Category: FRIENDSHIP

Viewing the Bible as Truth?

I was thinking about various beliefs and why people may have the beliefs they do. It seems that culture may be a reason: what was taught, passed down generation after generation. The belief becomes something we don’t question, we just “know” because we heard it from when we were children, so we adopt the same belief as those around us. At some point growing up we realize other people have different beliefs because of their culture. For some, that can be when the questioning starts: What is the Truth? When we start asking this question, we can be influenced by people in our lives, by the friends we make. We can be influenced by religious leaders who are well spoken, interesting and tell compelling stories, or we can be turned away from a belief by religious leaders and people who identify themselves with a certain religion if we have a bad experience with them. We can abandon every belief and claim to be “scholarly” and believe in nothing. Belief, or unbelief, is a choice we make.

People have said to me: “You can’t trust the Bible, it was made and edited to control people.” People point out “contradictions.” But every point someone has made about it, after looking into it further, the point made doesn’t stand up. Most of the people who made these comments to me hadn’t ever read the entire Bible , they were repeating something they were told that seemed to make sense to them, or they heard an excerpt from the Bible out of context. In contrast, I’ve also heard many people say that it was reading the Bible that finally made them believe it is the truth and after reading it, they began changing their life because of what they read. Reading the Bible isn’t a small task; it’s a lengthy book, and many people don’t make the time it to read it for various reasons but it will have an impact.

When we truly believe something, we are compelled and take action because of our belief. This isn’t only regarding “faith”; it’s about anything in life that we believe, we take action according to our belief.

So what is it about the Bible that made me believe it?

  • The Bible answered many “why” questions about life for me, such as: Why do we exist? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do bad things even happen? Why do people die? Why do people become addicted to harmful things? Why do people still feel empty when they have so much in life? Why are relationships so hard? Why do so many marriages end in divorce? Why do people experience fear and anxiety? Everything finally made sense to me.
  • The Christian Bible incorporates the Jewish beliefs (the Old Testament), it doesn’t deny the foundation of Christianity which is Judaism. Jewish and Christians both believe what is found in the Old Testament Books of the Bible. This was affirmation to me from another faith that added validity to what is found in the Bible. The ability today to see the original Hebrew text (www.blueletterbible.org) provides additional insight and clarity. The main difference in Christian and Jewish beliefs is who Jesus is believed to be.
  • The New Testament of the Christian Bible has similar prophecies to what I’ve read and heard is in the Quran about what happens in the world leading up to Judgement Day, about Mary the mother of Jesus being a virgin, about Jesus being a respected prophet. The main difference is the belief in who Jesus is. But the fact that there are some similarities by different faiths seems to validate those similarities as truth.
  • The Bible was written by significant historical people and the main message is consistent throughout the Bible. This message is: God’s love, compassion for people and people’s rebellion and repentance (sometimes) or rejection towards God. There are times when God punishes people for their actions (to wake them up/cause them to change for the better) and there will be a day when justice will be served to all people by God for all of mankind’s actions (Judgement Day).
  • The Bible is partially a history book which adds to its validity. The collection of books by various authors in the Bible explain life, document the history of leadership and genealogy of Jesus, the books of the prophets told of events before they happened (warning people) and the events actually happened exactly as they were predicted to occur and some remain unfulfilled, but remain expected sometime in the future (especially because these future prophecies were told by prophets thousands of year ago who told other prophecies that occurred), and document the life of Jesus and what happened with his followers after he was killed.
  • Within the Bible it tells us: it is “supernatural” information inspired by the Holy Spirit. It isn’t just one person validating the information assembled into Bible, there were hundreds to thousands of people who validated much of the content. Eye witnesses documented and others interviewed people about these “supernatural events.” This Bible continues to be read today. Think about how long this book has lasted. It’s interesting because Jesus said that Heaven and Earth will pass away, but the word of God will remain.
  • People who knew Jesus personally wrote books: Two of Jesus’ original followers: Matthew and John, each wrote a book (the gospels) in the Bible that tells us the same thing (validates the story) but also provides a unique collection of events that happened.
  • Mark, who was another author of the Bible (gospel) was an acquaintance of Peter who was one of Jesus’ original followers. Peter also contributed books to the Bible about how people should live and what will happen in the future; Peter personally knew Jesus and was taught by him.
  • Luke who was another author of the gospel and was believed to be a medical doctor which probably gave him some credibility. He interviewed people who were still living from Jesus’ time, those who had witnessed Jesus’ life to assemble the book he wrote.
  • The 4 gospels tell similar stories but have additional accounts, yet all are consistent regarding the character of and the message from Jesus.
  • The Bible also has books from two who are believed to be Jesus’ half-brothers: Jude and James – family members of Jesus’ household. Family members certainly add credibility and validity.
  • A significant portion of the Bible contribution, primarily letters written to communities by a person who was persecuting Christians, but then had a life changing conversion after a supernatural experience with Jesus. This was Paul (originally named Saul) his name was changed when his life’s direction was changed. Think about this: the most drastic life change after a supernatural experience: becoming a person who supported and grew the believers community by his preaching but before he had been on the opposing side and was targeting and persecuting those same people, until his life was changed.
  • There are a wide variety of sources, people, authors, prophets who all tell the same message repeatedly over thousands of years, after having a vision, an angel visitation or revelation from God or experiencing life in person with Jesus. Multiple sources all telling the same message is what supports this as truth.
  • I personally had experiences that reinforced my belief in the Bible. After praying and asking God questions, I opened the bible to a page or book that answered by specific question numerous times. One question was about the future and what I understood did happen. When I’ve asked about the future, I regularly end up opening to a page that talks about the end times. Believe me, I didn’t want that to keep happening, but it did and it does, so I do think we may be closer than anticipated or God is wanting people to prepare and take this future event seriously.
  • In 2020 when things started happening, I personally saw the connection to the end time prophecies and was alarmed because the Bible foretells of these things and there are so many happening at the same time: the global pandemic and its effect on people, the on-going and escalating conflict in the middle east, the persecution of Christians today, the alliances of nations that appear to be forming, the growing anger towards Israel from surrounding nations and world leaders, the desire of nations to unite into a global governance, the removal of references to God, the rise in crime, the “all inclusive, “anything is acceptable” direction of some religions, the deception and corruption, the growing acceptance and encouragement of things the Bible identifies as immoral, the growing focus on “peace and safety” when the Bible tells us there will not be peace and safety leading up to the end, but that people will say that. All these things are prophesized in the Bible. We have been warned.

I don’t want to focus on this, I would rather just go about life and experience happiness and laughter. I miss feeling “carefree” to some extent, before when I was ignorant to what appears to be happening, before my eyes were opened to the reality of these times. But I have these thoughts sometimes when I wake that I can’t seem to ignore because they don’t go away until I take action. The thought I had for a few days now that prompted this was: people need to know and comprehend what is in the Bible, explore it for themselves, seek God, pray to God, so that He reveals the truth about all of this and then decide if you believe it or you don’t. If a person doesn’t believe the Bible, the main message won’t be known or taken seriously and a person may end up eternally separated from God. When a person understands this clearly, the Bible will have a positive impact on that person’s life. I want people to know Jesus because knowing who he is, why he was here and what he said will have a significant positive effect on our lives and our future. I want people to truly comprehend this and take action, not for my benefit, but for yours.

Please consider reading the Bible, then decide for yourself. God gives us the freedom to choose to believe or not believe.

by Categories: FAITH, FRIENDSHIP, God, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Make It Count, priorities, RELATIONSHIPS, WellnessTags: , , , , , , , , 3 Comments

Happily Ever After: The True Story Everyone Should Know

Once upon a time…yes, this is a true story, but it happened “once upon a time.” There was this creative King who enjoyed making beautiful things filled with joy and happiness. There is no one greater than Him in any way; He was the first King. He created the earth and everything in it, on it and surrounding it out of enjoyment. He created people and made them to look similar to Him. He used His own breath to breathe life into the people and make them living. He was delighted and interacted with His creation. The people He made were not like puppets or programmed a certain way, although He did give them unique abilities and skills. It was enjoyment for Him to see what they did. He gave the people complete freedom because complete freedom is love. This King became known as LOVE.

Because this King had been around for awhile, He had made other things prior to the earth. We only know a little about the prior creations He made because the beings live in a different realm than we do. There are spiritual beings that can travel between realms, unlike people who are limited. One of the spiritual beings began to think He was as good or better than the King and became competitive with the King. He convinced a few other spiritual beings that he was as good or better and they joined him in rebelling against the King, that’s how the spiritual war began.

Not very long after the earth was created, the Rebelling Being determined he would destroy everything the King created and went into action. He knew that people had certain limitations making them easily able to be manipulated and influenced by unseen spiritual forces and he knew the King loved the people. So that became the Rebel’s focus: separate the people from the King and destroy them. The Rebel was also creative in a manipulative, crafty way. He uses lies, deception, and fake promises to convince people to believe and be led by him. He started in the King’s garden and convinced the people to disobey the one rule the King gave them. He was successful at this because he put doubt in their minds and convinced them that the King was trying to limit their knowledge, keep them oppressed, and they believed the lie and disobeyed the King. At that point, the people unknowingly allowed the Rebel access to their lives and their children’s lives from that point forward. Not very long after this happened, the first murder on earth took place: one brother killed his own brother out of jealousy.

Things became even worse. Other rebellious spiritual beings from another realm came to earth and impregnated women creating unusual evil offspring. These rebellious spiritual beings also taught people things that were not meant to be known by the people of this world. The rebels taught people to contact the rebellious spiritual beings rather than the King for information and the people did. The people on the earth were quickly becoming influenced and spreading evil, killing, lying and reflecting the actions of the Rebels rather than the King. This angered the King because the good He created was being corrupted and dying, so the King decided to destroy the majority of the living beings, keeping only a small portion who remained loyal to Him. He destroyed everything with a flood and gave His people a new start.

It didn’t take long for people to be manipulated by the evil spiritual beings once again because the spiritual beings that can travel between the realms hadn’t been destroyed. So this began the cycle that continues today: people reconcile with the King, the evil spiritual beings manipulate the people, they separate from the King, the King disciplines the people so they learn a lesson, the people reconcile with the King and the evil spiritual beings manipulate people again.

As time goes on, the King finds loyal people who are willing to break this cycle and want Him to protect them from the evil beings. The King does, He is willing to do this for anyone who recognizes what is happening. The King is then able to work through the loyal people. But even the loyal people are not perfect and mess up, but the difference is that they ask for forgiveness and try to never do it again. The King gave the people 10 rules to live by and gives His Spirit along with protecting angels to help His loyal people. The King saw that the people had good intentions but were too weak to resist evil completely.

The King can’t be in the presence of evil, so this had to be solved so one day He could live with the people He created once again. He sent his Son to earth to break the curse that evil had placed on the earth. The Son lived on earth, taught people about the King and explained what was happening on the earth. Some people believed him, but others didn’t. He taught people for approximately 3 years and told those people who believed him to continue to let others know about the King. He told the people the King has future plans and everything will be made new again and the earth will be repaired and the King will once again live among the people. The Son told the people that he himself would be killed, but would continue to live (in another realm) but would someday return to to bring all who believe and love him back together, including those who had died already and those who would die in the future. All will be brought back to life by the King’s spirit, His breath of Life.

The Son was killed, but returned, living, as proof to those he had told of this. Thousands of people saw him, ate with him and communicated with him before he ascended to another realm. He promised he will return and today we are waiting for his (Jesus’) return. Those who are loyal, believe what Jesus taught and show God (the King) that we love Him by our actions (i.e. willingly obeying the 10 commands the King gave) will live forever with God after Jesus returns…happily ever after!

by Categories: FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDSHIP, God, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Love, Make It Count, priorities, RELATIONSHIPS, WellnessTags: , , , , , Leave a comment

God Revealing or Strange Coincidence?

“Interesting” things seem to keep happening to me and it makes me wonder, is this God revealing, communicating through scripture, or strange coincidences? I’ve been telling people close to me about these occurrences when they happen, but I may start writing about them since they seem so frequent lately and if it’s only a strange coincidence, then it’s entertaining/intriguing (at least to me, maybe to someone else?).

Earlier this week, I opened up to a random page in the Bible after praying that God “speaks to or shows” me something from the Bible when I read it. If I don’t make an immediate connection, sometimes I think it’s meant for someone else possibly? This is how I often decide what I post on my “Faith” Instagram account when I don’t have a topic on my mind as soon as I wake up in the morning. As I was reading, my dog hops onto the couch, right next to me and puts his paw on the Bible. I just thought he looked cute, so I took a picture and laughed at him, then sent the picture to a few people I’m close to, who know this dog’s funny personality and might laugh. Here’s the picture:

This was one text response I received (posted with permission):

(Message about the picture I texted)

So that was on Monday, I thought nothing of it, didn’t make a connection with anything, but read it wondering what significance it might have, if any? Tuesday was busy, I ended work at 8 pm and then caught up on “news,” which was informative, but discouraging at the same time. I found a few Instagram accounts posting current events and pointing out biblical connections when appropriate, so I followed those accounts because I’ve been noticing some of that on my own (when I was reading “prophecies” in the Bible and started seeing current world events relating to them) so this would be interesting to me to see what they find. After that, I decided I had enough for the day and went to bed; I was exhausted.

Wednesday morning after I opened to a random page and posted the scripture from it like usual, I looked through the feed on my faith account. (I only follow the accounts of people or entities that I learn something from, or who have contributed to my growth in learning more about Christianity on my faith account.) The accounts I follow are “resources” that I’ve found in alignment with what I found in the Bible, not any particular denomination, more of a variety, with the exception of the “news” sources I just recently followed. Anyway, in the Instagram feed I saw a recent discovery by Israeli archaeologists with the inscription: ‘Jerubbaal’ believed to be from about 3,100 years ago and reading further the post states “after he broke down the altar of Baal”. This triggered my memory: I just read about that: it was in the picture with my dog! So of course I had to let the person I was texting with know about this update after we had been joking/laughing about me “being shown” something while reading the Bible! (Even though this does happen; I didn’t think this was one of those times.) But this gets even more personal later…

First, here is what I saw in the feed:

So this is the scripture my dog was covering:

So that connection was worth exploring more now: the photo with my dog was in the book of Kings, not Judges, but part of the account was about the Baal Temple destruction. Then I noticed “Joash” in the title of the next chapter, Chapter 11. I wondered, how many Joash are in the Bible? Is Joash, the son of Gideon mentioned by the archaeologist the same as this Joash? So I looked that up too: here’s what I found. There certainly appears to be a connection, even though it’s not the same book from the Bible. So the person I was texting with said, I just searched Baal and this popped up: The Largest Baal Worship Service on the Planet is in America. Of course I had to read that article because when we read the Bible about stuff like this (worship of idols/false gods) we always think, that was back then, people don’t do this now! Well this article hits even more personally to me as I read it further. In reading this, I am acknowledging: this is someone’s opinion, but at the same time, this is eerie too! Here is a factual account of this event (link).

Next is how it becomes personal to me: if you’ve been following my blog, or if not, you can even go back and look at prior posts, in 2017, I decided to “Surrender to God” (which for me meant praying every day, but I didn’t really change my lifestyle too much at first). I noticed shortly after I “surrendered” all sorts of “bad” things started happening to me, then “good” things, then “bad”, then “good” again. It was like wave after wave and it was tough. Anyway, in 2017, I was in this “baby stage” as a Christian, probably our most vulnerable time, in hindsight. And I also think this was the start of God testing my faith but also revealing things too and disciplining me. If you read my posts from 5 years ago you will see this. In 2017, I was always going somewhere and one of the events I happened to go to was an art festival with music (one of my favorite hobbies): “Burbs Music and Art Festival”…here are links to the photos from my personal Instagram account taken in August 2017, the same month and year of that linked article above (scary):

UFO by Gateway Burners, local chapter of Burning Man

Gateway Burners

Burbs Music and Art Festival

Burbs Music and Art Festival 2

Burbs Music and Art Festival 3

Burbs Music and Art Festival 4

When I realized the connection to Burning Man and Baal Worship after reading the article, I initially thought: I’m going to delete those posts! But then I reconsidered: we can’t change the past, I went completely ignorant to what was talked about in that author’s opinion, I was intrigued by the art and music festival. If the festival happened again, I wouldn’t go because of that article I read, which makes me question all of it. But it also made me think about all the “subliminal” things we are exposed to unknowingly. It also made me wonder how many other people are “innocent” to this in participating and what influence, if any this has on our lives? From the bible we are told we are the subjects of “spiritual warfare” It really makes me think, maybe we shouldn’t be so naïve to this? Maybe we shouldn’t brush this off as “meaningless, unimportant, not impactful?” Do we really know? Jesus told his followers they couldn’t understand earthly things he was trying to tell them about, so how could he tell them about the spiritual world, despite the fact that his followers actually witnessed demonic possessions in their travels along with miracles and healing. Because of all of this, I tend to think there very well could be subtle spiritual deception in our lives working for a greater purpose later on. Again, I think it’s good to be aware of this, don’t be “blind” to this. There are blatant things happening in our world right now that are completely against God. How we live is a personal choice we make, and this is between God and each of us; no one should judge anyone else because we honestly don’t know everything. But we should have a clear conscience with God about how we are living our lives, if we don’t, it may be the reason for a personal change, if we choose God’s Kingdom.

Also this morning, while getting ready, I listened to Tim Keller’s Gospel in Life: The Robber’s House (another good one!) when he said: as Christians we are either “all in” or “all out” it made me think about that statement in relation to how I live my life. He’s right. Jesus had that warning to one of the churches in Revelation, about people being “lukewarm” and if they didn’t change he was about to figuratively “spit them out” or “extinguish their lampstand.” It gave me much to think about today.

So what do you think about all these events? Is God communicating or is this a strange coincidence?

by Categories: American, Entertainment, Face Fear, FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDSHIP, God, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Love, Make It Count, MUSIC, priorities, RELATIONSHIPS, Sex, WellnessTags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

To my Jewish FRIENDS…

I want to emphasize the word “friends” because recently this has been on my mind quite a bit. I’ve wanted to reach out to you because of all the craziness happening in the world, but I haven’t because this is a sensitive subject and awkward to bring up out of nowhere. So I decided to make this post instead and those who choose to read it may and for those who don’t, we won’t be in an awkward “in person” situation! The only reason I want to say this to you, is because I care about you. You should know me by now that I’m not a “pushy” person about anything, I believe in choices and if it’s a fit, it is, and if it’s not, it simply isn’t.

If you regularly read this blog, you will know the impact reading the bible has had on me. Completely unexpected for me, but it’s absolutely changed my way of thinking. If you don’t regularly read this blog, then I’ll update you: I read the bible for the first time in 2019 and have been studying it since then. As the years go by, I comprehend more of what I initially read and also see how closely the Old Testament and the New Testament align and tell us the same thing.

Recently I’ve been studying/re-reading the prophetic books (currently on Daniel, with more to follow): Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggia, Zechariah, and Malachi, looking towards the future events that have not yet happened. As I was doing this, I’ve realized how long ago the prophets spoke of the Messiah (Jesus, as I believe, fulfilled this). Currently in the world, there is a movement about so many “religions” believing in the same God, but by different names, but this is not entirely true, partially true, but not entirely for some of the world religions. The main differentiator is Jesus and what people believe about him and who he is.

Before I loose your interest entirely, my reason is just for an awareness although it may also benefit you in the future, if things in this world keep continuing in the way they are, at this rapid pace. This is solely because I care about you. I will not bring this up to you in person, but I am available, if YOU want to bring it up to me. I ask those of you who are open minded and willing to “investigate both sides” of a subject (Jesus) before completely ruling him out as “wrong” to take a look at “One for Israel”…I’ve watched or listened to many of their publications, productions, etc.. This one is the first one I saw (published 6 years ago), and it was so concise and well done I’d love for you to spend less than 10 minutes to see or hear what they have to say, here is the link: Two Israeli Jews explain the gospel in Jerusalem like you’ve never heard before!!! and here is the link One for Israel’s website, if you are curious who they are, what they are about, etc.

That’s all I have to share with this post. I pray that God reveals and guides all of us!

by Categories: Face Fear, FAITH, FRIENDSHIP, God, Improvement, Make It Count, RELATIONSHIPSTags: , , , , Leave a comment

Love and Lust

What’s the difference? It’s hard to differentiate today because these words are used interchangeably every day. It’s interesting when you think about it, for as long as people have existed (historically), we still don’t have this understanding clearly represented in our culture, so confusion passes from generation to generation. Personally, I think this confusion is intentional. “Hindsight is always 20/20”, isn’t it? Things are so much clearer looking back, than in the moment. If you want love, this will be worth your time reading. But for those “satisfied” by lust, don’t bother reading any further; this isn’t meant for you to see, that is unless “death” is something you don’t welcome.

Hindsight: There is an easier way to live, but most of us want to do it our own way and ignore wisdom. Instead we often listen to others who don’t have wisdom. The advice from others who don’t have wisdom is harmful and really where did they get this authority to give advice anyway? Is it really good advice? What makes them the expert in comparison to wisdom? There are so many opinions about everything, who can we trust? Who is looking out for us, protecting us, caring for us? Is this person looking for a “cohort in crime” or giving truthful advice? Is this person truly concerned about our future, our well being?

If we learn the difference between love and lust by others’ examples or our own experience, there is no doubt, it will be a long bumpy road ahead for us. But if we listen to, learn from and act upon wisdom provided almost 2,000 years ago, we can reduce these painful experiences starting now. Wisdom is found in the Bible, from God, who has authority over all.

Did you know the book of Revelation covers this subject (love and lust)? When I mentioned “hindsight” earlier, what better “hindsight” can a person have than seeing what is prophesized in the future and acting on it now?

 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.

Revelation 1:3

I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.

Revelation 2:21

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Revelation 21:8

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 21:27

 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.

Revelation 22:14

Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.  “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you[a] this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

Jesus, Revelation 22:15-16

Read it for yourself. I don’t know of anyone who has read the Bible, seeking to learn something from it and hasn’t changed their life. Revelation 22:14 symbolically illustrates this with the phrase: “wash their robes” meaning a change in the way they live, becoming a follower of Jesus so that they may have eternal life “right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”

Not only did Paul write so many letters addressing sexual immorality to various people (Corinthians, Thessalonians, Ephesians, Galatians) and every one of the gospel authors address this (Matthew, Mark, Luke- the book of Acts, and John) but this is Jesus, himself, telling us this fact about who will not be with him in eternity (Revelation 22:15-16) I don’t know about you, but for me, this was impactful and life changing. There is so much in this statement to comprehend: “magic arts” (those involved in sorcery, witchcraft), sexually immoral (from the original Greek biblical translation, it is the word “pornos” meaning (male) prostitute, fornicator, whoremonger), murderers, idolaters (an image worshipper- literally or figuratively), falsehood (lies or lying).

Regarding falsehood, lies that are taught under the “grace” of our God, pay attention to what Jude (Jesus’ half brother and James’ brother) tells us (don’t be misled):

For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

Jude 1:4

In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

Jude 1:7

Getting back to “Love and Lust”: Look up fornication in the regular dictionary and you will find this definition: 1. voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons or two persons not married to each other 1. Bible: idolatry (the religious worship of idols or excessive or blind adoration, reverence, devotion, etc.)

In Lust, a person serves as an “idol” to us. Lust is an excellent example of selfishness and self gratification. Selfishness is not love. Living a life in lust is actually going against God’s 1st and 2nd commandments that were given to us as well as God’s 7th and 10th commandments. Lust can possibly break 4 commandments at one time!

In Love, a person acts selflessly. Love exhibits certain characteristics that are not present in lust: patience, kindness, supports justice, never gives up, is hopeful, endures through all circumstances, is gentle and maintains self-control.

So if you struggle with lust, the best thing to do is to seek to know God (through the bible and prayer), and seek God’s help (ask for the Holy Spirit’s strength). God wants us in eternity, so God will help. God needs to become your/our priority, if He isn’t already. God needs to be our priority above every human being we know. After you/we do this, make God our number one priority, we will be prepared for the future. This is the most important thing for every person: make God your priority. Eternal life is promised for those who do, there are unimaginable beautiful things prepared by God for those who make God their priority. Learn more about it, it’s worth it. We came into this world naked…what do you think we take with us?

One of my favorite teachers is Dr. Tim Keller who has the “Gospel in Life” Podcast, this entire month of May 2021, his podcasts were focused on marriage (purpose, meaning, commitment) and is worth listening to whether you are single or married; he gives such great clarity on this topic. Click here to get to his podcast page. One of the points Dr. Keller makes is that unless we make God our priority, we will be too demanding of anyone in our life, our expectations will be too high. God is love, if we want love in our life, we need God above anyone/anything else. The purpose and reason for marriage is companionship but we have to remember that God created this “union” and it was never His intention that this union replace God (if the companion is an idol to us).

The bible contains so much wisdom, if we only accept what it tells us. This book is thousands of pages long and repeats the same messages over and over again through different individuals. Pay attention before it’s too late.

From Revelation 22 (the invitation and the warning) and the last verse is so relevant (we need God’s grace):

12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you[a] this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.

18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. 19 And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.

by Categories: Dating, FAITH, FAMILY, Following Passions, FRIENDSHIP, God, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Love, Make It Count, Marriage, priorities, RELATIONSHIPS, Sex, WellnessTags: , Leave a comment

What would you say? Saying goodbyes…

This month has emphasized long term focus. Sadly and unavoidably, the reality of living on earth brings forth what we don’t want: sickness and death; unfortunately, we all will experience this at some point in our lives. This past week was sad: I attended two funerals: one was for my happy, laughing one year old nephew, Sebastian and the other was for the sweet loving mom, Tracy, of my son’s best friend. I feel “numb” right now, but my mind doesn’t stop thinking, so many thoughts.

I spent the past weekend in Florida with family who were able to make it and it was comforting. I missed being with them so much. Every night ended up being a 2 am or later night oddly, but it was worth it because it was comforting talking, sharing meals, memories, laughing, sitting around the fire under the moonlight with the cool breeze blowing off the lake under Spanish moss filled oaks – so peaceful, except for the “circus” dog Millie who has it in her nature to jump over fires and bite the sparks, but that certainly made everyone laugh.

The day after I returned from Florida was Tracy’s. I had no words. Our boys are like brothers to each other; it was shocking and sad. All I could do was think, her boys were her everything; she enjoyed time with them, loved and protected them throughout all the time I’ve known her. That was her focus.

When passing is unexpected, the opportunity to prepare in advance isn’t possible and we all do the best we can getting through this. I listened to every word at each funeral, people sharing memories was comforting. I think it’s difficult for all of us to find the words we want to express, so we do our awkward best. I noticed something at both services that made me ponder, relating to finding the words and I woke up with this on my mind today. Most of the time, but especially when unexpected, someone speaks on behalf of the person who’s passed away and tries to find comforting words to those who are present. It is true that when someone in Jesus passes away, they are comfortable, peaceful, joyful, happy and content in the presence of God, there are no concerns but that is all we know. We honestly can’t say what they might say to us beyond that, because each person is unique and would have their own unique message to us; a personal one that no one else knows. This made me think: What would those I love want to say/share with me, with others? What would I want to say/share to others? Wouldn’t it be worthwhile to share our deepest personal thoughts before that day? Would someone else’s thoughts cover what we’d want to tell those we love? This is something most of us would not give much thought to, but it would be something I would want from those I love: What would you say? Would you want someone speaking for you, or would you have your own thoughts to share? I seriously thought about this and the first thing that came to my mind was the book of Ecclesiastes, written by Solomon (who asked God for the gift of wisdom) who was reflecting on life and meaning. Verses from that book often pop in my mind during every day living.

One day we will face this separation, and while we will be fine, will leave others behind, so what do you want to say, when it’s time to say goodbye? We all have personal thoughts, not everyone will care, but those who love us will. After experiencing this recently, I think it’s worthwhile to say the important things we want to share, the things that don’t come during casual daily conversations. I think it’s good to think about this and whether you have those conversations now or write it down, it will be meaningful to someone later on. Years ago, I worked with someone, a young mother, who had some health concerns that had popped up, so she went in for some routine tests. This was right before Valentine’s Day and it was the weirdest thing, she was normally very healthy (and young) but she for some reason was concerned about these routine tests. She ended up writing letters to her family in Valentine’s Day cards and setting them aside. It was like she had some insight, either that or she was a worrier, but her concerns became reality: an accident in the routine procedure caused her sudden passing. I’ll always remember her husband at the funeral mentioning how cherished those letters she wrote were to his family. The letters are for the ones left behind. It’s so hard to say goodbye but we might comfort others if we think about what we would say to those left behind, before it happens.

What would you say?

by Categories: Face Fear, FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDSHIP, God, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Letting Go, Love, Make It Count, priorities, RELATIONSHIPSTags: , , , , Leave a comment