Photo by Garon Piceli
It's gonna rain Glory, winds of this world are gonna blow away the chaff! He's a comin' to Reign, yes Jesus is gonna Reign! He is the Sun that warms the earth! He has put an end to sin and death! Oh yea, it's gonna rain Glory, Jesus is gonna' Reign !
Four days ago I turned sixty-five. I always think and ponder life at this time of a new year. My sixth-five years of attempting to be a student of my human nature and yours have been interesting to say the least.
TRUTH: Humans are scared of what we don’t know, especially if it changes life as we know it.
Godly Wisdom: Change and failure MUST occur so that humans will grow. Most of us stop growing in our early twenties. Can you believe it? Ephesians 4:15-16 – But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ.
TRUTH: Parents desire things for their children that perhaps they missed or lost when they were children. Or worse, parents have the illusion of controlling their child’s happiness when it is simply a lie.
Godly Wisdom: Children are a gift and parents have a responsibility to raise them without resentment. Children are ours for a season in which we are to do our best to pour Truth into them. This can only be done in faithfulness to God’s Word and Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:13 “and you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit… “
TRUTH: Grown humans often still “desire” something we did not get in childhood.
Godly Wisdom: Childhood is filled with wonder but just as well it is full of disappointment trauma, abuse and hurt. These must be recognized, named, worked on but according to God’s Word the do NOT define us. John 3:16. ” For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life. ”
TRUTH: Fear about what might happen is completely useless to us humans. 2 Timothy 1:7 ” for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and a sound mind. “
Conclusion: I am a feeble student at best. I have more questions than answers the longer I sojurn. I have seen the evil and the good. I have embraced God’s Holy Spirit pursuing me, and pointing me to Jesus Christ always! I have rebelled, stumbled, disobeyed, fallen, and I have been hated and have hated. I have seen the Transformation from dark was to light. I stand on the I infallible foundation that God is absolutely Good and their is no evil in Him whatsoever. I know this because humans are well acquainted with evil and there is none Good but God.
1 John 5:20 “We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”
Carrying on. ..
Photo by Rodolfo Clix
Hyperbolic language: Proper Bible Teachers derive the passage’s authorial intent and arrive at a common meaning.
Direct Revelation from God: NO! God has said all He has to say to us through Jesus Christ, using the Holy Spirit to guide us to Jesus and in all Truth! God stopped speaking when He gave His Son, and all He has to say now is in His Word. Hebrews 1:1-2
Busywork: Fluff instead of exegesis. Simply teach the passage verbatim.
Taking words and verses out of context: THIS is a BIG ONE! You cannot cherry pick words and verses randomly and unrelated to the main passage you are teaching. Usually spiritualizing and cherry picking occurs because someone never learned or knows proper hermeneutical methods to learning or teaching.
Softening understood Christian words and concepts: Instead of using words like sin, submit, repent, obey false teachers will use words like “wrong choices, cooperate with God, resist His direction.”
Legalistic warnings and scare tactics: Telling people they “MUST DO, MUST TRY, MUST ACCOMPLISH to reap benefits of the Christian life. This is IMPOSSIBLE. If we are in Christ, we have Christ always and forever. Matthew 28:20
Quick Glance False teaching flags
One sited source Elizabeth Prata (Blog)
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Daily there are new hits.
The death toll rising and no place to sit,
at the table of commerce there is hunger and doubt.
Some will be let in but so many left out.
So a new reality is here.
In whom will I trust and whom will I fear?
Will people be kind and help stop the bleeding?
My country is dying and my soul is grieving.
Decency and kindness are being crucified!
No one tells the truth, the media is all lies!
My soul is crying in the long dark night!
Deliver us oh God with your Holy light!
Never let it be said of this patriot here,
that she ever gave up her country so dear!
Let her be remembered as a woman who prayed,
“In God we trust until the end of days!”
Photo by Rok Romih
When He breathed over the deep by His Spirit.
He cast out the void and then spoke.
He created the world and everything in it
and everlasting Peace awoke.
Jesus rules over Peace.
He is the Prince of Peace.
He is the Peace that passes all understanding,
and He gladly gives it to you and me.
The world will not grasp it.
The unbeliever calls it a lie.
Yet those who have tasted and seen it,
know His Peace cannot be defiled.
“Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him” (Psalm 34:8).
Photo by Negative Space
I take up my pen to write again of the love you give to me.
No one else was there in that dark night of despair when I saw how much You had to bleed.
You tenderly wrapped my dead body in your shroud of forgiveness, and sealed it with the balm of your Grace.
Your kindness brought me to repentance, and you held so sweetly my tear streaked face.
People say they have heard it all before, and I hope that they too have seen,
The One who knelt beside me and cried along with me.
The chief of sinners, I was your enemy yet still you died to claim.
I will tell you Jesus loves you and me and by no other name can we be saved.
Photo by John-Mark Smith
The crowds were waiting. The sick, the lame, the blind, the demon possessed were all waiting for Him. The One who they had glimpsed in other crowds on other days healing everyone he touched. Where was He? Those other men were his followers so He must be close by.
Jesus was away at a distance. He could see the crowds below growing larger. Jesus was praying. Jesus was here for a reason but today it was not to go down to that crowd and heal them physically. Jesus was going on to “to other towns” to preach the Gospel. It is not that he did not love and care for the infirm and helpless ones at the bottom of that hill. He did and does care but His primary healing is/was to be done to the souls of the human race. His Gospel is this, Sin kills, Hell is real but God is Merciful and He, Jesus is the Way to Life. Jesus is the passport we need to The Kingdom.
I confess I have often prayed and used Jesus Salvation for me as a means for “life” not to be hard or uncomfortable here on earth. I have prayed for healing for myself and others. I pray every day for a “not hard life” for my children and grandchildren” but that is NOT why Jesus came. Oh do not doubt, Jesus cares for our trials on earth but He cares more that we receive Salvation from our sin and spend eternity in His presence.
Jesus promises those that receive Him will have eternal life and that He will never leave us nor forsake us and as one of my favorite quotes says, “you cannot find the Cross of Jesus on your own. It is Jesus who must lead you there, as if you were a blind person.”
So, I confess I tried to manipulate my relationship with Jesus by asking Him to not let me or those I love suffer but in His Gracious infinite Love and Wisdom He forgives me and says, “now walk with me and tell everyone that Jesus Christ is Risen and the souls of man can be saved forever.”
Mark 1:39
Photo by Ray Bilcliff
As I sit by the ocean and hear it’s deeply powerful roar.
The waves seem so angry and crash on the shore.
Brother against brother like I have not seen before.
My heart cries at the hatred, it is a Civil War.
Everyone is talking but it is just a screaming noise.
Oh God show us mercy for all we’ve destroyed.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1John4:8
John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
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The salty air lay thick upon my skin.
Laughter in the village sings so sweetly.
Never does a hard day meet me here,
when I walk by the sea in God’s keeping.
This beach helps me see outside of my self,
and find The One who is the Hope of all things.
Exposed and authentic the waves hit my feet,
with no fear of the dance tomorrow will surely bring.
I will sing in this His cathedral
of sky and sand and sea.
I praise The Holy One who cannot be undone
and give thanks as He walks here with me.
Jill Autrey Dorman 