Prayer :)

You are my God
I will set my heart on you
Your are my strength and shield
to me  you are like rushing waters
running all over me
refreshing my soul
There is none like you
and there never will be
holding the secrets of life
yet sharing them with me
how fortunate I am to have
the knowledge of one so great
Like David before me
I will not go down to the dust
before I am resurrected
To your name be the glory
always and forever:

Are You Being Played Like a Fiddle?

      Have you ever realized a time in your life when you knew  without a shadow of doubt that you have just been played like a fiddle by someone?  Today I was!  It took at least a month to see the cleverly devised schemes clearly laid out before me.  And then suddenly bam! There it was in all it's glory...unfolded and in the light and there was nothing I could do.  Though no harm was done, I was slowly drawn into a web of "tales" that made no sense in the initial stages but when all was said and done there it was.....glaring in my face and birthed into the fullness of what was intended but hidden in the stages before birth.
    You might be wondering, what in the world am I talking about by now! But here is the thing to consider.  Everyday we Christians face an enemy intent on deceiving and playing mind games with us because he knows that we can be tricked if we are not on our guard. In the NT there are words of admonishment to be "wise as a serpent but innocent as a dove."  I confess that I am sort of on the naive side of things when it comes to reading  people but I have gotten better over the years after being burned enough times.
     This is because I so want to trust another human being! A Mistake.....we are required to walk with our eyes open and soberly viewing our world just like Christ did when he called the Pharisees a brood of vipers!  White washed sepulchres!  In other words dead on the inside!
     He did not waste his words, and neither should we.  This is not to say that we should call our co-workers vipers the next time we are lied to but we should be aware of the reality if they are not in the kingdom and we are.  Light and dark do not mix well but nevertheless we are in the  world and not of the world as Christians and we understand these things.  We  bear the burden and are standard bearers of a certain truth that we carry because of this knowledge.
     I will wait the time necessary to see the end results of someone's tales and what fruit it will eventually bear but I know this already....a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree cannot do what the good tree does without Christ's intervention.
    Also those who put out snares for others to be caught in will eventually be caught in their own snare.  This we have on the WORD of LIFE'S" testimony.
    

NY Times: Misrule of Law by Hua Ze

     I have just re-read the above named article I found in the NY Times today.  In essence it is a story of a man a Chinese citizen an activist and a man of unusual courage.  The writer of the article is his friend and it is recounted by him.  I write about it because it shows us what moral convictions are and to what lengths someone will go to when and idea is birthed and a vision is formed.  This man Mr Xu has been carted away by his government and imprisoned because of his activism and help to those who are underrepresented and vulnerable by authorities who are repressive in their nature.  In reality he was a thorn in the side of his government because of his good works for those who suffer.  In this case he had dreams of a constitutional society represented by freedoms we have and they do not.  Here is a quote from his vision:
   
     "I hope for a free and happy country where no one needs to go against his conscience, and can find his place based on his abilities and moral character; a simple and happy society where honesty, trust, friendship and mutual assistance are the norm; where vexation and indignation are rare, and a smile of genuine happiness is on every face."

     He now is somewhere inside a prison with a wife wondering about his safety and life.  His friend dreamt about him wearing handcuffs and oversized cloth shoes dragging himself down a long prison corridor saying this: " This is the path a nation must walk toward freedom."  This will be a man to watch, and hope he is freed.

 
   I hope to see his vision come to fruition.

 

Morning

      I rose from my knees and brushed off my tunic from the dirt that had collected while I had prayed in the early morning hours.  Today I sensed a certain peace would go out from me and into those I would shortly begin to minister to.  It was only the first hour of the morning yet I knew this day would be one that I would not soon forget.  All of the others had already departed from me and had gone on to the waters edge and had begun their day.  I started down the hillside along the well worn path and into the gentle rolling hills of my hometown.  The sun that was behind me warmed my back and I felt comfort and a gentle stirring within me the closer I walked into the village.  It didn't take long for those who saw me to start following along behind me making their way to wherever it was that I was going to.  It didn't matter to them they just wanted to be with me.  I had gotten used to it by now and it was ok with me.  
     Though there were well over a two hundred following along behind me there was a hushed silence in their midst and only the sound of  leather sandals, many of them scratching along the path raising dust along with the sounds.  
     Soon I would be to the place I had wanted to be while I had prayed in the darkness so many hours before.  I was surrounded by olive trees fully loaded down as it was the harvest season.  Shepherds tended their flocks in these hills and made their living for many generations here grazing them while they intently locked their eyes on me as I made my way to the top of the hillside.  It was there that I paused and gave thanks to my father, and so began my morning.  

     As if on cue the many hundreds of people sat gently down in fields.


     “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
    for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart,
    for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
    for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness


 for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

     
     

Putting off This Body and Putting on The Uncorruptable

     It was said that unless a kernel of wheat fall to the ground and die that it cannot live again.  So is the body of man.  Paul understood this and wrote about it to the early churches.  Questions arose about the type of body we would have in the resurrection.  It was to be a glorified body like the one Jesus of Nazareth had after the resurrection.  In our life as Christians we get used to putting off of the old man so to speak and putting on the new provided by the working of the Holy Spirit.  We have an obligation to fulfill all the words of Christ in the bodily form.  We no longer conform to the worldly callings to our flesh and try diligently to live up to Christ's words.  We have many maladies and sins that we also struggle with day to day that the average person does not even give credence too.  In this working out of our salvation we do not do the works in the flesh so to speak and thereby earn our right into the kingdom of God but rather do the works of God to honor him.  This means not fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and the things we would ordinarily do but abstain from them to honor God instead.  This is not a works project but merely doing what God intended for us to do.  We have within us the ability Christ had to refrain from sin and thereby not be a slave to it any longer,  This is "powerful voodoo" and it necessary because he said "Be holy because I am Holy."  What does this exactly mean?  And how do we do it?
    Well for one thing we must not walk around arrogantly because we feel better than the average bear (Yogi) and must do this with an amount of humility knowing that Christ gave his life so we could do so.  What the Apostles experienced on the day of Pentecost in receiving the Holy Spirit we also can experience today.  No different and with the same results of empowerment. This what it means to walk out our salvation with fear and trembling.  Before God we know what we are and what we were before our salvation and our joining with God.
    Christianity has taken a bad rap from those who misrepresent it and have not lived up to the words of Christ.  For one to be a follower is to sift carefully through the word of God and to study it just as diligently as the Pharisees studied the law in their day.  There is no other way other than this to understand what is needed.  Christ spent three years of his life traversing the countryside and giving of himself so we could understand the ways of God.  Mercy and truth triumph over law many times over. Legalism serves to bind and kill.
     What we are faced with in the secular world to today is a set of governing rules that are at times immoveable and restrict a certain freedom Christ set in place for us.  The Church is a way to follow a higher governing rule one that is just and one that understands  error within and provides forgiveness when transgression occurs.   This is not to say that all denominations do so.
  With the story of Mary Magdalene we see the ultimate tenderness of Christ in forgiveness and then receiving  a commandment to sin no further.  She was not stoned by those in attendance but let go and was free to live a life in  obedience to mercy shown.   I'm sure that she did so when she looked upon the face of Jesus.
     We then as Christians look forward to living again in a world that will be re-created by Christ.  We do not therefore resist all of the necessary involvements of this world but look to transform it as Christ would have if he continued in bodily form.  We are his legs, arms, and mouth in this world and speak for him.  This is a burden carried out with joy.

What Are You Looking For? Anything At All? and is contentment ok with God?

          And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,

    to give his people the knowledge of salvation

    through the forgiveness of their sins,( this was John the Baptist) and a prophecy about him from his father.)

     1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled[a] among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

     
      These words penned by Luke lay the foundation to a knowledge most Christians are familiar with and is a bedrock of our faith. That of Christ's mission here on earth to forgive sins and reconcile all men and women to God.  But what about the 
ordinary person that does not choose to partake of this knowledge and is quite content living in life surrounded with so many things to believe in?  Is it ok with God?  That remains to be seen if indeed Christ was who he said he was and is going to return for a people who are his followers.  
   The good news for those who do not yet believe is that Christ's sacrifice was for everyone regardless in their current state of being, meaning that his coverage of sin is still effective but not yet apprehended.  Make sense?  Paul always in his letters to his fellow believers let them know that he "labored to apprehend that which I was apprehended for."  He meant that he hadn't arrived at the fullness of Christ's knowledge and more was possible.  If one like Paul still had a ways to go...what about us?  Ever read Romans? It's quite heady.  When we In this United States have so many things of a material nature it makes it hard to sift through our inner self and "deep areas" to find God. So much is thrown at us from the media, television social media now... etc that promises to fulfill all the needs we have but they sorely lack in the fulfilment that Christ has instead.  
     This opening letter to Theophilus by Luke was intended to strengthen his faith in his belief in Christ.  Luke sets forth another writing in addition to Matthew and Marks to again tell of the story of Christ's birth and living and subsequent death at the hands of the Romans and the Jews. Luke added another dimension to the story and he wanted Theophilus to understand this.
     So many of the teachings of Christ were intended to draw us out of ourselves and into an understanding that we share our lives with others at times so separated that it is almost impossible to relate to one another with the exception of family life and it's interactions.  He challenged us to feel what others feel or to walk in their shoes so to speak. He said if you see your brother lacking food or cloak that we were obligated to provide it.  Not to ignore the situation.  How many times do we see street people on the corners with cardboard signs asking for help?  And we drive by?  I know I have done it and it always provokes a response in me that is convicting, even if I have the knowledge that the person does not truly want to be helped.   
     Jesus I believe did not want us to be comfortable with his Gospel. It was intended to produce fruit of a different nature.  And so what about contentment? I think that it is a deception the Devil uses to make us groggy to the realities of life. 
      But in the end there will always be the "word of life" carefully preserved and written down for us to fully understand Christ's sacrifice and the full knowledge of his forgiveness of our sins.  Will you take it freely?  And like Theophilus understand it?