Category: <span>Suffering</span>

“One thing we know about our panic —we own it.”“What else?”“We are directing it.”“Really?”“Yes, it receives its cues from us in various ways —weakening, strengthening, ebbing, and flowing at our unconscious movements.”“Tell me more.” “It thrives on attention!” In a word from Viktor Frankl he teaches: “a university student complained about being anxious with regard to an oral report to be given —let us say –on Friday. I advised him to take his appointment calendar and to write on every page of the week, with large letters, the word ‘ANXIETY.’ As it were —I asked him to plan for an anxious week. He was much relieved after doing this because now he was suffering from anxiety only, but not from anxiety about anxiety.” “Pressure induces counter-pressure, and counter-pressure, in turn, increases pressure” —another Frankl quote. Let’s reflect: This above example of “paradoxical intention” does what? It relieves a person from…

“Those who do not know how to weep with their whole heart don’t know how to laugh either.” Golda Meir When men or women cry there starts a chemical release which has been observed and documented by professionals. Apparently only certain substances comprise tears and their flow alters a person’s physiology in a refreshing. “…weeping is an excretory process which removes toxic substances that normally build up during emotional stress.” “… tears of stress reduced the bodies manganese level, a mineral which affects mood and is found in up to 30 times greater concentration in tears than in blood stream.” “…emotional tears contain 24% higher albumin protein concentration than eye irritants.” These quotes were borrowed from Pancreatic Cancer Journey.com. This “tear” talk reminds us of the ways of old-school Bible psychologists who cited bodily functions and organs as corresponding to certain actions of the soul. In their repertoire are head,…

Sometimes God uses people to test our faith. Circumstances are difficult but nothing like the pure unadulterated face to face, heart to heart, psyche to psyche, flesh to flesh, hair raise. We need some skills, the main ones being; bullet biting, crow eating, cheek turning, appearance avoiding thereof, and downright Biblical longsuffering. Without these our faith shipwrecks quickly, truth fails, equity stands afar off. On the more serious side, it’s the shed blood of Christ, a Lamb without spot, which does the essential cleansing needed. Why needed? That blood cleanses away defilement of sin, sins, and also the mere interaction with “world” as God understands it. This Cosmos, this whole earth, lies in the hands of the wicked one as conveyed in 1John 5:19. For this reason, we find that Jesus, dying for the sins of men, nevertheless, did not put His trust in men, John 2:24 We likewise must not esteem…

For this reason, before the first Passover, God told Moses, “When I see the blood I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13). The children of Israel were told to apply the blood of the passover lamb to top of the door and on the twodoorposts—a picture of the mind, emotions and will being cleansed.Now, that subjective part has a new opportunity because God doesn’t remember sins. More than that, God’s mercy takes care of theeffects of what other people have done. He removes the effects of all sin. His vicarious death, burial, and resurrection, with the Holy Spirit’spower of cleansing, all work together to purge me and take away the sin, plunging it forever into the sea of God’s forgetfulness.         Dr Carl Stevens Ever notice how we have the ability to make words mean something shallow, deep, hollow, trite or weighty etc.? We can use our…

But I shall give less thought to the future, I shall work in the present. I feel such work is within my power. For I only succeed in small things, and when I am tried by anxiety, I am bound to say it is the small joys that release me. – Georges Bernanos, Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith. – Henry Ward Beecher, All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership. – John Kenneth Galbraith, Anxiety anxiety, anxiety, where do you hide? With the dead? —no, with the living. Aha, these fear to die —no they fear to live. What is the cause? It is a mystery;…

Job

Lets delve into Job chapter three. We find Job cursing the day of his birth. An interesting idea; have we ever considered doing it? It doesn’t seem rational and actually makes no sense. Job didn’t care about the sense of it, nor what anybody thought at this point. He only knew that according to his own theology, he was being punished by God, must be hated of God, and was terrorized by the thought of a future in God’s hell. So, Job’s right-and-wrong-God-value-system gave way to a world in which comfort, on any level, became the exclusive goal. A fanatical blotting out of his pre-existence, a current death-wish contemplation, a seeking of quiet, a quelling of fear, (ugly and never ending dread) — overwhelmingly replaced the God of Job’s former days, Who is now unfaceable.  I have read about post-traumatic-stress disorder. Symptoms reveal the possibility of “hyperarousal” which reflects itself in…

“What God wants is that we would weep with people when things are being broken in their lives. Often we can understand and identify because we have been through it.”    “When these strokes fester into wounds, they paralyze capacities to function in the receptivity of grace and truth. A person who is easily angered in his motions is most likely a very wounded person. His wounds probably are very deep, and he does not know how to regulate his responses. This brings feelings of guilt and defeat. These issues must be resolved by the grace and love of Christ.” Pastor Carl Stevens Sometimes a counselor will ask his client, “Have you made a commitment?”  Corrective betterment goes this way, “ I (the counselor) am going to make a commitment to you (the client). “Why is this more good? To answer that question, we must only realize; a commitment remains a mere…

Liberty empowers people to become who they are in Christ. Authority edifies folks toward that empowerment. Authoritarianism (abuse of authority) badgers a man to fixate on one thing and then lose free-volition. On the other hand, neglect of liberty-producing-authority can also abuse, as in the case of a child. A young lady or man may not have the equipment yet to accept a “self-starter” mode, and the majority do not. They need a lot of teaching and guidance. On that line, the nurture and admonition of the Lord are both vital for healthy growth. Nurture fertilizes the soil, while admonition pulls out the weeds and rocks. It pictures the Shepherd with rod and staff as He leaves the 99 to rescue the one. He shepherds his flock to green pastures. Father’s authority effects itself in the flock by the working of The Holy Spirit. Unfortunately this authority is attacked. Jesus…

Hope ….maketh not ashamed, for the love of God is shed abroad in our heart. Patience found itself through tribulation and then through that patience came experience, and experience birthed hope? Of course, we know the Bible. Hope maketh not ashamed. I love that end product, I wonder about the other stuff. Hope means nothing to us unless contrasted in hopelessness. Shame surfaces in the midst of unrelenting dires of living hell, bombarding mankind from externalities unseen. Our existence and it’s shame abide synonymous. Hope, however, makes us not ashamed. Hope changes a root. Hope deadens a curse, revokes a penalty, releases a fear. That damned shame battles to retain its ground, nevertheless,. Tribulation worketh? How strange a remedy; “tribulation” —not shame release yet, but step 1 builds patience? Couldn’t God think of another way? I must admit that tribulation takes my eyes off my shame. Is there a hint…

Melancholic people wander everywhere. Have you ever noticed? They’re bummed out, depressed, annoyed, and negatively paralyzed. Heartsick, heart-sore, low-spirited little people, emanate with sorrow, sadness, gloom and dole. Why and how is it this way? Well, the economy generally reeks these days, the physical body shows signs of freshly-created pain impositions, and the barometer can’t get above “extreme crap-ful,” to start. Daily life itself can discourage but also the culture runs ahead of us, hell bent with deceitful hopes aimed directly at these lost souls. Some “mysterious” force seems to want to perpetuate the misery into eternity. Man, how can folks continue to eat this diet, and have a smile still? Cosmos Diabolicus, you are an ugly, hateful, false god-system. The spreading of your filthy host-born emanations manifests itself plainly. The fooling days are over, now we have blatant hate-mongering, truth-twisting, God-abhorring in all phases of society. Frankly, we live…