Category: Love

Secrets of the Universe

…this is meant for you.

I woke up compelled to write about this because you may not hear this from someone close to you, maybe not even your local religious organization, for many possible reasons that may become obvious to you after reading this. I intend to condense 4,000 years of history into a brief summary hoping it will be relevant and worthwhile for you and answer many “why” questions. This is the truth, not a fictional story.

CURRENT TIMES

You and I are caught in the middle of, and and are living with the residual effects of a war continuing today, that started approximately 4,000 years ago, or maybe even before then. Unfortunately and unknowingly we have been brought into this war, as participants, and we don’t have a choice in participating. There is no way to avoid being involved; we can’t “opt out.” This is one of the most challenging types of wars to succeed in because it literally is invisible, so if we can’t see it, how are we going to defend ourselves?

THE BACKGROUND

We are not the only beings in the universe: there are angels (both good and bad ones), demons, cherubim, and other creatures and spiritual beings that have not been revealed to us yet and most importantly, there is a God, who created all of this. Despite the intelligence of many in this world, the human race is not all knowing or as wise as some want to believe. Just think of the “food chain”- the rank that exists in nature, we are part of a rank as well, different than the food chain. I don’t know where we rank relative to other beings in the universe, but since angels and demons can travel back and forth and we can’t, that may indicate we don’t rank that high compared with all that exists.

The hardest aspect to comprehend is God, probably because we don’t know anyone or any thing that has “no beginning and no end, is omnipresent, all knowing”- again we have limited knowledge, limited comprehension. It is hard to comprehend a divine Person who created everything, because we didn’t see it happen and haven’t seen God. That’s an obvious reason why many “logically” don’t believe this.

WHAT CAUSED THIS WAR

We aren’t given all the details, but there was a rebellion in heaven by Satan, by name, and some of the angels who began to think they were as good or better than their Creator. God had blessed them with beauty, limited power and limited knowledge (in comparison, more knowledge than the human race has) and they evidently felt they had the ability to be as good as, to compete with, or be better than God. We can easily see this reality in our everyday life if we think about our business world: we have creators of a product or service and we have people who help the creators. Some of those people who help the creator begin to think they can do something better (sometimes they can and other times it’s not as good as the original) but they venture out on their own. Same concept, but there is much more to gain when we are talking about the level of God and His Kingdom. Satan was given limited authority over the air and the earth, I’m not sure if this was before or after the rebellion; but it would make more logical sense if this authority was given before the rebellion, when Satan was in God’s good grace. Satan apparently didn’t start out evil, but something happened: pride occurred. In this rebellion, Satan is attempting to take away or gain a following from God’s created children, probably out of revenge, proving his ability to do this to God. Historically, Satan has been, and will be successful in doing this with many people, but not all.

THE ULTIMATE PLAN

God creates everything that is good and has good intentions for it, but when He gave “choice” to the beings He created not every thing or everyone chooses to love Him back, obey Him or recognize their “rank” in the Universe. God is going to get rid of everything that has turned bad, that doesn’t love Him, that doesn’t want to obey Him, that doesn’t recognize their rank. God created the universe with an order in His design and that order will prevail, despite efforts by any other being. Only God knows the timeline for this because he designed it. He has a new kingdom that will be revealed in the future, it will be on Earth (but it will be a new earth; this existing earth will be destroyed) and He will live among the people in His kingdom; but none of those who turn against Him will be part of it.

THE HISTORY

In the beginning, God was both physically (walking in the garden) and spiritually here interacting with humans, but when sin occurred, He could no longer be physically present and the earth was cursed at that point. That’s something else which is hard to comprehend: the law surrounding Holiness: not being able to be present where sin exists. Only God knows why He made the law this way. Perhaps this was part of the knowledge Satan had from being in God’s presence: if Satan created sin, God couldn’t be present and Satan could gain influence and rule?

Without God’s physical presence it obviously was a challenge for people to believe He exists and since the earth was cursed once sin was present, everything on earth was then under the influence of Satan. Other beings in heaven that rebelled against God came to earth too. In fact there is a very brief mention of this in the bible; these beings came from heaven because they became infatuated with, lusted after some women on earth. They had physical connections with these women producing children called Nephilim. There is a book of Enoch that is not certified as completely without error or incorporated into the bible, but IF this part is true, the angels who rebelled against God, took some of the knowledge they had and taught humans- that is where astrology originated and much of the occult. The bible is very specific about astrology being something bad that God does not want the human race to get involved with, it actually separates us from God. Just think about that, doesn’t this all make logical sense now?

Because the world was getting so corrupted by this and filled with sin, God decided to flood the earth, and destroy the majority of life, saving only a small portion of humans (those God determined were the most obedient to Him) and animals, and there was an opportunity, a new beginning for humans once again. In the beginning of the human race, people had much longer lives (hundreds of years), but after seeing the bad choices and sinful nature of humans, God changed the average life span to 120 years. After this “cleaning up” of the world through the flood, God promised the survivors He would never do that again and as a symbol of this promise for people to remember, He created the rainbow which appears after rain.

Due to the law surrounding holiness not being able to be in the presence of sin. God had to use other means to reach people, so He did. He used other people (prophets, and those who had faith and believed in Him) to reveal Himself, through miracles, supernatural events, letting people know that He truly exists, even though they don’t see Him. Remember this is part of a spiritual war, as it has been from the beginning: Satan is trying to take people away from God, gain them for Satan’s purpose. Both Satan and God use people who are willing to be used. This is where we only have two options: either we are being used by God, or we are being used by Satan. This is the participation we can’t avoid. From history, we see that despite these supernatural events, people were still skeptical and didn’t believe. Satan has much more influence in a cursed earth environment and easily manipulates people through money, greed, lust, perversion, pride and self-centeredness. None of these things have any value at the end of history, but somehow people are blinded by the deception, perceived value. We are not the most intelligent beings created! Satan uses temptation, lures people into thinking they are getting something of great value, for people only to be disappointed after a period of time. One of the supernatural events God used was giving Moses the 10 commandments (a collection of 10 rules that God wants His people to live by); people still didn’t keep them. Within a very short time, people were back to their sinful ways.

Finally God sent his son, Jesus to be a physical presence here on earth, interact with people, do supernatural things and fulfill in real life the events that the prophets told people about, so that this information would be believed. Still some people didn’t believe, but others did. Jesus told those who believed, he wanted them to spread this information to others, to save the others. When Jesus was here, he gave insight into the heavens and tried to give humans a better understanding of God, God’s nature, God’s expectations, God’s plans and to let people know how they will be able to be a part of God’s future kingdom, when Jesus returns again. This continues today, in an effort to save people.

WHY BAD THINGS HAPPEN

One misconception that people have is that if we are “good” nothing bad will happen to us. That is not true, unfortunately the earth has been cursed and there are two reasons bad things will happen to us: spiritual warfare (Satan’s power against God’s people) or a consequence of our sin. God does give blessings to his people and God will use the spiritual warfare to make us better people. He turns something bad into something good and promises us even more in the future. God stays true to His word. He is trustworthy.

HOW WE CAN BE A PART OF GOD’S FUTURE KINGDOM (A NEW EARTH AND HEAVENS)

  1. Seek God. Learn about the bible, study the bible, pray/talk to God, ask God to reveal Himself to you. Pray as often as you can.

2. Make a decision, but don’t take this decision lightly, because your intention matters: Are you willing to surrender to God and let God lead you? This means a willingness to give up the “valuable” things in this world, which are ultimately meaningless in the eternal world, but are very valuable to people in this world. A willingness to make God your priority, your #1 priority. A willingness to admit ‘I don’t know it all, I need God to provide. Admitting it when we are living differently than how God wants us to live and then committing to change that. A willingness to trust God. A willingness to let God use you, to serve God in some way with your abilities and help others. A willingness to accept God’s commands and do your best to obey them, knowing you won’t be perfect, but that you will keep trying. A willingness to put others first, rather than yourself. The honest intent is what matters, if you’re afraid you can’t do all these things, don’t be afraid of that, God will help you; you just have to be WILLING and give it to God. God has seen throughout history how hard it is for humans to be “good” he knows it’s impossible, and that is the main reason Jesus first came to earth: to save us (He became the required sacrifice to release Satan’s hold on us) when he was crucified, died on the cross and was the first to be resurrected (given a supernatural humanlike body, but better). That supernatural body is what all who surrender to God will be given in the future, because of Jesus. And we will be living with God in eternity, doing things/enjoying a NEW physical life on the new earth, not just floating around “in heaven” as some imaginations/teachings may have you thinking.

3. Get baptized. This is symbolic, but Jesus said it was required (baptism of the Holy Spirit) to gain eternal life and get this supernatural body. It symbolizes a “rebirth”: a death to our sinful natural self (old ways) and a new life (living according to God’s commands) This is where “born again” got its name, from a conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus.

4. Ask for the Holy Spirit. God’s spirit is what enables a person to be resurrected and live in eternity. When you have God’s spirit residing in you, you will know you are saved. You will feel like a different person, and the following character traits in you will be seen by others: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. God will be working within you. God’s spirit also give you courage, strength and power. We will need all these things to make it, endure until we are in God’s future eternal Kingdom.

5. Remain connected to God by prayers. The bible is also a way that God can communicate with us; so reading and studying the bible has many purposes: teaching, letting us know right vs wrong, correcting and training people in God’s ways.

I hope this makes a positive difference in your life! If you think this might be valuable to someone, please share it. Thank you.

by Categories: FAITH, God, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Love, Make It Count, priorities, RELATIONSHIPS, Sex, WellnessTags: , , , , , , , , , , , 1 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

Can Anyone Prove Jesus Saves?

The answer to this question depends on which word is emphasized: Is it “Proof” that’s being questioned? Is “Jesus” being questioned as our Savior? or is “Saved” being questioned? I’ll address each of these:

PROOF.

Proof always ties to a belief system whether we like to admit it or not. So the simple answer to this question is yes, it can be proved just like science is proved, but we will still choose “belief” or “unbelief” based on our personal mindset and what we personally choose to believe. We all make our own conclusions based on what we hear, see, experience, study, etc. and if those beliefs are strong, rarely does something change our minds. I’ve personally found that so many opposing beliefs can be “proved” by very educated people, data, statistics, etc. Data and information can be used to support opposing viewpoints and can be equally, strongly supported with opposing facts. It truly comes to choice: what do you want to believe? There ultimately is a truth, not every viewpoint can be the truth, but if our own personal beliefs are strong, we may hold on to those beliefs forever and may not truly have “the real truth”.

What is our source for TRUTH? If we are going to prove something it has to begin with identifying the source of the Truth we hold. Agree? Our personal truth typically begins with what we have been taught. When we come into this world at birth, we are taught everything we know by experience and through education. Our belief system begins at that point, sometimes it remains throughout our life but often it changes as we gain new information. I’m fascinated by science, it was one of my favorite subjects in school and it still fascinates me, but what I’ve found over time is new discoveries often disprove concepts that we held as truths! Simply put: We don’t have all the answers and even some of our scientifically proven assumptions are later proven fallible through science, as education evolves. If we are honest, we will admit this. We learn from people, from the past, from books, from research, from experiences, but what we CHOOSE to believe is based on our own personal belief system. I often see a strong polarization between those who base personal beliefs on Science vs. God, but there are also some who believe in both. Here’s the question for us: when it comes to choosing between science and God, which do we believe in? Which one do we choose? When there is a conflict between science and God, which prevails? This is our choice and indicates our belief. As for me personally, I choose God as my priority; because God is infallible, never changing (prove through history) and God cannot be “unproven” by anyone, as our creator. Yes, there are people that say creation started with a “big bang”, but they can’t explain how those particles came into existence to create the “big bang,” can they? If you say something just “came into existence,” how does science explain that? It can’t be explained, but God explains it: He is eternal and has communicated with people since sometime around 2,000 BC according to biblical records. It was significant enough to those early people who experienced this communication to record it and pass it on to generations. Another point, a good portion of the Old Testament follows the ancestry of Jesus. It shows us how, starting with Adam, Jesus came to be through every generation. Also documented in the BC times, were the books of the prophets who told of future events, some are yet to happen, but significant to the topic of Jesus, many of them spoke of Jesus 500 – 700 years BEFORE Jesus was born; they told that the Messiah would be a descendant of David and even gave a timeframe (the book of Daniel the prophet) all prophecies of which were fulfilled/PROVED (except for the future event of Jesus’ return, which remains). I believe what the Bible tells us. So to me, the Bible represents the only reliable source of truth to follow.

JESUS.

So the next possible question is: who is Jesus and what do we know about him? Since I identified the Bible as my belief and resource for Truth in the paragraphs above, I will use the Bible to answer these questions and include the bible verses supporting these statements in the active links. Jesus is the Son of God, supernaturally conceived by Mary because he arrived as a baby when he first came to earth. He is the Messiah spoken of by the prophets in the Old Testament of the bible whose entire purpose here on earth was to SAVE people. The first person Jesus saved was the criminal on the cross next to Him. There are numerous verses in the Bible telling us Jesus specifically came to save (some of these verses in this link don’t address this topic, but this was the easiest way to do a broad search of the topic in the bible) and Jesus also told people, He came to save.

SAVED.

How does a person become saved by Jesus? Jesus told us: 1. Repent, 2. Believe what Jesus taught while He was here on earth and 3. Be baptized Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, one of the original 12 apostles, repeats this: Repent and be baptized. Jesus also told Nicodemus (a person who was faithful in following the religious law of that time): that people must be “Born of the Spirit” to enter God’s future Kingdom. (Read the entire conversation here) We need to receive the Holy Spirit to be saved and we receive the Holy Spirit by first repenting (recognizing our sins, wanting forgiveness and changing our future ways), then believing what Jesus told us about God’s future Kingdom. This belief becomes the motivation to get baptized. Baptism is the symbolic representation that we have surrendered our natural born tendencies/ways of living and made a personal choice CHOOSING God’s way/Jesus’ shown way to live life, putting into practice what he taught while He was here. But since we are human and not perfect, we need help; that help is the Holy Spirit (who provides wisdom, self-control, peace, power, spiritual gifts and more). Once we have been baptized, we can pray and ask for the Holy Spirit, which God will not withhold (as long as our intentions are “good”) and this helps us endure to the end of our earthly lives or until Jesus returns, whichever comes first? Believing in Jesus means more than believing he exists; even demons believe He exists. Believing means more, it is faith with action, faith shown by our actions, faith shown by how we are living our life. Jesus’ brother, James, tells us that point. Getting back to Baptism and the “surrender” part is also important. In surrendering we are acknowledging a submissive place/role to God. This is important for a couple reasons that come to mind, the first is it eliminates Pride; Pride (being “haughty“) is one of the 7 things God hates. We realize that we will never be capable of being “good enough” to enter God’s Kingdom/Eternity and the only way this was made possible was by Jesus’ death on the cross, the substitutionary sacrifice of His own life exchanged for the lives of those who choose to be saved. This last part is challenging to comprehend because the concept of “sacrifice” involves spiritual laws that I don’t fully understand. For some reason, unknown to me there is a universal law that requires sacrifice to become holy to be in God’s presence and Jesus was that only acceptable sacrifice. It’s talked about throughout the Old Testament, first with animal sacrifices. But over and over again, people made bad choices, fell back into sinful life styles, continuing with animal sacrifices, until God put an end to that because He loves people so much: He sent His Son, Jesus, to make the final required sacrifice making it possible for those who choose to be saved: to live eternally (in new bodies) with God in His future Kingdom, that will come to earth in the future.

Being “SAVED” is all about our personal choice. God gave us the gift (Jesus’ substitutional sacrifice made it possible) but we have that choice available to us. Eternity with or without God is a PERSONAL choice/decision. Each person has to make this choice on their own. God is love; Love involves choice; therefore God gave us that choice.

So yes, to me, based on the statements above and the bible; I am proving that Jesus saves.

Please share this with someone if you think it might make a difference in their life! Thank you!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES.

If you are interested in learning more about the conflicting viewpoints between science and the bible, there are educated scientists who dedicate their time addressing these questions and providing answers. Here is a website resource: Answers In Genesis

by Categories: FAITH, God, HAPPINESS, Improvement, Love, Make It Count, prioritiesTags: , , , , , , , , , , 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?

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Loss.

Everyone deals with loss differently. This morning when I woke, I found out my smiling, happy, “funny smiling” little 1 year old nephew Sebastian went to be with God at 3:30 am. I was at a loss of words, we all were praying for a miracle leading up to this. I firmly believe in the possibility of miracles; they can happen through the power of God’s spirit, but what we don’t know is God’s will and plan and whether or not our request matches up with that. Yes, God works all things for the good of those He loves, but that doesn’t mean that our knowledge and understanding is as broad as God’s. He knows things we don’t, so this is where trust in God is necessary.

God grieves with us, death was not part of His original plan for us, but the evil one, Satan, changed that when sin entered into creation. But it won’t be like this forever. I didn’t understand until recently why God protected the tree of life in the garden of Eden after sin entered, but I finally do: God didn’t want those he loves to live with sin eternally. Life spans in the Old Testament were once incredibly long, but because of sin, God shortened life spans. This is another truth revealed by God in the Bible and it is a protection for those God loves; our time here is limited and those with shorter life spans are more protected by God.

The power, peace and strength that God extends to those “in Jesus” is amazing. I have so much love and respect for my brother Kevin and his wife Shay for the way they were strong, loving, faithful parents doing everything possible for Sebastian; there is no way they could have been as strong as they have been if they didn’t have the faith in Jesus they do. I pray they are comforted and that God continues to reveal His goodness going forward because this is not something we can prepare for, strength will be needed; please pray to Jesus with me for them! I also pray for sweet little MJ, Sebastian’s sister, she is such a happy, playful, sweet girl with a very grown up personality and ask that you pray for her too. Pray for the whole family.

Heaven isn’t the final destination, but during this time, Sebastian will have the greatest Dad of all (God) caring for him until God’s kingdom is brought to earth, then we (those who believe and follow Jesus’ way) will be living once again without pain, suffering, death in real living bodies, but glorified ones we can’t yet comprehend. This is not the end, this is a transition time: read more about this here.

This is the truth; all praise, honor and glory to God for ever and ever. Amen.

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