People do “soul power” when they exercise undue influence over another person. Many in our society innocently welcome this kind of controlling stimulus, thus making the issue a complex problem. Some of these “well meaning” people bear wrongs in the name of simply being a “good” wife, friend, son or daughter. Others embrace this strong-feelinged thing because it makes for good T.V. and movies. The cina-maniacs project every relationship as a compatibility explosion, a madly in love sex affair, or hyper-meaningful change-the-world type of quest. Dutifully or willfully deceived, lives are permanently manipulated away from their God-given freedom door, which implies a personal responsibility to Him and to His nature; and to Him alone. Candidly, we all, Christian or not, lose our place of true liberty by neglecting willful accountability to Him who has the sole right to it. This lack deepens the deal of life, and creates a world…
Category: <span>Healing Cross</span>
Before the throne of God above, I have a strong and perfect plea, a great High Priest, whose name is love, who ever lives and pleads for me, my name is graven on His hands, my name is written on His heart, I know that while in heaven He stands, no tongue can bid me thence depart, no tongue can bid me thence depart. Selah “When Satan tempts me to despair, and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look and see Him there, who made an end to all my sin, because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free, for God the Just is satisfied, to look on Him and pardon me, to look on Him and pardon me.” The song continues. David feared to bring the ark of God into the city of David, having watched as that Holy Presence smote…
2Co 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: 2Co 9:9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. 2Co 9:10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) 2Co 9:11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God. The allusion is to the act of sowing seed. The idea is, that when a man scatters seed in his field God provides him with the means of sowing again. He not only gives him a harvest to supply his needs, but he blesses him also in giving him the ability to sow again. Such was…
Memory is defiled when something of a snare resides in it. For example, if I have in remembrance a sin or failure, this stumbles my function today. My question for me remains, “What part of ‘blotted out’ do I not understand? Well, my big-shot memory feels that it must keep my big-stuff secure, for the purpose of big-recall in case I need to defend my big-self, or “set the big-record straight.” Sorry, I got carried away with big-me. The problem is I may feel the need to place the blame on the right person, myself or other; after all, I must be honest. Yeah, right! “I must show my sincerity, after all, I have to ‘man up’ and eat my fate. I have made my bed so now I must sleep in it.” —excuse me while I regurgitate. Frankly, “forgetting” has become a chore, and bucks up against my big-boy…
Some folks are sane, others insane. Lined up on one side of the field are health, healthy mind and heart, single-eyed, balanced, and whole. On the other team; divided, double-minded, sick, unbalanced and ignorant are the terms. “Holiness” for man speaks of set-apart-to-God; the other guys can be referred to as “profane.” This second term meant originally, “outside the temple.” The Hebrew brings out these definitions also: “exposed, common, wounded, break a word, dissolve.” Ephesians 2:14-15 teaches: “For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace.” “He” is Jesus and His Peace creates a buffer of protection for the soul against internal division. What was the middle wall? Enmity, the law of…
Always carrying about in our body the death, state of death, dying, liability to death, or suffering of Jesus? Which one is revealed in 2 Corinthians 4:10? Well, I understand that I will suffer what is common to man in this world, I am liable to the death of my physical body at all times, and I am aware that I am dying and one day will eventually die as the body grows old and expires. My question is; how do these produce life in others? I have a tendency toward agreement with certain scholars that the “state of death” of Christ gets the reference here. This is the one given to me at salvation and this is what I carry. Why? Because, by His death, my “death” died. Yes, my being dead in trespasses and sins, died, by the death of my Savior, and this reality I carry with…
A Christian moves. The moves lie in the “from faith to faith,” “from glory to glory,” “from strength to strength” categories and require “grace for grace.” The path of the just shines more and more unto the perfect day, and “in thy light we see (more) light.” Line upon line we learn; and precept upon precept. Job, in chapter 29 was found in a lament. Apparently, he was an amazing man of patience and ministry having a sense of God moving with him at all times. When we read this chapter we are astounded at the level of maturity he had. Nevertheless, it was all ended now; a grief and grieving was all that remained. Job was about to experience an identity crisis though dying was still more on his preferred horizon. It dawned on me while reading this portion how often this very thing occurs for us believers, in…
When Jesus saved me, He showed to me my emptiness as He then filled it up. How great was that darkness! How large a place was hidden from my consciousness! Now, as I was being scoured clean, my big bad pretention for not needing people or their love, uglified my psyche for a moment. Just as quickly, it was gone and love poured in —tears of joy, strains of uninhibited laughter. There is an extremely devious yet efficient technique which hides from sight vital processes and real feelings in a man; nevertheless, at the awakening of true love, this dishonest dealer disintegrates. O, the power of unfailing love! —All-encompassing, un-conditional, personal, and intimate; we think of it. Love takes off the band-aids, healing cloths, and tapes; it unclouds the murky water, X-rays the soul, and seeks out the spots to remove them. The leavened malignancy causes dough to expand as…
“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,…
For many people, an excuse is better than an achievement because an achievement, no matter how great, leaves you having to prove yourself again in the future; but an excuse can last for life. Eric Hoffer A great statement and wise observation, it grabs us because the folly of human nature often exposes itself so loudly. Hoffer above describes a person who thinks wrongly, but why? We can call him or her a legalistic thinker, because they view life as a proving, a measuring up to a standard, a trying to please or appease a serious onlooker who holds their fate. It’s no shock to us that this law-beaten type of individual must turn their mind toward evasion tactics and ploys of excuse making. Their life is drudgery. They stay with a project for a while and try it on. They wait for the prospect of fulfillment —on their own…