette and she had blue eyes. She was rather beautiful to a five your old boy, but then she was five herself.
My first full-blown crush was when I was fourteen. Her name was Sue. I was extremely awkward. I did not know how to act at all at that age. I was shy beyond all measure because of my gawkiness. I do remember dancing with her. She had long brown hair and dark brown eyes. She had one of the sweetest personalities, but due to my ungainliness, possibly I was not her type. Therefore, it was an unrequited encounter.
As I look back on my relationships, I come to the uncomfortable realization. I have loved the women in my live more than they have loved me. How can I say this? My first wife chose to look for older men then stay married to me. My second wife admitted to me that she tricked me into marrying her and that she did not love me. Was I naive? I guess so.
In a way, I feel I deserve to be without a woman in my life. My first wife I met in my years when God was not in my life. That did not happen until six years later. Of all the women in my life, I miss her the most. Mainly because she left me not the other way around like in my second marriage.
One thing I need to learn to do, and apparently have not is place this in God’s hand. I know due to free-will we must make some effort in relationships on our own, but still I feel I should be praying more before I act.
Only time will tell. One thing is for sure. I do not want to spend the next billion years without someone by my side. There will be so many adventures in that time. So many wonders to see and I want to be able to share them.
Growing faith
A recurring theme throughout my life has been the desire to respect others. Sure, some parts of my personality can be a thorn to some, but who amongst us can say that is not true for any person. In my early teens, I allowed my peers to turn my heart to hardness. This lasted until I was in my mid-twenties. One thing that I know marked these years was the mere fact that I had become selfish and self-serving.
When I became born again at twenty-six the man, what I should have been came back into existence. A man that God knew and recognized. (See my post “Overwhelming sin” to understand what I meant by this statement). The man returned to what the boy I had been before I allowed my peers to turn me into what I had become in the dark years.
I learned to give into my desires and wants in those years. I allowed myself to listen to only myself. Not caring if I hurt people. Many of these people were girls and women, especially when I turned eighteen.
Regret is one thing that has crossed my mind more than once over the last quarter of a century plus. Sometimes this regret causes me to do things that help others. Then there are times this regret has made me avoid situations out of fear they may be a repeat of something from my past that I do not wish to go through again. I feel these regrets are due to me trying to think of others before myself.
Too many times in the Bible we are told be humble, placing others before ourselves. The emphasis is too poignant that true faith requires humility, thus selflessness. When you are selfish, you are not acting for God. When thinking of your own desires no matter how little or big you have placed yourself before others.
I really think it is in all of us to be humble. I know I was humble when I was a child and had forgotten it due to pain and humiliation. How I returned to it is where free-will comes into play. I felt wrong from my behavior. I felt more guilt as I became more selfish. I do not know if others experience this and hide it, but it allowed me to face myself and realize this is not what God wanted for me or us for that matter. So I chose through the act of free-will to return to what I was taught in my youth.
I know I am not perfect. No human can ever be perfect. I know I have overcome sins that would have turned me into someone other then what I am. I know not only that it was God, but an inner strength that has allowed me to grow into the man I am today. Where did I get this inner strength? From my trials I have face throughout my life. Without these trials, I feel I would in no way be the man I am today.
All I do know is that the man that types these words today is in fact someone who deserves to be call a man, since there is a difference between being male and being a man. It is by God and for God that I am here, and I praise Him for that.
The eternal body
What will it be like having a body that will last for all eternity? That is one of those questions that occur to me every once in a while. What will it be like? I know it will not be overweight, that I have no doubt. I know there will be no need for glasses. To live for millions of years will be interesting. Will we be able to travel throughout the universe with just a thought and suddenly we are there? That is one of those things we will have to see.
There are those that believe that the human race can in time reach the next evolutionary step, which can include an eternal body. Many of these though do not want to reach this next step through God.
The thing is it is promised to us already. Long before many even theorized the concept of the next evolutionary step is was already promised to us in a book many would deny is the truth. Even those in the church call the book of Revelation just a story.
I remember that day like it was yesterday, but I know I was nineteen at the time. I decided to go to a church that had been built directly behind my parents’ house where I still lived at the time. I will not mention which denomination. As I sat in the pew and joined in the service I wondered if I could make this my church home. Then the minister finally started to talk. The first thing out of his mouth was that Revelation was a fairy tale. I was dumbfounded. He went on to tell all those there that it was just a story filled with things can cannot happen. It is true that the event within the book of Revelation may not have happened yet, but I know the difference between fiction and prophesy.
The Bible has many prophesies. All that deal with events in the past have come true. Is there evidence that the prophesies in Revelation are starting to happen? Yes.
This then leads to those that desire for the day when we will receive our undying bodies. Bodies promised to us in the book of Revelation. Bodies that will be upon the new earth for all eternity, but there are those like me that desire to travel throughout God’s vast creation of the universe. Serving the Lord in His immense creation that is beyond measure.
The ongoing rebirth of the Church
Since Jesus made Paul his thirteen disciple, we have witnessed more than once the rebirth of the Church. Sometime it changed by the simple posting of doctrines on a door. Other times with blood being shed.
This was not the promise to Israel though. They have been promised to be the first children of God and so they have not had to go through a true rebirth. Have they been through trial? Yes, and many would say they still are.
Since we Christians have been given the blessing of becoming the thirteen tribe of God. The true essence of free will has been reinstated.
Within Revelation in the second and third chapters are letters to seven churches. Each reflects the acts of free will and their results. Be they good or bad.
This is why the Christian church as a whole has gone through these rebirths. Now we can learn from the trials of Israel. Within this nation, there have been intercession. Usually by their leader or prophet. We within the Christian church have those that have intervened. For example Martin Luther. He intervened due to the corruption within the Catholic Church and as a result, the church was reborn, once again focused on God and His Word. This rebirth is seen in Israel as well, but it is not manifested as highly as it has been for those of the Christian faith.
It is now once again time for rebirth with in the Christian church on whole. We have pedophiles hidden and protected within the Catholic Church. We have churches that support same sex marriage, abortion and greed. Many teach that we are too seek reward from God now. That God is our servant not the other way around. Many just sit by waiting for someone to say something. Mostly though when someone does say something they are ignored and called troublemakers. Seems I have heard many in the Old Testament called the same.
It is now that there is a need for a rebirth of the Church. Once again, we need to return our focus unto God and His Word. Stop burying your heads in the sand as the world falls to those that do not follow the way of the light. It is now that we must shout our faith and stand for the teachings within the Bible
Have we forgotten this one?
One of the big things that the government is pushing is taking from those that have and giving to all those that do not. Is this this the right way to do thing? There are those that would scream yes. There are those that would scream no.
Here is how it should be looked at. You go to what you should have been taught as you grew up as I was. There is the last commandment that states: though shalt not covet.
To desire that which is not yours is what the government is telling many they must do. In the Bible in both Exodus and Deuteronomy it is spelled out in even more detail.
Deut. 5:21 Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.
To want what belongs to someone else you are coveting it. From the wife to the property and their money.
As someone once commented in another of my post this would be considered a law that is subjective. A law made by humans to satisfy a human’s desires.
When humankind thinks only of humankind then laws are made that do not truly value humankind. Man is by nature selfish and self-serving. Many may argue this point, but if you look about you at this very moment and truly look at how these rules and regulations are causing what was once a great nation and turning it into at best a second class nation.
I grew up in the cold war. I practice drills in school that made you get under your school desk to protect you from first a nuclear bomb and then tornadoes. An act especially for the former that was a futile gesture to give children some sense of safety that didn’t truly exist.
I watched the news where it showed the U.S.S.R. a country that “prided” itself for giving to all their citizens equally. For that was the true meaning of Socialism. What I saw on the news was lines of the common citizens of the nation. (By the way, we are common citizens.) What were they in line for you ask? They were standing in line to get rationed out food. Rationed out cloth to make clothes.
Simply, men in power had made laws. Laws which took from the common people and gave it not to those that were in need, but to themselves. These laws were subjective laws. These are the laws that are now being placed upon those of the United States.
Laws that are made, which cause people to think beyond their own selfishness and desires, are laws which are written by people who are thinking about something higher than humankind. They are thinking of what lies beyond this life on earth. These laws would be considered inherently good law. These are the laws this nation was founded upon. Laws that were first formulated by William Penn for the colony of Pennsylvania. William Penn who was a Quaker.
He once stated:
“Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.”
To be governed by God; Laws must be written not with humans as the goal of the law, but with God as the goal of the law. Those laws are inherently good for God is good. They are not subjective laws since placing God at the core of the law human influence is removed for the most part.
If one thinks: will this allow me to stand before God or not. It is then that the law will be formulated in the correct light that allows it to be equal and beneficial to all. It does this because it shows we are all equal under God, even if you do not believe there is a God you are still considered equal. When those that say there is no God rule, then the opposite will occur and all that is left is war, famine, and destruction.
Why is not God here in person?
My intent is to help those that ask the question in the title to think. There are those that will believe God does not exist. There are those that acknowledge God, but wonder why He is not walking amongst us right now. Is the response that follows the definitive answer to this question? I doubt it, but it is worth, at least, trying to answer.
What needs to made perfectly understood is that this is about free-will, the ability for each person to make choices. To make these choices though there needs to be an understanding of the facts in these selections. Some would be called common sense while others are reached through research and study, but they are still an act of free-will.
All of humankind are flawed. We all make decisions that hurt ourselves and/or others. It is due to this flaw that there is war, prejudice, neglect and the list goes on and on.
Does this flaw mean there is no God? No.
Free-will is this flaw, but it is a duel-edged blade.
When those with the ability to influence the masses understand that God does exist then things like laws come into being. These laws usually help people to make the right choices. On the opposite side of the coin, when God is removed from these laws horrors can take place. A prime example of this was Adolf Hitler and his inner circle. They did not believe in God, but believed man was the ultimate power on earth. As a result, laws were made that did not include God and as a result nearly 13 million people died horrible and unnecessary deaths.
When humans decide they are god, other humans die as seen not only in World War II Germany, but in ancient Rome as well. Two prime examples are Caligula and Nero. Both thought themselves to be gods. The former killed his mother, wife and slept with a horse as well as killing thousands of Christians for sport in the Coliseum. The latter burned Rome so he could make a new city named after himself, thus killing thousand more when he blamed it upon Christians.
So the very fact that humankind is here today shows there is a God, but why is he not here?
He is not here in person, because if you can believe in something that seems intangible then your belief is stronger than it is in something you can see and touch. If you can see something you can become oblivious to its meanings and purpose.
God is not here in person to allow those that wish to listen to their flawed mind and body to do so. For God is seeking the seeds from the chaff. Therefore, when the seeds are planted, within their faith, they will germinate causing new growth, as they are bathed in the light of God through knowledge and understanding. While the chaff, those that refuse to acknowledge His existence will become what they become. Some to the point of become like those before that placed themselves above God, just because they could not see God.
Humankind causes bad to happen in the world. All because humans have free-will, that is why it was called the forbidden fruit. For from this fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil God knew that only death and destruction would follow, which it has.
You need to have balance in your life.
We are to do things in moderation. If you were to look at a glass for those of the glass is half-full, half-empty types. Well moderation mean the glass is one forth full.
To do anything to excess is destructive, but there are those that spend more time worrying about a sporting event then they are spending it with the rest of the world about them. To have moderation is to have balance in your life. This is something we all deal with in our lives, even myself.
There are those that spend too much time at work. It is unfortunate that we have to work, but in today’s world, it is a necessity. Occasionally some must put some extra time into work, but I witness daily people that work well over the quitting time of their shift. This leads to ignoring a part of your life that needs your attention. If you do things in moderation then you have time to spend with many things that require your consideration. Time to be with your family. Time to spend in the Word and in pray. Time to help those in need. Time to keep healthy. Time to learn. Time to enjoy the beauties of nature.
To the gentle people
How does someone try to show who he or she really are? It can take years to truly know someone. It can take longer if they hide their true self from you. Be it intentionally or out of fear. Those that do it out of fear, do it out of shame, usually, for some action that happened to them before they met the party that wishes to know who they are.
Then there are those tout there that truly desire to share, not only their past, be it good or bad, but their future as well. They look at the world with a child’s excitement, yet they remember getting their fingers burned figuratively speaking. This burning is impressed upon them, which makes them shy, stand offish, or slow to act when someone seeks to get to learn more about them. Kind caring people like that have the hardest time in the world.
Repeatedly they run into someone that tries to tear them down. Yet time and again they spring back for the most part. Sometimes they become jaded. Sometimes they start to become like those that attempt to tear them down.
It is times like this that they need to seek something more then themselves. Many seek out an escape through a diversion, or a substance. Many retreat into themselves. There is another option though; one that has been there longer then any of us.
It is something that will accept all as they are at this moment. Yet it will allow those that seek to return to the kind and gentle-person they started as.
In time when that person is ready within themselves it will ask them to change into someone who will stop thinking of themselves, and begin to reach out to others. Giving them a kindness that is within them which will cause others to wonder why this person before them is so gentle and compassionate.
Some of these may be the ones that caused the person to become jaded and they will look on in astonishment and start to think how this is possible.
They may ask the person that is kind and caring and this person will respond:
“It is God through His Son Jesus that I am as you see now.”
The P.C. police…. the killers of a nation
The challenges of being a Christian in today’s world is something that can be a struggle. An assault is going on. Not only in nations where Christianity is not the main venue of believe. It is also under attack within countries that say Christianity is the main faith.
In the United States, an ongoing molestation continues daily to remove any statement, simple, or action that identifies that this nation as Christian to is very roots are being removed for the sake of not hurting someone’s feelings. The main problem with this is their actions are hurting the feeling of the majority, but the majority, being Christian at their heart are placing these others before themselves, as it should be. The problem though is that this minority only cares for themselves and their desires.
Most that came to this nation in the early colonial years came here so they could worship God without the government’s involvement in how they practice their respective faiths. Why is this? Because King Henry VIII wanted to get a divorce, so he made the Church of England to be run by the government i.e. himself.
William Penn the founder of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia as well as many other towns and cities throughout that state, was a religious leader whose influence was still understood and felt by the founding fathers of this nation. This was a factor in picking Philadelphia for the constitutional congress. It is why Philadelphia was the capital of the United States for a short time until the District of Columbia was established.
The United States is the second nation created placing God over it. Israel is the first, which is why these two nations are so closely bound together.
Yet the P.C. police (“political correct” which is a total misnomer) seek every way to remove God from this United States. What this P.C. police do not realize is that they are acting like totalitarians. Their actions are not making the United States better, but they are destroying it. The thing is they can see this. Why? Because all they think about is themselves. Those that study the Bible know that those that wish to govern must be a servant to the people, not dictate to them. Being a servant to the people means, you do not think of yourself, but of the others, or this case the nation. Humbleness and scarifying self over the majority are what should be gained to further one’s self in the journey through faith. If someone thinks, “how will this affect ME” then this is the wrong method of thinking.
Millions of people died to protect the United States from fascism, socialism and communism.
Millions died to allow people to worship God or if they chose not to worship God. Yet today thousand say that the billions that now live in the U.S. cannot worship God as those that founded this country intended.
Those colonist; those in the military that went through hardship and horrors to allow all to live in a country where they could worship as they wish, talk as they wish. Yet the small group that seeks only to serve their own desires sue cities, schools and people just so they can worship the self. They say they are doing it for all, but most of those they are doing it for would rather honor God. For when you honor God, you place others before yourself. You make quality products. You teach children to be better than yourself. You created business to allow others to live better. Without God, you lead a nation toward destruction. Why? Because without God, you have those that are selfish and self-serving and all they will seek out is things to please themselves and not those about them. Therefore, all things will fall apart into decay.
dreamwalker1960 