The Way Of The Spirit

Daniel Today

2010-03-01T16:41:00.000-08:00

February 28, 2010

In the middle of reading the book of Daniel, I am realizing just how hopelessly human kind is locked in a vicious circle of self imposed circumstance due to sin. In chapter 8, Daniel recounts to us his vision of the Ram and the Goat.

The ram living in the east has great power, until the “goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came flying from the west crossing the whole earth without touching the ground.” Dan. 8:5 Sound like anything recent to you? Now the book on Daniel is supposed to be closed for the most part, but remember none of the books are truly closed until the end of the end.

The reason for this is that man is destined to repeat his actions because he is helplessly trapped in the maze of sin. Remember Jesus said, just as in the days of Noah, they will be “… marrying and given in marriage.” Drinking, celebrating, living and going about their business as if Christ won’t be coming back.

In the same way we recently crossed the whole earth from the west to make war in far off places eastward. No, I’m not speaking to the right or wrong of these actions just to the nature of man to do such things. Reading on we learn that God is sovereign over all life, and though mans’ boastfulness and pride will give God trouble, it’s not outside of His sovereignty to handle it.

God being God, He will let us have our way for a time, even if it’s to our own detriment. This is His way. Shame on us. In the end of the end, God is I AM and He along is victorious. And those who serve Him throughout these things though they will also suffer, will in the end of the end also be victorious.

So if we are near the end we must ask ourselves, will we stand with God our Father in the power of the Holy Spirit through the work of the cross in Christ Jesus? Or will we act like Christ isn’t coming, and get caught in the trap of man’s cycle of sin?

Taking On Responsibility - In Christ

2010-02-06T19:48:00.000-08:00

So I have taken on a new position at Worldprayr. To be honest when I took the responsibility of managing WP's blog I thought it would be a daunting but great opportunity to stretch and learn in Christ. How could I be surprised? I was ready for a tough job. Wow!

God always knows how to up and stretch the "WOW" factor. After taking on the job I learned that I would be responsible for marketing the blog as well. Wow!

But that comes with it and I have some old fashioned training for it. Then I was given some learning materials to "get up to speed." Wow! I still haven't gone through it all. But here's where the rubber meets the road.

In all this is, I have learned where I am deficient Christ’s' grace is sufficient. Wow! I am already wowed by His ability to make the task one that drives me closer to Him.

This is where Christ excels and where our faithfulness is both tested and His presence proven. Some of my tweetie birds know and I have said, as believers we are no longer to look for Christ in signs and wonders, of miracles and the parting of seas.

Our path now that we have accepted Christ as our Savior is one of faithfulness to the path we have chosen. But this doesn't mean Christ doesn't want to prove Himself to us as we travel in Him, He does!

Just as a father wants to bring presents to his children, and hug them and hold them to show his love, God through Christ wishes to reveal Himself to us to show us how much he loves us. But as we become adults we do not always get hugs and presents from our dads. Do they love us any less? No way! But our fathers pay us the respect of adults and the hugs sometimes get shorter but nevertheless the same feelings are still there.

As adults fathers may call their children up and want to meet for coffee. If in a jam, a father may want to help out his adult child. Even if the child outwardly swears they can handle it, but inside really welcomes the aid. The adult child feels loved by the father.

In the same way God reveals Himself to us as we grow in Christ. And I could not feel more honored, and though I feel the weight of the responsiblity I also sense the presence of God our Father in a much greater way and wow, am I glad He is in my life. Two things come with this position (well, much more but these are the two things I want to point out now).

One, I am grateful for this opportunity. And two, as I grow closer to Christ in this endeavor, so too will Worldprayr's blog with all hope become greater in it's reach and effectiveness. And all this, not by my ability alone, no way!

Truly, it will be by God's power and grace and all the contributors and everyone working together at Worldprayr! This is how the Kingdom will function once the body is united forever! Wow!

LEFT OUT or SET APART

2010-01-27T23:54:00.000-08:00

So your friends are at a party and you're told you cannot go. The obvious primal feeling would be to feel left out. Now there are variables, of course.

1. It depends on the type of party going on. What's the buzz?

2. Who else will be there?

3. How big and famed the party will be. - Will it be talked about for "years to come?"

4. How old you are.

As we grow older the urge to go to the "big" party becomes less and less. But let's face it, no one likes to be left out. How is it you think technology spreads among consumers? We used to call it keeping up the Jones'. Now we just call it jonezin' - ([jonezin] may or may not still be right in today's speak, alas, I no longer care).

The iTablet was debuted on Wednesday, but long before that the "buzz" was huge. Now the price tag will be whatever it be, but rest assured it will gobbled up to the delight of Credit Card companies (banks).

I recently saw a report that said in 1991 Cell Phones had only a 15% saturation in the U.S. Now, huh! 270-million Americans own a cell phone. A saturation of 90% or more! Computer saturation is at 85% now. Up from some 10% in 1994. WE GOTTA HAVE IT.

No one wants to be left out. If everyone's talking about it, you don't want to be the one who has nothing to say.

Marketers are human. They went to school. They know first hand the difference between the "cool" kids and the ones not in. And so do we. So we buy in to be "in." This of course has deleterious effects though. More on that shortly.

First, fame and media works in much the very same way. Would you want to the one who doesn't know the latest stars, fashion, movies, music? In some cases not knowing who Lady Gaga is, can get you put out of the group quick! Again, as we older, who cares. But for many this is not the case, even among co-workers in their 20's, 30's, 40's, and so on.

So the pressure of keeping up with the fashion of today can and in some cases is, an essential part of getting on well at the battleground of school, work, and social groups. Being neglectful in these areas can even hold one back from advancing. But this is not without consequence. Referring first back to the parties.

1. Who knows what can happen at these parties. (Many do not end well. Fights, destruction of friendships, rumors of who did what, and who did whom. These are things that if we didn't go we wouldn't have missed).

2. So too if we do not always buy in we can be better off. (We do not have cable [by choice-Cox was gouging us]. And so we don't spend the days flipping through 500 channels with nothing on. Our child is not exposed to deleterious programming. NO ALCHOHOL ADS! And we are greater control of the images our child sees).

3. Not knowing all the fashion can in it's self set us apart and makes one a more stable sturdy person in the school, work, and/or social setting. The key is being comfortable in one's own skin. And being able to laugh with those who laugh and cry with those who cry based on honest care and concern for those around.

Others may say "you're so square, but that's cool." It happens everyday. People like stable ports in the storm. In particular, as long as that port is there for them inviting and safe, not brutally dangerous and potentially deadly jagged rocks; or for lack of a better analogy, being an accusatory and judgmental person.

But listen carefully. Am I talking about parties, technology and what's in fashion, or being a faithful follower in Christ who is in the world, but now because of Him no longer of it?

Dominion or Stewardship

2010-01-11T09:13:00.000-08:00

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1

This weekend I took my son and this time my bride also came with us to partake in the event of watching Avatar.While some have said the message is "liberal" I couldn't disagree more. It was a good story with great brand new cutting edge graphics. Some conservatives have said it diminishes or even casts aspersions on our military and our efforts in the Middle East. Ridiculous!

Our mlitary is amazing and our soldiers are throwing their own bodies on the line to protect us. God bless them. Amen! The two events couldn't be more apart.

We are not "invaders" rather we have been engaged in self protection. On the issue of Iraq, there is plenty of room for debate. But not for me, and that conflict is for all intent and purpose coming to a close.

But what cannot be in dispute is our (mankind) treatment of this earth and some of its people. Ideology is an opinion if the instances have very little basis in truth. And this issue is replete with actual occurences and indeed is not far off our own history.

From the Aramaic translation we get a more accurate picture of our life in conjunction with the earth and all its life and life being;

Genesis 1:24-26

And God said, "Let the earth produce living souls in harmony with its nature, herds and four-legged animals and creatures of the earth, according to their kind," and it was so. And so God created the creatures of the earth according to their kind, and the herd animals according to their kind, and all the four-legged animals according to their kind, and God saw that they were beautiful. And God said, "We shall make the human being in the image of our likeness, and they shall have authority over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and the herds and all the creatures of the earth and all the four-legged animals that walk on the earth."

Yes, God gave us authority over the entire earth and it creatures but did that mean our sovereign right meant we could do irreparable harm to it? Remember the shrewd manager in Luke 16.

Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.' "The manager said to himself ‘what shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg—I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.' "So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' ”‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied. "The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.' "Then he asked the second, 'and how much do you owe?' ”‘A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied.”He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.' "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.

Instead of getting all the money owed to his master from debtors. He lowered their bill so they could afford to pay the manager and in kind their debt to the master. The master commended the manager’s thinking. He not only got most of the debt paid but he made friends among the debtors. But unfortunately many do not do so with the clear authority we’ve been given by God over the earth. Instead many are driven to squeeze every last drop the earth and its inhabitants have to give to fill their own coffers. This is unwise.

This kind store up wealth here only, and in doing so they lose their treasure in heaven. How we treat this earth and its creatures of all kinds matter to God. Do not forget that in the original Aramaic text all living things have a soul! There needn’t be a question of this any longer. But the Native Americans and the Bison of that era were all decimated to make room for the nation we now call home. This is historical fact, not an opinion.

If anything, what I come away with from watching Avatar beyond just having a great movie experience is we should take care of our earth not in a liberal fashion but to balance all things. It’s our right to eat, build, and use the resources of this earth but to do so with the knowledge God wishes us to do so in harmony with its nature, Genesis 1:24. Sometimes taking less gains us so much more; this is not liberal, but good sense. It is authority used with stewardship and is no doubt pleasing to God, who is Master of all we have authority over.

GREAT TO BE BACK

2010-01-05T09:26:00.000-08:00

It’s indeed great to be back!

A new year is upon us and new challenges for sure. We serve a living God and therefore as imperfect beings we can expect that He is never done working on us. Paul reminds us of the strain we must undertake to reach greater depths in Christ, in his letter to the Philippians 3:12-14.

"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

We must always keep in mind we are a work never complete. "From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain, prophets and priest alike all practice deceit." Jeremiah 6:13

Now I'm not saying we are deceitful as individuals, or greedy. We do not all wrestle with all manner of sins, but of sin itself. And we do so not without struggle nor without the temptations of things we've never really dealt with from from arising or re-arising. This is the nature of things. So we fight without rest to make ourselves ready for the great rest in Christ Jesus! So too, must remember not to place so high a priority on the things of this world.

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." Philippians 3:20, 21

It used to be said, "God, family, country, in that order" But of late and in particular, on Twitter the many tweets are "country, country and country!" The argument is we must fight the evil in government. But we must beware, and let us not get caught in the devils trap!

This country, though I would not like to see it, will pass away. All countries, empires and kingdoms do. So too will this entire earth, it is written. But this country will go faster if we make it so much our fight that it becomes idolatry.

If at the end of the day we go to our beds angry about the status of this country, the line has been crossed. "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Ephesians 4:26, 27. There is no wiggle room here! Neither our anger nor our country can become our god. For our God is a jealous God, and he will have no other gods before him.

I love my family so I will put my God first! I love my country so I will put my God first! 'Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-40

Again, the argument will no doubt be "I am putting God first by taking on my government when it goes wrong. But Christ never said "fight your government."

He did say; "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well." Mark 16:15-18

Yes the line is fine, just the way the devil drew it. God's line is not fine it's narrow. On one side it's love and life on the other it's hate and death. We must resist the temptation to spend too much time engaging in politics and rather work on our own salvation, with prayer and meditation in the word, learning how to love despite our natural instincts. And it's with saving individuals in our neighborhoods, and communities and beyond.

If we've told our leaders "be saved, go and sin no more," and they do not, move on. God will deal with them. Trust God! If we've said abortion is evil, and they do not change, God will deal with them and the government. In fact He already has.

But when preaching to people our tone should not be one of condemnation, but of love without condemnation. Saying and exemplifying that Christ came to save sinners from death out of love. Letting them know without question "believe, be baptized, love one another and go, sin no more." The good news is for individuals, not governments.

Trying to change government or the people working within that worldy principality, is like trying to fix a burned out light bulb. Yes, we must engage, but not so much that it takes up our time from preaching the good news and indeed BEING the good news, of the Agape love Christ to all we happen to meet.

The great news is, if we are not getting it right God will not destroy us. We are not under condemnation! Rather, it's just something we need to work on to become more perfect as He is perfect. And make no mistake it is something we need to work on. (I am speaking to myself as well friends).

Yet, it's just one more thing in a list of things we must strain toward the better of in reaching for the prize. So let's have a mind of preparation for change, because God is the unchanging changer. He has no need of changing, but we do.

2009-10-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

HOW LITTLE SCIENCE CAN WE ACCEPT IN ORDER TO KEEP OUR FAITH?

I can only answer that question for myself. But it is something I wonder about regarding the greater family of God. I'm not speaking of fringe groups of radical people, I mean my people. You know, you the chosen of God, the true body of the Living Lord.

The question is framed poetically for the title but the true question goes a little something like this: Is there a point at which you would disregard faith for science? Or, are science and faith mutually exclusive to each other? Do you think science and faith having nothing to do with each other?

Your answer may be defined by how your faith grows, or not, in Christ. Now of course the question of science and faith is not the only definer of your faith. One's personal experiences, the way one was raised, the environment one grew up in, the way one chooses to believe based on current/past traumatic or blessed experiences-- all these help shape one's faith, too.

Just as meaningful to the base code of our faith is our fundamental belief in the place of science and faith. Jesus said we need only faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains, to heal the sick, make the blind see, lame walk...and so on. But I'm not reaching for so lofty a position of faith. I'm talking about the faith that keeps one in faith to God instead of slipping away because of unbelief.

I recently read an article in one of the country's oldest and largest newspapers. The title (though I can't remember it now) was something relating to God and science so I took a gander. It describes why science GREAT and AWESOME as it is, does away with the notion of God a Supreme Intellect in favor of the PURITY OF RANDOMNESS within our universe. How by cosmic accident we are all here. But the most telling aspect of the article was its chief reason for the disbelief in GOD. I found it quite telling, not just about those who believe there is no God, but about the writer herself.

First the superficial reason: Randomness, cosmic accident, evolution, proof of the theory of evolution like cells turning into fish and fish into monkeys and monkeys into humanoids and humanoids into human beings, Added in are all scientific terminologies and presto change-o after a 5 billion years humans. But even with all this "proof" the main reason comes down to something only humans can experience in so profound a way. And that is human loss.

As I got the end of the article, the writer described that if you have gone on this journey with her and come away feeling the way she does, others will most certainly call you an atheist, and they would be right. She did a magnificent job cloaked in science, pushing her belief. So then the point of the article was finally revealed only at the very end.

But greatest portion of her theoretical proof was, why if the God "WE" created was so kind and benevolent, why wars, why murders, why senseless violence? Randomness puts this neatly in a box. But God cannot fit, she surmised.

A benevolent Benefactor would not... indeed - could not - allow such horrors to befell humans. It sounds like someone needs a hug and an education in the spirit by the Spirit. I'm not playing this for a joke. I really felt the pain of the writer attempting to; with only the world's knowledge to come up with a reason for why God isn't... couldn't be. How could He let such things happen? Who hasn't been there? I felt she was truly searching for someone to overcome her and her staunchly held beliefs and to please tell me where He is and how may I find and have peace in Him?

Scientist or not, she fully reveals she's no pure scientist. A scientist cannot tell you there is no God because there is no proof of the absence of God by a long shot! For scientists this must be thoroughly proven before any such a prognostication can be made.

In fact they would tell you through their work at the LHC or Large Hadron Collider in France they are looking for the "God particle" the smallest particle in all of life so full of energy and power that when split it would have causes such a massive and magnificent explosion it would have created the very universe we currently live in today. In other words the source for the Big Bang! Einstein's Theory and the closest of all science related explanations to what the word says did actually happened - In the beginning.

Could an intelligent Being have used such knowledge to make the Heavens, scientists wonder? Or was by accident? But more questions arise when you leave it to chaos. Less when you begin to put an intelligent Designer at the end of it all. Or should I say at the beginning of it all? How about both?

Scientists do not presuppose. They question. Some scientists at large, and at the LHC have found Christ because of their research. Some still have no idea. But here is the point I've been heading toward. While reading the writer's article (before I found out she was an atheist), did her revelations shudder my faith? No. And here is why.

My faith in God is not based on what the world finds out or not through science. I do not fear science. Faith and science can belong together if you have enough faith in what you believe. My faith is based on GOD's Word through the Spirit of the Living Lord. It is by grace I receive the ability to have faith and through that faith I believe and confess Jesus as my Lord, Savior the Son of God sent by ABBA for remission of mine and all peoples sins.

Science is merely man's way of figuring out how God did and does - what he did and does. The two; faith and science are not mutually exclusive. Science is a word. God created all things but, how do you suppose He did that? By what means or method? Is science a dirty word or is it just a word to try and describe God's means and method? Is it wrong to try figure that out? I do not believe so. Our Father gave us dominion over all life here - and by union with Christ over all life itself.

So, I do not believe it is wrong to be inquisitive. Even with our greatest understanding we will still only know in part. For He that lives is the One and Only to give perfect knowledge of all things because only He is perfect.

I do believe that letting science be exclusively in the hands of those without faith is dangerous. We must be everywhere. But if the phobia of faith precludes us from learning in the sciences we hurt ourselves and our offspring.

Preach the gospel in ALL THE WORLD. That most certainly includes the area of science. No matter what revelations there are to be found none will rock my faith because my faith is planted in the Rock who is the Christ, Son of the Living God who is all and through whom all things are held together. Amen! Not even the most noble of human wanderings of inquisitiveness can scale that Rock. But that's my faith.

The word says there are many universes existing all at once. When the world finds this to be true, if we have not understood the word, a fight will breakout between those whose faith will be shattered by this knowledge and those in the world who wish to further denounce God. But it's already in the word! And the word goes on to say that God is God of them all. And that Christ is Lord of them all!

But when it is finally revealed to be in the word if we aren't out in front of this, many will then say "oh, they're just trying to shape the word to fit their silly belief." And we will have given them the right to say so, by being absent from this area of humanity. Worse, many saints will fall away because of a lack of faith.

Science is the understanding of some of our faith. We should not dismiss it. Neither should we let atheists have a realm they can operate peacefully, where we do not oppose them with truth. Using the exact same knowledge but with greater eternal understand through our faith. Remember Galileo was a Christian.

But yet even he was ridiculed by those whose faith was lacking and held captive as a heretic for saying that the Earth was not the center of the universe. But the word of God that gave birth to his and his captors' faith already said thousands of years earlier, when I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, what you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?

Do not place your faith in a box, to be held neatly there. The word says "test the spirits," "come let us reason together." Go and where you go "I will be there also, even to the end of the age."

Not Forgetting to Forget in Forgiving

2009-08-02T04:00:00.000-07:00

Hey Karen,

You are correct in that the Father wishes us to forgive in the same manner as he does. Jesus said, “be perfect therefore as your Father in Heaven is perfect” Matt. 5:48 the Sermon on the Mount. He was talking about loving our enemies when he said this. But the pre-requisite is that you have to have an enemy in order to forgive them.

Now the Father gave us examples of just how expects us to be like him, in forgiving enemies. He does want us to indeed forget (throw away) the offense like it never happened. But by forgetting (throwing it away) however, the meaning is to forget (throw away) the anger and judgment the offense and the offender caused.

For the Father, sin/unrighteousness separates us from him and causes him to judge us. He is holy and cannot look upon our sin, thank you Jesus for saving us.

For us, when someone hurts us let’s say, in a vicious way, it often causes us to separate from that person because of our anger and inability to forgive by forgetting, though we may initially forgive.

Forgiveness is after all a followers’ duty we know this and there’s no margin for error. But being human beings we find a way to hide or hold on to the anger (we think) in not forgetting.
In many cases not forgetting is a way of keeping us protected from the person or persons that harmed us. We don’t trust that we’ll stay away from them if we truly forgive. But if we don’t forget we won’t return to them and we honor ourselves.

However, this works against us in that in some cases after the separation the pain grows deeper when we remember it further carving greater emotional craters in our lives as well as causing damage to our relationship with God and others.

This is where the Father teaches us how to forget (throw away) the offense because as humans when we forget we plunge right back in. “He who forgets history is destined to repeat it.”
God knows us so the example is:

Isa. 43:25 I, even I, am He Who blots out and cancels your transgressions, for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins… ”

Ps. 103:12 “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us… “

Micah 7:19 “Once again you will have compassion on us.You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!”

In cases of trust being broken intentionally, or foul play that leads to the death of a friendship or worse (God forbid), the remembrance of the person/persons and the event/events may cause us to replay the hurt associated with said the person/persons and event/events.

It is then we must remember; we forgave the offender and mustn’t give the devil place (legal – authority) to enter our hearts and cause us to separate from God in anger unchecked which is sin.

The Father does want us to be child-like in this way. “Vengeance is mine says the Lord.” He will protect us, even if we forgive to the point we forget.
We may not ever again have a relationship with the person/persons who harmed us, but we can pray for them in love having truly forgotten the pain and anger that came about as result of their misdeed toward us. But this is much easier said than done.

And God knows that’s why he gave us the assignment. If it were that easy to forgive with forgetfulness the bible would be very short and Christ could have stayed home.

Forgiveness to the point of forgetting (throwing away) is one of the greatest challenges we as believers will ever have before us. In fact in the Lord’s Prayer it is the only conditional part of the prayer; “forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who have sinned against us…”

The implication in the word is clear, forgiving is impossible without forgetting (throwing away). Only when we forget-throw away all bitterness and anger with all malice can we enjoy the fruits true forgiveness can bring.

It is possible to with Christ’s help, remember the person/persons event/events and think to ones’ self, "I can’t remember how much that hurt..." right?

Thanks for the discussion Karen, it really helps.

Sean, Loving Believer in Christ

Arm and Press

2009-07-30T12:01:00.000-07:00

Sean, an undeserving servant of the Lord, I bid you…

Grace and peace from our Lord Jesus Christ our Savior and Light of the world and of our hearts and minds and lives if we keep our eyes clear of the distraction of this world to focus on him.

I wake from a deep, painful sleep – rested in the joy of the Lord renewed and revived to continue his work. His work is not to be taken lightly either. Some have said if you wish to serve God, just go and do. But would you rush into war in Iraq or Afghanistan without boot camp?

Not even the legitimate governments of the world allow such a thing. Not even terrorist groups anymore! What makes us so careless about the warfare of life? Remember the wars of the world begin in spiritual places and we are on the frontlines of that warfare.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:7 – “You are looking only on the surface of things.” Just before that he said, the weapons of our warfare are (carnal) not of this world. But they are mighty through God – have divine power.

The King James puts it this way; “Casting down imaginations… ” 2 Corinthians 10:4 - meaning we fight in places unseen to the natural eye and Paul goes into detail, “… and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Thoughts! Meaning our warfare is for the minds and hearts and souls of humanity. And who do we know we will find in those places?

The enemy of God who has faced him long before we were created! In fact, it is that enemy who was here already waiting for us thinking this was his to rule, and was ready immediately to face the creation God made in God’s own image. But we were not ready; instead we fell into the enemy’s trap becoming subjects of his in his world!

However, God in his infinite love for his “better” creation, made a way to pluck us out of the grasps of that enemy but it cost him his Son. So now we have salvation from the enemy and are no longer his to rule but we still live in his world among others who have not been freed from his clutches.
So what now, is victory now won so we can become complacent? How arrogant we can be in our zeal. If winning us cost the Father his Son, what will it cost us who were called after and because of his Son?

This is why Paul wrote; “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:11, 12

You ever wonder why it is when you pray and minister to others then either face difficulties or grow heavy in the spirit. This is the nature of our warfare. We are not greater than our Master. If he suffered being fully prepared we must know we will suffer as well, if we are well prepared!

But woe to us if we go and are not to the best our present abilities prepared! Put simply, we can and will be crushed under the weight of the call! But to combat this; Christ through Paul gave us a clear way to be ready. We are to put on the armor of God, which simply means be prepared in:

Truth, (which comes about by always speaking the truth in love and not given to speaking, or listening to or the spreading of lies or gossip)

Righteousness, (living a life in the spirit not given to the ways of the world or flesh in – idolatry, lust, selfishness, spitefulness, cursing, hate, envy… instead being loving, caring, giving, gentle, forgiving, full of peace, meekness… )

Gospel of peace, (being ready to go – being supported by the confirmation of fellows in the gathering and the sharing of trials and testimonies)

Faith, (continue to press on in our belief – by simply leaving it to God – taking our hands off the wheel and not putting them on again)

Helmet of Salvation – (having the mind redesigned and made up - to know we now belong to an everlasting Lord who will never leave us nor forget us – and remembering we are sealed for him, to reign with him, forever, if we stand)

Sword of the Spirit – The word of God! (If we don’t know we can’t go. To be fully prepared in the word, by reading, and studying with the Spirit of God. Cross referencing, reading many versions NAS, NIV, NLT, KJV, Amplified, Greek translations, Aramaic [Peshitta], Hebrew texts, etc. and not being afraid to question what we read. Questions, lead to answers and those answers build preparation for those we would face that would use their cunning to trip us up.)

Prayer, “… And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Ephesians 6:18

What a great preparation proving ground we have in WORLDPRAYR. Here we come with readiness, even if not completely prepared for all battles outside of prayer and exercise our spiritual muscles. In this we are fully obedient to God and our call.

But we should never forget not forsake to every day, be prepared by going through our daily routine of readiness and being fully armed. For again, before wars take place in the physical world they begin in the spiritual places, in the minds and hearts of men. That’s where we are, and where we are called to fight.

We must pray for our leaders small and great, our neighbors friendly or otherwise, our neighborhoods and towns and cities and states and regions and nations and countries.

But most of all and dare I say before - and - after all - PRAY FOR FELLOWS, BROTHERS AND SISTER IN CHRIST! “With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:18.

In praying for one another we help lift the heaviness and the attacks of the enemy that come to saints who are praying for others and are at work in the mission fields of God. They/we need our aide foremost! If we are crushed the work ends. We know God will not let that happen on global scale until he is ready, but our overall effectiveness will wane, until it is choked off. This is our individual responsibility.

Let us therefore not be arrogant and think one: we can just go. This is a real war! It’s “The” real war.! It all happens in the realms we live in before it happens in the physical world. And this war like all wars needs real soldiers. The better trained military will be victorious. The enemy has worked hard to train his. They fight well without knowing how used they are and how strong they are at it.

And two: let us not think we can go ‘un’ – or half prepared, this is folly and will bring more stress in our lives, and may even damage our faith overall and may even crush our very lives. This is why we must press on. We have been plucked from the Matrix to use a popular movie analogy. And there is no way back in.

We belong to Christ, so let us do his will as soldiers drafted, but we do not grumble as drafted soldiers do, for our draft is a calling, the highest calling one can be called to by GOD. We have been adopted and given eternal life with Love himself. So learn, be prepared and fight the holy and good fight!

Be blessed in the Lord my fellows. With love and peace toward you all I wish you the best of days in the battle of life.

2009-07-16T03:14:00.000-07:00

REVIVAL IN AMERICA -

Comment to Chris, Fellow Tweeter and Brother In the Lord, Thirsting for Revival

I actually wrote you before but this new mouse I have is so fast it clicked on "sign out," right in the middle of my comment. That's the earthly explanation, but since the topic was revival I see the explanation being much more spiritual.

To continue however, great post by the way. Here's what I was struck by.

First off you spoke of NW America, the most lush land we have, never ever lacking in rainfall. But you also spoke of spiritual drought and a “dry place.”

As you may remember I have been praying for revival for sometime, and for reasons only now clear I was praying for a joining of many Churches to act as one Church of the area directly proceeding and during the ensuing fire of revival.

Now I live in the Mojave Desert. Today it will get up to about 110 degrees or 43.3 C degrees with a sky full of sun. We do not get much rain, but when we do it comes with violence; wind with gust sometimes upwards of 30, 60, 90, and in some rare cases, a 100 miles per hour and is often accompanied by ground shaking thunder and wickedly bright and powerful lightening.

These torrents can bring flash floods that sweep cars and trucks away. I myself was caught in one such deluge in 2003, but by God's grace escaped with my car barely getting out of a flash flooded intersection at Rainbow and Gowan that minutes later entrapped a rescue fire engine.

Recently, my Pastor announced that we and other "small" churches were joining together to become a central network of churches that could be described in truth as one Church with many campuses!

He said this was placed on his heart to do so and so, it is already happening! This it would seem to be the outward fruits of my and I’m sure others’ secret prayer. This is the pre-requisite I believe for a tremendous out-pouring of fire from the Holy Ghost. So that souls can just walk in any one - and be part of the whole.

Friend, it would appear, that God intends this outpouring to stick. So order is being set up to handle the souls that will be coming.

For revival to happen here first, is significant, for this is Las Vegas it could not stay a hidden thing and would be a significant blow to the enemy’s pride of having a town named for his affliction on mankind in America. My Pastor envisions "Sin City" becoming "Grace City."

Unbeknownst to me, he has been like a man who has not seen a cool drink of water in years; he thirsts for this, I now see. But this is the power of prayer, which I and others will continue to do. Thank you for your post. It blesses me greatly.

Now realize if revival is to come from the NW first, sobeit! Just please O LORD Jesus let it come!

But again your own words lead me to a slightly different conclusion. (I see a very dry place where the wind suddenly starts to blow. Very little at first, but it builds and builds until it’s a storm force wind bringing the fresh rain of revival – not as a spring shower but as a mighty torrent. And with revival is coming the very presence of the Lord God Almighty and no man shall stand in that presence. You shall not cry out for healing – it will just happen. You shall not pray for the unsaved – they shall walk in off the street – convicted of their sin before they know what is happening. You shall not ask for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit – it will happen to anyone and everyone.) Your words describe in this town and its weather patterns and potential almost perfectly.

You brother, IHS

Sean S.

2009-07-12T23:59:00.000-07:00

ANGER

After our last topic (Lust by 2ND Look), I thought it would be nice to lighten things up a bit and discuss ANGER. [Due to the graphic nature of the former topic I took it down. If you would like a copy I can email it to you. Just DM me @HisFriendlyWay w/your address]

Be angry, but don't sin...

In walking the spiritual way you could say: yes, we must. But in reality the balancing act of anger and sin is quite an act of dance in art.

The words of Paul in Ephesians 4:26 "In your anger do not sin : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry.." True, but just how for some is the difference between winning the day for Christ, and losing moments of life for themselves, their families, friends and co-workers. For some if the balance tips in favor of their anger into sin, they can lose everything! So this blog is dedicated to those who fight the good fight against ANGER.
First we must define ANGER in spiritual terms. Now anger does not come from the devil. If it did, it would be impossible for it to be any good at all. And the word clearly states, in today's parlance, to "get angry..." Now Paul would say go ahead do this if it were a sin.

But beyond Paul we have a greater example. Our Father, gets angry. Zechariah 1:2 "The LORD was very angry with your forefathers." Deuteronomy 1:37 Because of you the LORD became angry with me also and said, "You shall not enter it, either." Numbers 32:10 "The LORD's anger was aroused that day..."

But the very first time the words "anger' or 'angry" appear in the word, is with Cain. Genesis 4:5 "... So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast." In this first story of anger that turns into the first murder, it almost seems like God is picking a fight with Cain. But was he?

In the first part of the story, Cain and his younger brother Abel offer God their offerings. God was pleased and looked on favor with Abel's offering, but Cain's he did not. Now this act of "favor" angered the older brother. God saw this asking Cain, why?
Now, the answer as we can read it, was simple. While Cain gave God his first fruits, he didn't give him his "choice" fruits. Abel gave God his first fruits, but in giving he gave God his "choice" fruits. The best of his crops, the cream, that which rises to the top, the fat-portion of his best crops.

But in his anger, instead of understanding and learning how God wants things to be offered to him, Cain held only onto the rage from hurt and loss of pride. This led to murder. Cain's anger became sin.

Before the murder though God told Cain; Genesis 4:7 "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

And later God's point is revealed. Sin was crouching at Cain's door, and it did desire to have him. But God also told Cain that he must "master it."

But what happened? Through pain, hurt, pride, his anger boiled, until it blew. And Cain committed the first murder, and the first lie as well.
This is the cycle of ANGER boiled over. Destruction, lies, and shame. You know full well how you feel after you've acted out of the flesh. How it pains you. You've hurt someone.

But ANGER for some is addictive because the need it feeds is in some cases, greater than the punishment it deals. Until sin, the devil, has you right where he wants you. This is where MASTERING ANGER is so critical. The word says, resist the devil and he will flee. Resist, MASTER your feelings.

This is how you can break free.

Before the steps, know that anger before it becomes sin is righteous, i.e. Jesus turning over the money tables in the temple. Anger, is a defensive mechanism against injustice, danger, evil, and harm. But remember Satan is not a creator he is a deceiver.

God creates and Satan attempts to rob the good God made and pervert it, for the purpose of taking it away from God. Do not be fooled! Satan wanted God's Throne! He wanted to be "like the Most High." He uses deception to steal from God Himself. Of course the war is "finished," but Satan's opportunistic pride has not abated.

The Book says he fights until he is thrown into the lake of burning sulfur where he will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Amen! But this is the second death. Be wise, because this enemy never knows it's over!

Here is what is good. If you get angry when someone is being picked on that is the righteousness of God in you. If you go to the one picking on the person and attempt to stop them that too is righteous. But if you do them one better, hurt them after the threat is gone, or do nothing but have visions of beating maiming or killing that person, you've sinned.

Also, not dealing with injustices toward ones self is also the sin of anger.

It's called DEPRESSION. You have simply traded outward anger for inward anger. Balance. You are not allowed by God to hate even yourself.

Remember 1 Corinthians 3:16 Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

1 Corinthians 3:17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.

Recognize the truth:

First know that the devil desires to "devour" you. Now the Greek word for devour literally means "to drink." He cannot have your soul, if you are saved but he can hurt your testimony, keep you from achieving the things Christ has for you, and he can keep you from becoming a witness for Christ in the venue Christ would have you. So your anger-fueled offenses will not amount to much, until the devil has you right at the point where you benefit him the most and hurt Christ the greatest.

Get support:

You can't get through life alone - period. There's no qualifier here. You're not God you can't do it alone. CANNOT. And by the way, not even God wants to be alone. "Let us make man.." God in three? Please, get over yourself. I mean that in love. Remember "it is not good for man to be alone." Now having said that: men seek help from men, and women from women. This is critical, and without option. Talk things out with fellows. Join a group, create one, your GOD is The Creator, you're made in his image - he creates - you create. But by whatever means that is holy under God get it done. DO NOT STAND ALONE!

Bring your flesh under submission:

Read the word, as much as the daylight will allow. Pray often. It helps to pray for others, this takes you out of yourself and places others ahead of you. This is good and helps kill the flesh. And don't be afraid to start by apologizing often for foul language. This is a step but a good one. Get uncomfortable with bad language. This is a big flesh killers.

And Love:

Catch yourself and apologize to God for saying bad thing for thinking less of someone, for being apathetic regarding people you don't like. Ask God as situations arise to help you see as he would, not as you would. Do it all the time. You'll find God beginning a change in you. The Christ journey is beautiful, but not always delightful, so take the steps along the narrow path and choose love over hate. And trust in God over fear.

Love = trust. Love the Lord your God with your whole being, heart, mind and soul, and when tough times arise - you can resist the devil, and he will flee. He really does have a short attention span, lots to do and not a lot of time left. He can ill afford to hangout with you.

But God will never leave, and his Holy Spirit will guide, but you must choose to listen. You develop ears by taking all the steps of love. Then you'll be ready to master your flesh when in counts the most and not let your anger turn into sin.

Walking by the Spirit of GOD

2009-07-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

If walking the Spirit were easy, Jesus would never have had to say, in Mattich/Matthew 7:21-23

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

And it is also not as difficult as some would make as said in Colossians 2:21-23

"Do not touch; do not taste; do not follow; for these things are customs which are changeable and they are the commandments and doctrines of men. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence."

We walk by faith, not by sight. What seems right to a man will certainly come under God's judgment.

But more than that and at present, we as the church have to be concerned that we do not choke off the spirit with such doctrines and teachings of man's will, for they profit only the man who decrees these things.

We do not sin because we do not wish to hurt Jesus.

We don't wish to place him again up on that cross in our hearts.

We don't want to be separate from the closeness that comes in the spirit by suffering in the flesh for the way of the spirit.

We do not wish to harm others.

And all this because - LOVE - dominates our walk and our lives; not because we're told "don't do this, don't do that or that we will suffer the fires of hell. There is no perfection in fear. But perfect love casts out all fear.

But here is the true test of truth as to whether we walk in the spirit or not;

"whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him." 1 John 3:20-22

It's really that simple! When we have confessed with our mouth the Lord Jesus, having faith and fully believing in our hearts the work of the cross, being baptized into a spiritual birth by blood, water and spirit, our hearts become our guide!

That simple and yet, sometimes so difficult because this flesh is with us. And thus, the very reason for this blog.

If you have certain sensitivity for one matter or another you may not be able to read all things I will discuss because I will not pull any punches.

I will discuss, the war against the flesh we fight to become masters over it through the power and love of and in Jesus Christ and so attain our heavenly reward.

So here is your warning:

This blog is dedicated to walking by the Spirit of GOD, however to do so, we have to talk about how to defeat the flesh:

Lust

"Mastur"-Of Your Doman?

Pornography

Hate

Anger

Rage and fits of rage

Indifference

Judging others

Cursing

Lying

Favoritism

Cliques

Sex outside of marriage

Adultery - true and by thought and emotional

Self-gratification

Self-pity

Self-judgment

Suicidal tendencies

Smoking

Intoxication by alcohol

Taking pleasure in hurting others

Murderous thoughts

Drugging

Self-centeredness

Self-worship

Worship of nude bodies by sight or thought

Idolatry - of world idols - (music & movie literary, stars) -

Fantasies of romance with those of the opposite sex - same sex

Love of the world and the things of it.

All of these things hurt/damage your spiritual walk and lead you away.

But do you need to rid yourself of all things at once? We know this is most cases is totally impossible, unless you do as Paul and through love, die daily.

Here now is the difference in the law and doctrine verses walking in the spirit, you understand Christ died for all of us to take on these sins in a very personal way with him, and defeat them as we work to win souls for him.

We are not Vulcan's, and so the walk of the spirit is a journey of love and through love - come true change.

All these things come from us - not the devil. These things reside in our hearts, and therefore come out of it.

If the devil can find opportunity to exploit these desires of the flesh, he will. This blog's purpose is to give you yet one more piece in God's plethora of weapons in the spirit to conquer your flesh and the devil.

For as in Romans 8:37 "in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."

And know this Christ wants us to conquer these things, not cover them, or pretend they don't exist.

There is no victory in pretending or ignoring! This is why doctrine cannot save you.

These things must be defeated by acknowledgment and a fight head on with Christ as you head and GOD the Father as your rear guard!