Friday, October 30, 2015
Why Raymond refuses to go to church.
This is what Raymond is thinking as he sits outside of the church. "I want to be perfect, but I keep being told this is impossible by the church. I can't stand this. I can't stand that I must be sinful but that at the same time I can't commit adultery. I want to commit adultery, but I can't, yet I can't keep from committing adultery because I can't be sinless. I see how this is a contradiction and it makes me sick. Why are we so stupid in the church? Why can't we see that we have to be sinless or we are going to die or commit adultery or worse. Jesus was perfect but I can't be; at least that's what I'm told. So I might as well commit adultery. Why not? I'm going to heaven anyway and I can't be perfect. But if I commit adultery my wife will leave me and the church will back her up. Hypocrites. They want me to be a perfectly faithful husband, to not sin, to not commit adultery, but they tell me that this is impossible because we are gong to sin everyday in word and thought. Hypocrites. This is why I don't go to church."
God...G-D...GOD
God is good.
God knows.
God...knows what...is good.
God Does.
Loves.
Hates.
God gives.
takes.
makes.
God is
was
will
GOD
God
God
God is
who
God is
God does not ask.
God tells.
Commands.
God does not need.
God fulfills
Creation.
God is
was
will
God.
God.
God.
God is
who?
God is.
God lives
wants
writes.
God speaks
sings
recites.
God is
was
will
God.
Who is?
God
HE IS
"I AM"
YOU ARE
Father Thank You (A song to God)
God my Father, Provider, Protector,
You are my reality.
Always with me, Counselor, Listener,
Through Your Eyes alone I see.
God my Father, Teacher, Companion,
You are my energy.
Always in me, my deepest Connection,
You're always in me and with me.
Father,
Thank you.
My Father,
Thank you.
Dear Father,
Thank you.
Thank you,
For being there for me.
Father,
Thank you.
My Father,
Thank you.
Dear Father,
Thank you.
Thank you.
I love you eternally.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Your truth
Jesus said to Pilate, "For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. All who are of the truth hear my voice." "What is truth?" Pilate responds.
It's popular these days to hear the words "your truth."
"That's 'your truth.'"
"Speak 'your truth'."
"Live 'your truth'."
But as Pilate asked Jesus, what is truth, yours or anyone else's? And is "your truth" the truth Jesus was born to bear witness to? Not from his words to Pilate. Jesus said he came to bear witness to the truth, not your truth, not my truth.
Again, as Pilate asked, "What is truth?"
Pilate's question is his answer and ours. To ask a question assumes meaning. It assume a hearer and a speaker, and a common understanding between the two. That common understanding, that common assumption, is the truth. The reality. Speech betrays us. We can't hide behind our words. When we open our mouths, we expose what we all know: The truth.
It's popular these days to hear the words "your truth."
"That's 'your truth.'"
"Speak 'your truth'."
"Live 'your truth'."
But as Pilate asked Jesus, what is truth, yours or anyone else's? And is "your truth" the truth Jesus was born to bear witness to? Not from his words to Pilate. Jesus said he came to bear witness to the truth, not your truth, not my truth.
Again, as Pilate asked, "What is truth?"
Pilate's question is his answer and ours. To ask a question assumes meaning. It assume a hearer and a speaker, and a common understanding between the two. That common understanding, that common assumption, is the truth. The reality. Speech betrays us. We can't hide behind our words. When we open our mouths, we expose what we all know: The truth.
What your church should be like
Where two or more are gathered in my name, I am in their midst.~The Lord Jesus
As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God.~The Apostle Paul
The minister bowed his head and prayed. "God, please lead me by your Spirit in Jesus name. What do you want us to focus on today when we meet?" The Spirit responded, "I have given Sean a song to sing that will comfort all of you because of your hard week. Tamara has an encouraging message to share from her Bible studies this week. Let your wife close in prayer; her intercession will strengthen all of you and touch you all where you feel deep need. When you open up the meeting, invite Sean, Tamara, and your wife to share whatever I've given them. They will share in order everything I'm revealing to you." Darren thanked God for guiding him. As he got up from prayer, the doorbell rang. It was Sean and Tamara, a young couple who lived in the neighborhood. Amanda, Darren's wife, came from the bedroom to join the meeting.
After everyone greeted and hugged each other, Darren spoke. "Please share whatever the Spirit is leading you to share."
Sean spoke first. "I have a song the Lord is giving me to share with everyone." Darren nodded. So did everyone else. After Darren's song there was a holy hush. Everyone wiped tears from their eyes, thanking God for easing their pain from the week. "That song fits perfectly with what I've been studying in scripture this week." Tamara shared with everyone what God showed her all week long from the Psalms. Darren and Amanda smiled at each other. They had just talked at breakfast about the very same scriptures Tamara shared. "Can I pray for everyone? I feel deeply burdened to pray for each of you." Everyone agreed. Amanda prayed with conviction. After she finished, they all felt God's presence, filling them individually and collectively. They felt the Lord Jesus in the room
As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God.~The Apostle Paul
The minister bowed his head and prayed. "God, please lead me by your Spirit in Jesus name. What do you want us to focus on today when we meet?" The Spirit responded, "I have given Sean a song to sing that will comfort all of you because of your hard week. Tamara has an encouraging message to share from her Bible studies this week. Let your wife close in prayer; her intercession will strengthen all of you and touch you all where you feel deep need. When you open up the meeting, invite Sean, Tamara, and your wife to share whatever I've given them. They will share in order everything I'm revealing to you." Darren thanked God for guiding him. As he got up from prayer, the doorbell rang. It was Sean and Tamara, a young couple who lived in the neighborhood. Amanda, Darren's wife, came from the bedroom to join the meeting.
After everyone greeted and hugged each other, Darren spoke. "Please share whatever the Spirit is leading you to share."
Sean spoke first. "I have a song the Lord is giving me to share with everyone." Darren nodded. So did everyone else. After Darren's song there was a holy hush. Everyone wiped tears from their eyes, thanking God for easing their pain from the week. "That song fits perfectly with what I've been studying in scripture this week." Tamara shared with everyone what God showed her all week long from the Psalms. Darren and Amanda smiled at each other. They had just talked at breakfast about the very same scriptures Tamara shared. "Can I pray for everyone? I feel deeply burdened to pray for each of you." Everyone agreed. Amanda prayed with conviction. After she finished, they all felt God's presence, filling them individually and collectively. They felt the Lord Jesus in the room
Sunday, October 18, 2015
The Spiritual Realm (Part 2)
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from
the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand
them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
~Paul, the Apostle
You are either natural, carnal, or spiritual. You. The one reading. Right now. How can you know what you are? First, you have to know the difference between the three categories of humanity.
THE NATURAL PERSON
Those who are natural live according to the physical and temporal. They judge all things by and through the five senses, according to their own individual souls--their minds, emotions, and wills. They perceive all things and everything and everyone independent of God. They neither acknowledge God, nor serve Him. They are their own gods, but are subject to the false gods, knowingly or unknowingly. They do not have God's Spirit in them. There are some who have but do not follow the Spirit within. These are the carnal men and women.
THE CARNAL PERSON
Some have the Spirit of God in them through faith in Jesus Christ, but they don't acknowledge or follow the Spirit. They, like the natural person, judge all things and everything by their physical and soulical faculties. These are miserable, because the Spirit in them convicts them of their self-centered perspective. They have more in common with the natural person than with the spiritual person.
The natural and carnal person cannot understand spiritual things, the thoughts of the Spirit. How can they? To you, the one who is reading, who can know your thoughts unless you reveal them? In the same way, the natural and carnal person live a life of separation from the Spirit. They reject His mind, exalting their own minds above the mind of God. They will not receive His thoughts. But the spiritual man and woman can. They alone are truly spiritual. They alone know the mind of God.
(Click here for part 3.)
~Paul, the Apostle
You are either natural, carnal, or spiritual. You. The one reading. Right now. How can you know what you are? First, you have to know the difference between the three categories of humanity.
THE NATURAL PERSON
Those who are natural live according to the physical and temporal. They judge all things by and through the five senses, according to their own individual souls--their minds, emotions, and wills. They perceive all things and everything and everyone independent of God. They neither acknowledge God, nor serve Him. They are their own gods, but are subject to the false gods, knowingly or unknowingly. They do not have God's Spirit in them. There are some who have but do not follow the Spirit within. These are the carnal men and women.
THE CARNAL PERSON
Some have the Spirit of God in them through faith in Jesus Christ, but they don't acknowledge or follow the Spirit. They, like the natural person, judge all things and everything by their physical and soulical faculties. These are miserable, because the Spirit in them convicts them of their self-centered perspective. They have more in common with the natural person than with the spiritual person.
The natural and carnal person cannot understand spiritual things, the thoughts of the Spirit. How can they? To you, the one who is reading, who can know your thoughts unless you reveal them? In the same way, the natural and carnal person live a life of separation from the Spirit. They reject His mind, exalting their own minds above the mind of God. They will not receive His thoughts. But the spiritual man and woman can. They alone are truly spiritual. They alone know the mind of God.
(Click here for part 3.)
The Spiritual Realm (Part 1)
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For
who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In
the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
~Paul, the Apostle
What is the spiritual realm?
First, we have to understand what it truly means to be "spiritual." It means one thing: to follow the Spirit of God from within. Only those who accept Jesus as Lord have the Spirit in them. Only they can know and follow Him. Only they are truly spiritual.
The falsely spiritual follow evil spirits. Their spirits yield in passivity to demonic spirits. They are, in a sense, "spiritual," but not in the truest and ultimate sense. They live in a spiritual realm, a realm of darkness, a realm without God. But the truly spiritual live in union with the Spirit. These two realms are at war: the realm of God's Spirit vs the realm of Satan's spirits.
But what is the spiritual realm, for those who follow God's Spirit or Satan's spirit?
As it is written, "Those who live in accordance with the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Those who live in accordance with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh."
This is how you distinguish the natural person and carnal person from the Spiritual person: listen to their words. As Jesus said, "From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks." As it is written in the book of Hebrews, the heart is composed of our thoughts and intentions. And what is in our hearts, or on our minds, inevitably comes out of our mouths.
What is your mindset, your habitual focus?
What are you thinking and talking about most of the time?
(Click here for part 2)
~Paul, the Apostle
What is the spiritual realm?
First, we have to understand what it truly means to be "spiritual." It means one thing: to follow the Spirit of God from within. Only those who accept Jesus as Lord have the Spirit in them. Only they can know and follow Him. Only they are truly spiritual.
The falsely spiritual follow evil spirits. Their spirits yield in passivity to demonic spirits. They are, in a sense, "spiritual," but not in the truest and ultimate sense. They live in a spiritual realm, a realm of darkness, a realm without God. But the truly spiritual live in union with the Spirit. These two realms are at war: the realm of God's Spirit vs the realm of Satan's spirits.
But what is the spiritual realm, for those who follow God's Spirit or Satan's spirit?
The spiritual realm is the state of existence in which we perceive with our intuitions
the presence and power of God, or the presence and power of Satan.
It is the state where we know intuitively the thoughts of God or the thoughts of Satan.
As it is written, "Those who live in accordance with the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Those who live in accordance with the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh."
This is how you distinguish the natural person and carnal person from the Spiritual person: listen to their words. As Jesus said, "From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks." As it is written in the book of Hebrews, the heart is composed of our thoughts and intentions. And what is in our hearts, or on our minds, inevitably comes out of our mouths.
- The natural person's mindset is physical, and thus he or she focuses on and talks about physical things.
- The carnal person's mindset should be spiritual, but it is instead natural, and like the natural person.
- The spiritual person's mindset is on the Spirit, focused on spiritual things, or the thoughts of the Spirit.
What is your mindset, your habitual focus?
What are you thinking and talking about most of the time?
(Click here for part 2)
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