THE WHOLE BIBLE IS THE WHOLE TRUTH

As I am reading The Biblical Jubilee and the Struggle for Life, I feel supported in by belief that a lack of knowledge and understanding of the Old Testament and so much emphasis on the New Testament is the root source of most, if not all, of the problems in our world today.  It is hindering us from knowing and understanding all of God’s Ways for His people.  It is hindering us from fully knowing and understanding Jesus’ mission and message and fully knowing and understanding God’s Word accurately.

It reinforces my beliefs that the church that human hands built are not the same as the Church that Jesus Christ built, the one that the forces of hell cannot destroy.  It reinforces my beliefs that the church built and established by human hands is a “golden calf”, which would explain the gradual decline and failing of that church as we know it. 

God’s original mission and message was exploited for personal gain by the Religious System in Jesus’ days.  Jesus’ mission and message was exploited by those who didn’t fully know or understand His mission and message.  Constantine exploited  Christianity for personal gain only to be followed by the church built and established by human hands for centuries.  That lack of knowledge and understanding is still exploited right up to today as the Gospel of Jesus Christ is being watered down, cheapened, and even done away with.

This is yet another reason I believe the Bible, The Story of God, is to be read as one entire narrative, from beginning to end, Genesis thru Revelation, known and understood in its whole context.  If we start doing that and teaching others to do that, we will clearly see that God has had solutions to most, if not all of our problems if we will simply humble ourselves, seek His face and ask Him, and then follow what He commands us to do.  It is to our peril to do anything else.

LIVING A SABBATH LIFE

God created the world in six days and then He rested on the seventh.  Week two we find Him walking around in His creation, hanging out with Adam and Eve, thinking about how He was going to take care of and tend to His creation.  Adam and Eve would live in a committed relationship with one another, have children, and tend to their home that God had provided.  They would enjoy their surroundings, tend to and care for them and each other.  They would also enjoy a personal and intimate relationship with God.  Sounds like heaven to me.

God made all things good and able to reproduce themselves.  There was no need to keep improving on what was made, simply take care and tend to it.  Perhaps His blessing on the Sabbath wasn’t just for a one day event.  Perhaps it was meant to be a way of Life; a Sabbath Life.

That all changed after Adam and Eve abused their freedom and did not do the one thing that God had told them to do…stay away from that one tree.

God had freely given them all the other trees but they were enticed to go after that one tree that God told them no to.  That faulty decision and action of not listening to God, of thinking they knew better than God, had consequences that would last throughout all time and history of mankind.  The work God had given them to do to fulfill a sense of purpose and would be pleasing and fulfilling now became filled with toil and effort.  Now the ground was cursed.  Thorns and thistles would have to be cleared causing man to sweat and labor of ridding the waste.  Adam and Eve were expelled from God’s place of provision and rest and would now have to provide in their own effort.  God was still there but He had given them over to themselves and their unsatisfying efforts.  They continued to work and toil but never reached that place of contentment or satisfaction.  Now the cry became “bigger and better.”  “Let us build a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make a name for ourselves.” (Genesis 10:4)

Human beings continue in the pattern set by our forefather; disobeying and rejecting God Himself and His tending over them.  God who made everything good and provided everything man could ever need or want to live life as it was designed to be lived was continually forsaken and His ways abandoned; and for what?  So human beings can proudly sing, “I did it my way!”  This is the evil and wickedness of human beings.  It is the root of all that is wrong in the world today.

          “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me,

           the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns, broken

           cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

This befuddles God and astonishes the heavens and all other created things that know and look to God with the awe and respect He should be shown.

(Jeremiah 2:13)  It should befuddle all of us.

It absolutely amazes me that God, through all of this, continues to want to have anything to do with us!  “Behold what manner of love He has for us.”  He loves us so much that He sent His Son to recover and renew the relationship He had with us in the beginning when He created us.  He wants us to live a Sabbath Life with Him, not be worried, anxious, and fearful about so many things.  He wants us to find rest and peace and joy in Him and His love.

“Come unto me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you       rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).  Love, Jesus.

WE ARE ALL IN THE SAME BOAT

The nation’s cry is to “Make America Great Again”.  The Church’s cry is for “Revival”.  Jesus’ cry is for “Repentance”.  My belief is that we need to start with Jesus’ cry first and the others will probably follow suit.

I cannot speak to the world for I am in the world but not of it.  I have chosen a different path, that of God and His kingdom.  But I can speak to those who claim to know and follow Jesus and His principles.  We all need to Repent, “humble ourselves, seek God’s face, pray, and turn from our wicked ways so that God will heal our nation.”  (2 Chronicles 7:14)  God is clear that the wicked ways He speaks of are, “forsaking Him and hewing our own cisterns” AKA doing things our own way.  (Jeremiah 2:13)

I believe this country was established, not as a Christian nation, but it was established on Godly fundamental principles.  Those principles are foundational for the freedoms this nation enjoys.  When we turn away from the fundamental principles we abuse the freedoms by not using them responsibly.  Once that happens we turn freedoms into “rights” and demands because we have exchanged the Godly fundamental principles for anarchy, which results in disorder and confusion, which results in each person doing their own thing, becoming their own authority, which results in chaos. It is my belief that this state of disorder and chaos is where Satan thrives, grows vigorously, and flourishes.  One need only to look to the news and see this is our condition today.

All of us have blown it; we are all in the same boat in the middle of the storm, and sinking fast.  Believers, nonbelievers, churched, unchurched, Republican, Democrats, liberal, conservative…all of us are in the boat with the waves and wind throwing us around ad battering the boat that will not endure much longer.  What good does it do to shout at one another?  What good does it do to cry “let’s be great again” or “let’s have revival?  Only the one who has power and authority over the wind, waves, and storm can help us now and that One says Repent, humble yourselves, feel regret and penitence for what we have done or failed to do, seek God’s face, and stop our wicked ways.  Then God will hear us, stop the storm and in the calm heal our nation.

Ours is a diverse culture consisting of many religious views and beliefs.  It would make my heart happy if everyone would choose the path I did and enter into a personal Relationship with God through the work of Jesus Christ.  I don’t see that happening at this point in time.  But that doesn’t mean we all can’t at least acknowledge that those who were the Founders of this country did look to God as an authority on what works for a society to dwell together.  Adherence to Godly principles was seen as good and necessary.  If we can at least get consensus on that we can sail in smoother waters and make it to the shore where we can live in freedom and peace in a responsible and respectful way.  This requires responsible behavior and sacrifice for all, but in the end we will all benefit, so it is worth it.

WHEN DID NASTY REPLACE NICE AND BECOME CHIC?

UPDATE

I wrote this and shared my concern on Facebook.  The responses I got were mostly about how this is a reaction to men’s feeling about woman and Donald Trump’s remarks that were exposed during the debates.

WHEN DID NASTY BECOME CHIC?

When Did NASTY become chic?  Houston, we have a problem!  This seemed to be a common thread in the signs I saw and the rhetoric I heard at the Woman’s March this past weekend; “Nasty girl” signs being carried by kids and mothers being proud of that.  This breaks my heart.  We have crossed the line of decency when Nasty becomes our role model and goal.  We have become an adulterous and sinful generation and that is topped off by offending children and making them thing this is the new norm.

Nasty: Disgusting to see, smell, or touch; filthy; malicious; spiteful;

            unpleasant; disagreeable.

Is this really what we want our little girl children to grow up to be?  Is this really what women really want to be?  If we believe our world is a mess now, wait until these ‘nasty girls’ become of age.  Shame on us!  The illusion of happiness and celebration of sisterhood and solidarity is just that; an illusion.

Todays journal entry is a response to my pondering about the responses.

25 January 2017

Who do I look to to define my behavior?  I like to think I am the one who does that but I do have role models I look to for some ideas.  I have been fortunate to have good role models to look to.  I have been mentored by some very strong women who were able to be strong without losing their gentle, kind, and modest selves.  Nice had not become a bad trait like it appears it has become today.  As a follower of Jesus I look to Him to pattern my heart, mind, and soul after. I know that while in the flesh He was male but in reality He was in the form of one flesh, male and female, which is what we will be in our Spiritual being.  Thankfully God kept record in His Story in the Bible of some very strong women who lived in times when women were considered nothing.  But Jesus showed the world something very different.

I am eternally grateful for all of the many role models I have had and I am pleased that I am who I am because of their influence.  My heart goes out to those who have only the allure of what the world says is appealing and what to be desired.  Those role models are an illusion and are not real.  It is clear to me that the “prince of this world” is still as crafty and deceitful as he was at the beginning of time.  It is as if he knows his time is short and he is pulling out all stops.  It is clear to me who our true enemy is in these difficult times. 

It is my prayer that we would not give into “the schemes of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rules, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:11,12).

Let’s make Nice chic again, instead of nasty.

Nice: Pleasing, appealing, considerate, well mannered, respectable, virtuous,

         fastidious, exacting.

There is nothing weak in being nice.  In the end it beats out being nasty, hands down.  Love overpowers hate just as light overpowers darkness.

PS…My reading this morning was in Mark 16.  It was the women who Jesus appeared to after His resurrection.  He told Mary to go and tell the other disciples.  They did not believe the women.  “Afterward He appeared to the eleven disciples and UPBRAIDED them with their unbelief and hardness of heart because they believed not them which had seen him after He was risen.”  (UPBRAIDED means to scold or chide vehemently.)  I smiled.

In the end we will all be held accountable and responsible for our words and behavior.  I want to make good choices.

I Don't Know How But I Do Know Who

Matthew 11: 28-30

Mark 4: 26-28

I find this world exhausting.  I find the negative energy exhausting.  The anger, holding on to grudges when things don’t go my way, unforgiveness of wrongs done to me, holding on so tightly to what I perceive as my rights;  it all just exhausts me physically, mentally, and spiritually. 

These past few years have been restorative for me.  I have been able to resolve things that I could and have learned to let go of the others.  I have come to the conclusion that forgiveness is freeing and repentance is restorative.  The conditions of this country, this world, continually show me that I am right in my thinking and beliefs.  The consequences of the denial of God’s Way for His creation have been played out right in front of us.  I believe an acceptance of God’s Way for His creation is the only satisfactory and sustainable solution.  I know that by the ultimate Truth revealed in Jesus and in the Bible.  I know that by personal experience.

God created human beings for a wholesome Way and a particular path; it is the life and teachings of Jesus Christ that speaks to and provides for that Way to be lived by me.  There is no other Way, Truth, or Life.  When I receive, believe, and commit myself to that Way, I will do well and the snares of Satan will have no hold on me. (Genesis4)

Holding on to wrongs done to me is like running poison through my veins.  It makes me judgmental, mean, angry, and vengeful.  I harm myself as much as whatever was done to me.  I had the opportunity over the past few years to revisit people and situations that did harm in some way to me that I have been holding onto for many years.  I was able to bring resolution and restoration to most of them.  The ones I was unable to revisit I simply needed to forgive.

Some of this work was conscious; some was hidden deep within that I wasn’t even aware of.  But at some point in time I felt a lightness and a freedom in my sol that just manifested itself one day.  I knew something had changed deep in my inner self that was now coming out in my thoughts and feelings.  I felt a joy and a peace that passes all understanding and I knew I was  different as I sat there enveloped in joy, peace, and awe.

What I find true now is that I don’t want to be judgmental, mean, angry, or unloving even when in my mind I can justify being all those things.  It isn’t worth it anymore to be “right” in my mind but hardened in my heart.  I don’t know how this, what I would call a major miracle came about, but I do know Who accomplished it.  I am eternally grateful.  I know now that I want to be yoked together with Jesus forever.

The Bible is God's Story Beginning to End

CATCH THE VISION

God is so much bigger than the cares and concerns of this transient world.

Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.   The Bible tells me God’s Story, the beginning and the end.  It gives me the panoramic picture, the bird’s eye view of all of life on earth and a glimpse of what it will be in the new heaven and earth.  Looking at that full view gives me perspective for my life in the here and now which is transient and passing by.

Beside the Bible I have a Relationship with the Holy Spirit who knows all that is written on the unrolled scroll of the ages that reveals the future as clear as the past.  The Spirit knows all and daily encourages me to seek the wisdom of God and the secrets that wisdom holds.  Those secrets are revealed in God’s time for God’s people to know, to obey, and to pass them down to our children to know and obey. (Deut. 29:29)

To me the Bible is a treasure book.  It tells me who God is; who I am in God;

what Jesus did to make that Relationship possible; it shows me what a life following Jesus and walking with God looks like.  The Bible prepares a strong foundation for me to stand on when the winds of adversity blow strong; it continually shows me how much God loves me and all He created; it promises me a life forever in His Presence.  My Relationship with God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit always comes first.  But next comes the Bible and its words of love and guidance that strengthens and enhances my times of being in His Presence.

I Choose Enough

The root of ENOUGH yields the fruits of the Spirit

Love, joy, peace, longsuffering,

Gentleness, faith, meekness, temperance.

The root of ENOUGH yields gratitude and thanksgiving.

When I drink from the Fountain of Living Waters

I have no need of building my own cisterns.

When I drink of the water that Jesus gives me

I shall never thirst nor need an empty water pot.

When the Lord is my Shepherd

I shall not want or need anything more.

When I seek first the kingdom of God

All I need will be given to me and I need nothing more.

When I know who God is and who I am in God

It is ENOUGH…I want nothing MORE!

God makes a “Social Contract” with His people

That social contract is based on a Covenant Relationship

Between God and His people.

For me it is ENOUGH

I want NOTHING MORE!

Following Jesus and walking with God is an ENOUGH LIFE

Following the world will always keep one WANTING MORE

I choose ENOUGH!