Abraham muffed the next one, big time —fooling around with Sarah’s handmaid, Hagar. He belittles God’s promise and miscalculates God’s ability to accomplish His promise with the true son, Isaac. One explanation would be; the works of God still seem vague to Abe, and not always so easy for him to discern. Not to defend Abe, but maybe when Sarah made the suggestion to reproduce a child with her handmaid, Abram could have thought, “God must work this way in a practical-sense.” Lets be real, Abraham was being schooled in an intricate-walk-with-God “faith” classroom. To state the obvious, God shows Himself not to the human eye. Abraham, not quite getting it yet, opens the story’s other side to view. I will concede, however, Abe’s sexual-manhood most likely encouraged the compromising. His motives were wrong. Because this was sin, God’s forgiveness remains the only remedy. So, for us a problem also…
Healing at the Cross Posts
An imagination is a picture derived from an image received in the unconscious mind. Though these images are initially abstract, they bring in certain pulsations, feelings or sensations in the physical realm. Then the image begins to form and take shape in the subconscious mind. Finally, it is fully developed in the conscious mind where it receives the full cooperation ofour faculties. Folks waver. They ride the sea of experience which has its polarities. They have triumphant times and times of defeat, times of joy versus times of terror, times of freedom against times of guilt. In all of these the soul gyrates. Moods can swing and emotions fluctuate, as conscience derides us in accusation. Then it excuses us as if a god. Self and “selfless” battle, indecision results. The unconscious mind pushes its way into the conscious, imaginations develop in their darkroom. We fight in self-preservation, blind spots inhibiting, “sight…
“The transgression of the wicked says within my heart, there is no fear of God before their eyes.” This is Psalm 36, verse two. So, something that others do has something to say in my heart? Yes, the heart moves and absorbs movement, processing thoughts, feelings, conscience, etc. We guard the processor vigilantly, entrusting it to God, this is Proverbs 23:26. See, we have a brand-new heart, but what became of the old heart? That heart has the capability to resurface in our experience if my new heart is not safe-guarded. To avert this re-rise we put our bodies on an altar, set apart, and fellowship in a discernment of his will and purpose which correlates to my new heart. See? Now, with this new heart we have many sanctified functions: one of these is to distinguish all people and circumstances. Let me give you an example; when operating in…
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…
1) Those who correct others, should watch for the Holy Spirit to go ahead of them and touch a person’s heart first. 2) Learn to imitate him who reproves gently. 3) People do not need to see God condemning them. 4) People must realize within themselves that they have done something wrong. 5) It is your own impatient personality expressing itself when you think it’s righteous indignation. 6) Self love cannot forgive the self love it finds in others. 7) God leads people out of their weakness and sin, one step at a time. 8) God’s love is full of patience, consideration, and tenderness. 9) Allow others to evaluate you but judge no one. 10) Offer advice only to those who ask for it. 11) Mention the faults of others without being heavy-handed or legalistic. Fenelon There are many more and many to learn. Love ya
If a shower of drops on our yard can represent an infiltration of falsehood into our sphere of God’s Reality, we have a picture. The sometimes flood can be overwhelming, and feelings of compromise project their self. They threaten to do a decisive final slaying of that reality. The thought of evil then seems to outweigh the good, pressing us towards its identity. Eventually, assuage and pressure-release pose themselves in the most attractive way; toward giving in. Well, we have weapons, extra- fleshy, spiritual, and powerful. One of these is the strengthening unto patience and long suffering with joy, in Colossians 1:11. The God-endowed ability to stand still, wait, and delay our impulsing emotions, looms mighty. Moses did it at the Red Sea, Nehemiah on the wall; both saw “joy” as a critical war devise, and too, the authority that comes from meekness; two supernaturals. How do we get these endowments? Well, having done all, we stand, Ephesians 6:13. What…
“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…
Storage bins: they hold stuff. They serve best when dry, unbroken. Where many accumulate, markings identify each…maybe they are color-coded or tagged. These bins survive in protected cargo space. I worked a small warehouse once, primarily because I lacked production side skills. My job was to label and categorize things previously “hit and miss.” In my case, this meant putting steel with steel, or copper with copper. Sometimes I put red with reds, and yellow with yellows. I took boxes of arbitrary screws or nails and sorted them, marked them, and placed them in individual jars on shelves. I threw out a lot of useless junk. Indexing and making things readily accessible to the production engineers started saving time on their projects. I so enjoyed the job. An outside business evaluater complimented my work, and encouraged me about how vital it was to the company. Nevertheless, she said, most employers…