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…
Category: <span>Healing Cross</span>
Emotions and the cross of Christ connect uniquely, but rarely. These Feelings follow right thinking and the center of thought is the key. When old patterns of thinking are discarded for Bible-based new ones, the responders rejoice and these are new emotions. So, what of the old feelings? Crucified with Christ, they live, yet not them but Christ lives in them, and consequently they then live by the faith if the Son of God. Cool, huh? See, God wants more for us than just feeling good, or lovely sentiment or even good-heartedness. God sent His Son to crucify the old letter-bound man to create a new one. All things are brand new in Him. We ought not, going forward, think in terms of “how-to,” but in terms of “who I am,” and if my “I am” is in Christ, my old emotions are dead and my new ones are alive.…
Brain-dead, stumped, with empty-headed stupor, I shiver and slap the side of my ear—a futile hope-to-jar-something-loose ritual. I dig deep, but words are not surfacing into consciousness. I scratch aggressively only to overturn more substance-forsaken fragments. “useless to inquire at the bank of ‘rationale,’ nothing of logic answers this event.” It doesn’t make any difference. “It doesn’t make any sense.” A nephew is paralyzed and in a coma after attempting to take his own life and the family calls. A dear friend gets a report that they have 6 months to live. There are no words of comfort, there are no answers. But we must talk, we must call back! Is there a hidden spring of wisdom, applied knowledge, or heavenly utterance to tap? O, The moment requires supernatural help, at the very least. Verily, answers don’t come because the only explanation seems to exist in the sphere of…
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…
We live out here and have accumulated enough to stay. This is our separation, our disjointing, our escape, or harbor of strength. The great divide between soul and spirit deepens out here. Old world, both goods and bads, detach from emotions and self-imposed exactings; we are free. Our path of insight has taken us wholly apart to Him through His rent veil. He is our refuge and strength in the crimson secret. Our life is hid with Christ in God. Sadly, others seek refuge in a counterfeit way. These want cake, and eating of cake both, a snare of the soul. Nevertheless, evil accommodates the earthly impossibility. Unfortunately, their false “security dream” cannot hold up. Indeed, they are motivated stealthy. Their end, thereof, are the ways of death. “Wisdom” builds a house, “understanding” moves in. Likewise, false wisdom also fabricates a refuge, tearing down the true. The fool moves in. The wise…
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;…
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…
God has begun a Project in us, are we available? Yes, God will perform the thing concerning us, no problem. Will we let Him? He’ll work the plan in faithfulness, will we faithfully cooperate? Explain? It’s easier to understand this relationship when we consider God’s ends for us. When we do, our part simply responds, responds, responds. God has marked out boundaries for a believer’s life, did you know that? What kind of boundaries? —boundaries set from God’s foreknowledge. For instance, He already knows beforehand the number of people we will meet in our whole life. He knows how much money we will make. He knows every decision we will encounter and the ultimate outcome of our choices. He knows how many times we will ignore our choices. He knows our thoughts afar off, and yes, He knows our name, and our wife and children too. So, with the advantage…