America the land of the Ant? Really. Why an ant? We spend all our time working and slaving away. Hurrying here and there to ensure that we have all the modern 'necessities' that we are sold by the main stream marketers as being the newest and best items that will make us happy. Each time we buy into, literally, this thought process we become slave ants to these individuals and lose more of our God given freedoms. Most Americans are up before the sun, rising between 4-5 am and then getting to bed late in the evening. Probably well after 10 PM. Many believe that we only need 4 hours of sleep a night to function at 100% during the day. Yet, most of us are addicted to coffee, or energy drinks or any other number of forms of legal drugs that keep us running when our body's start slowing down due to a lack of energy. Why would we have a lack of energy if all we needed was only 4-5 hours of sleep? Just a thought...I remember being told a child's tale about this same subject when a little boy. It was the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper. The Ant of course was busy working and saving while the Grasshopper was out playing and wasting all his time not preparing for winter. Of course, the ant is the smart one and saves the grasshopper in the end. However, in this story, the ant is not hoarding his riches as he prepares for winter. He is working for the good of the whole.
This brings me to the next part of being an ant. An ant is not an individual. It is part of a socitial network that could describe or exemplify the actual model of socialism or communism. You see each ant has a position within its social network. Everything it does is done for the good of the whole. It does not think apart from the whole or act apart from the whole. As America moves closer and closer to socialism and communism you see this same thing happening. Fairness is expressed as all individuals should have the same medical treatment, the same money, the same house, the same car, etc. Unless you are the ruling class and then of course this does not apply to you. As in the Ant society, there is an aristocracy and this ant is special. This ant is treated differentially. So will it be in America, as in any other socialist or communistic nation. Those that govern are always given special treatment. Yet God did not design our Constitution and Democracy on this basis. He designed it so that we would not be Ants but free from a socialist or communistic society.
He did not call us to a life of hoarding things for the future. Or hoarding riches for our own purposes. He called us to a life of serving others and caring for our families. God wants us to care for those who cannot care for themselves not for those too lazy to do so. God designed America so that each individual has the freedom to work hard and when blessed to achieve a higher level of living than the generation before. All our Father asked in return was for us to love Him and keep His commands. Yet we like the Israelites before us have forgotten Him. We have prostituted ourselves to other gods that are man made and now have earned our own condemnation such as that earned by every fallen nation before us.
We are still capable of restoration. If we will just awaken from our own stupidity before it is too late and cry out to our Father for His forgiveness.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Purpose of the Spirit
To all who would listen to my words and give an ear, then hear my words now. I sent you my Spirit as a Gift. It is my Spirit as a guide to help you walk in my ways and keep my statutes. To obey that which I have directed you to and to keep my word. He lives within you as your conscious and your giver of wisdom. For which of you has wisdom that is higher than that which can be given from my Spirit? Or which of you can claim knowledge of a higher level than that which is imparted by my Spirit? Surely not even Solomon in all his wisest days could have claimed such wisdom or knowledge. How then can anyone today make such a claim? I tell you not one upon this planet could compare to Solomon and none has the ability to match the wisdom and guidance available offered through my Spirit. Yet that is not all he does for you. He lives within you to comfort you and to be your advocate when you are communicating with me. He will help you pray, he will help you sing and worship Me. He will help you cry out to me in pain when you suffer or when you are in torment. It is through Him that I bless you with gifts and healings. I once walked with you and I still walk with you in Spirit. It is my Spirit that carries you when you cannot continue further on your own. Remember, that I told you, I would never ask more of you than you could give and I am not capable of lying. It is my Spirit that carries on when you cannot continue. For when you have reached the limits of your endurance, he helps you to continue. I am faithful and I will not ever leave you. My Spirit will always be with you so long as you remain with and remember Me.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Father Son and Holy Ghost; a new perspective on looking at them...
Since I was a child, I have struggled with this. How could God be 3 people in one? Children have such simple minds and come up with simple ways of seeing things, yet even small children cannot really explain how this one works. I used to love the Art Linkletter show that was all about the funny things that little children say. We used to laugh at the explanations these children would give to questions asked them.
Yet, the children in bible classes will always explain that these three are seperate...or seem to be, or should be...so even for small innocent minds such as theirs it is a difficult thing to grasp. How much more so for our 'mature' and 'wise' thoughts.
I have believed that Jesus told us that unless we became like these children we would never enter the kingdom of heaven as a sign of their innocence. But as I age and think back on things now, I am beginning to wonder if it is more. You see, when we were children we believed and trusted whole heartedly in our earthly parents. That they were going to care for us and would always love us. We looked at the world as good or bad, there were no shades of gray. When we thought, it was always of adventure and fun. So when a child thinks of God what does he or she think of? Well, usually they immediately think of what their Sunday School Teacher tells them or their Mommy and Daddy tell them about who God is...okay, so what does that mean? Well God is God. He is the Trinity. The 3 Gods in one. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit living in one Church, or body or house...or however, their little minds try to explain it.
Then it hit me like a stone in the head...they are right! The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three beings in one body. Wait, how does this work? Now my analytical side says I cannot do this. Yet, my precious wife had already laid it out for me. You see, it works like this...God is made up of the Father, the body (draw a stick figure or any other type of human representation as we were made in Their image); the Son, the Words that God speaks (draw a text area coming out of the mouth of your stick figure); and the Holy Spirit, the indwelling essence of God (draw a heart inside your stick figure or anything that you wish to represent the spiritual being inside the stick figure that would represent its spirit).
We already have biblical proofs of this as far back as Genesis...when God said let's make man in Our image. He made us a body, a voice and a spirit. Then in John it talks of the Word (Jesus) coming down. God planned that They would send the Son down to redeem us, so the Father used His Spirit to open the pathway into Mary's womb and spoke Jesus into being. Perhaps this is why it states that Jesus was made in the image of man and not of God. He is also called the Son of Man while walking this earth. You see all throughout the book of John, Jesus refers to himself as I AM. Which is what God referred to Himself as when talking with Moses. He also states that he was there in the beginning when everything was made and without Him nothing was made. And even Jesus is given the Holy Spirit. It is the power through which all miracles are channeled and His strength sustained for the trials He will face. The Holy Spirit was Jesus' intercessor with His Father in heaven as He is ours today.
You may not accept what I have written. And you may laugh and say that this is a child's thoughts. I understand that this is not necessarily deep ground for some. However, to some this may have deep meaning as they have struggled to actually understand the Trinity and the God they serve. If this will help them and give them comfort and peace in that then it has accomplished its purpose. If not, I wish only that you find another source of knowledge and understanding to draw upon that will give you the answers you seek.
God bless you and keep you.
Yet, the children in bible classes will always explain that these three are seperate...or seem to be, or should be...so even for small innocent minds such as theirs it is a difficult thing to grasp. How much more so for our 'mature' and 'wise' thoughts.
I have believed that Jesus told us that unless we became like these children we would never enter the kingdom of heaven as a sign of their innocence. But as I age and think back on things now, I am beginning to wonder if it is more. You see, when we were children we believed and trusted whole heartedly in our earthly parents. That they were going to care for us and would always love us. We looked at the world as good or bad, there were no shades of gray. When we thought, it was always of adventure and fun. So when a child thinks of God what does he or she think of? Well, usually they immediately think of what their Sunday School Teacher tells them or their Mommy and Daddy tell them about who God is...okay, so what does that mean? Well God is God. He is the Trinity. The 3 Gods in one. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit living in one Church, or body or house...or however, their little minds try to explain it.
Then it hit me like a stone in the head...they are right! The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three beings in one body. Wait, how does this work? Now my analytical side says I cannot do this. Yet, my precious wife had already laid it out for me. You see, it works like this...God is made up of the Father, the body (draw a stick figure or any other type of human representation as we were made in Their image); the Son, the Words that God speaks (draw a text area coming out of the mouth of your stick figure); and the Holy Spirit, the indwelling essence of God (draw a heart inside your stick figure or anything that you wish to represent the spiritual being inside the stick figure that would represent its spirit).
We already have biblical proofs of this as far back as Genesis...when God said let's make man in Our image. He made us a body, a voice and a spirit. Then in John it talks of the Word (Jesus) coming down. God planned that They would send the Son down to redeem us, so the Father used His Spirit to open the pathway into Mary's womb and spoke Jesus into being. Perhaps this is why it states that Jesus was made in the image of man and not of God. He is also called the Son of Man while walking this earth. You see all throughout the book of John, Jesus refers to himself as I AM. Which is what God referred to Himself as when talking with Moses. He also states that he was there in the beginning when everything was made and without Him nothing was made. And even Jesus is given the Holy Spirit. It is the power through which all miracles are channeled and His strength sustained for the trials He will face. The Holy Spirit was Jesus' intercessor with His Father in heaven as He is ours today.
You may not accept what I have written. And you may laugh and say that this is a child's thoughts. I understand that this is not necessarily deep ground for some. However, to some this may have deep meaning as they have struggled to actually understand the Trinity and the God they serve. If this will help them and give them comfort and peace in that then it has accomplished its purpose. If not, I wish only that you find another source of knowledge and understanding to draw upon that will give you the answers you seek.
God bless you and keep you.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Challenging Thoughts on Women Leadership
This morning as I drove to work I was praying as I usually do and asking Father to give me something to write about. I was not necessarily thinking about the blog and religously contentious thoughts but Spirit did talk to me about Women and their place in service.
What was given to me was this, son's of God, the reason that our Father is raising up so many of His daughters to be Speakers and Leaders in His Churchs is because His sons are not Chazaq'ing (for those who do not understand this word it means Showing Yourself The Man). This was very disturbing for me on multiple levels. First, I am still old school enough that I have felt that it is the man's place to lead in the service. Yet, the Spirit just affirmed that God did raise up these daughters to lead. This immediately took me back to the Book of Judges and the story of Deborah and Barak. This story describes how a man fails to lead when called upon by Father and the results were that God gave the final glory to a woman. Read the story again in Judges 4. I wanted to challenge the Spirit and say that only the sons are to lead that it was to us that God gave authority. Yet, then Phoebe popped into my mind with a challenge to explain the reference to her as a Deacon in the Church in Cenchrea, Romans 16:1.
The Spirit was leading me down the path to knowledge that in the absence of willing sons our Father will raise up His daughters to lead His church. What we are witnessing today here in America is not so much a change to what has always been but a condemnation of the sons who are not showing themselves the man. We have not stepped up as men to lead the Church as Christ showed us how. We have allowed ourselves to be immasculated and become euniches in the eyes of our Father and the world by our lack of courage and strength. Therefore, our Father has taken our glory and given it to His daughters.
When I was thinking of challenges to these thoughts, I was immediately taken to the New Testament and the story of Peter's vision of the unclean food that God had declared clean, Acts 10:9-17. I cannot say that I am comfortable with what I was given as I am sure Peter was not. However, I also cannot say that I am ready to challenge God as Job did. I will follow where the Spirit leads and pray that He helps me to Show Myself The Man when Father calls and to accept the 'clean food' God has provided. And He has all power and authority in heaven and on earth.
Today, we sons of God need to step forward with a spirit of courage and boldness asssured that our Father has already given us the victory. If we would do this, God could empower us and lift us up as His One in a Thousand (reference to old testament Mighty men).
What was given to me was this, son's of God, the reason that our Father is raising up so many of His daughters to be Speakers and Leaders in His Churchs is because His sons are not Chazaq'ing (for those who do not understand this word it means Showing Yourself The Man). This was very disturbing for me on multiple levels. First, I am still old school enough that I have felt that it is the man's place to lead in the service. Yet, the Spirit just affirmed that God did raise up these daughters to lead. This immediately took me back to the Book of Judges and the story of Deborah and Barak. This story describes how a man fails to lead when called upon by Father and the results were that God gave the final glory to a woman. Read the story again in Judges 4. I wanted to challenge the Spirit and say that only the sons are to lead that it was to us that God gave authority. Yet, then Phoebe popped into my mind with a challenge to explain the reference to her as a Deacon in the Church in Cenchrea, Romans 16:1.
The Spirit was leading me down the path to knowledge that in the absence of willing sons our Father will raise up His daughters to lead His church. What we are witnessing today here in America is not so much a change to what has always been but a condemnation of the sons who are not showing themselves the man. We have not stepped up as men to lead the Church as Christ showed us how. We have allowed ourselves to be immasculated and become euniches in the eyes of our Father and the world by our lack of courage and strength. Therefore, our Father has taken our glory and given it to His daughters.
When I was thinking of challenges to these thoughts, I was immediately taken to the New Testament and the story of Peter's vision of the unclean food that God had declared clean, Acts 10:9-17. I cannot say that I am comfortable with what I was given as I am sure Peter was not. However, I also cannot say that I am ready to challenge God as Job did. I will follow where the Spirit leads and pray that He helps me to Show Myself The Man when Father calls and to accept the 'clean food' God has provided. And He has all power and authority in heaven and on earth.
Today, we sons of God need to step forward with a spirit of courage and boldness asssured that our Father has already given us the victory. If we would do this, God could empower us and lift us up as His One in a Thousand (reference to old testament Mighty men).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)