I was donating plasma today, or trying to, and found I couldn’t because my protein count was too high-just barely. Advice: cut back on milk and meats and drink more water. This reminded me though; I know some believers who would say everything happens for a reason. So does this mean that God mysteriously raised my protein levels so I couldn’t donate and make $50? Hmmm. ..The great mystery of life. One side debates that God controls everything and all we do is live a life of submission and whatever happens happens. An overemphasis of God’s sovereignty. The other side emphasizes man’s free will to the point that it looks like God fit into our plans instead of us fitting into His. If the vertical relationship is truly a relationship it must take effort on the half of both parties. Submitting to God simply means doing things His way instead of a way which goesn’t involve trusting in God (the root cause of sin) and demanding our own way to the point of wearing ourselves out. If being controlling or manipulative kills marriages and marriage is a picture of the Vertical relationship, then God isn’t that controlling or restrictive. He’s in control of all things and directs our steps by opening doors for us to walk through, as well as closing doors that aren’t good for us. He also works things out for the good of those who love Him-i.e.; keeping them backsliding to the point of renouncing their faith, but He also allow us to make our own decisions in life. Thus, we have control over our life. Our job is to trust our Heavenly Father to lead, guide, and direct us to make the right choices so as to attain His blessings. We come to God out of own free will, but because we are spiritually dead apart from Him it takes His drawing power to do this. People talk about God calling them to a particular vocation or to marry or remain single. The only thing God calls us to do is be in a relationship with Him. As we grow closer to Him and learn more about Him, He grants us divine wisdom so as to make righteous choices. Everything usually happens for a reason, but God gives reason to it rather than simply to force us to submit to His will. Would you respect and revere your earthly father if he worked things out just to force you to do what He wanted you to? I probably wouldn’t. Being a free spirited writer, part of my anger was being in structured situations where I felt trapped. Anger is related to either trying to control others or allowing others to control you. For example, allowing the System to take advantage of you either through healthcare or Corporate America. Anger triggers depression, anxiety, mania, paranoia, and even psychosis. Society’s solution is to take medicine which only serves to relieves symptoms and does nothing to resolve the issues. Also, if you are sensitive or emotional, or different in any way, some people will bully you to provoke you to cry or lash out. This is usually their efforts to control. Bullies are usually insecure in themselves. Beth Moore was quoted to have said that insecurity is a form of unbelief. Our three basic needs are love, security, and significance. All three are found in a personal and intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father through the blood sacrifice of His One and Only Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Monthly Archives: December 2011
Pursuit of Happyness: Reality or Illusion?
The three things that are essential to life. The most important things that God cares about in our spiritual life with Him. Some people say God doesn’t care about your happiness-only your holiness. The Word of God teaches us that without holiness no one will see the Lord. How can you be happy without living holy? However many churches will strive to get their congregations to strive for holiness so hard that they become legalistic. Remember it all flows from the relationship with your Heavenly Father. Because we are spiritual beings, true life comes from deep within the spirit of man. Being made spiritually alive comes when you become one with God (as Jesus was one with His Father-hence follower of Christ). Because of our inherited sin nature, we are by nature spiritually dead till we come to God in repentance and faith and plead the blood of Christ over our fallen natures. In Him we are made whole, though we have to work it out in daily reliance upon the One true & living God. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can experience the freedom that God calls us to enjoy The freedom that comes from not being burdened by the cares of life; i.e.; work, relationships, even religious duties. It will all flow naturally as we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and give up trying to establish our own. In the pursuit of happiness (not the movie), it has been observed that the happiest people are those that know what they want out of life and go after it at all costs. True inner peace depends on where God is at in the process. People that view God as being restrictive and controlling don’t have a very joy-filled walk with the Lord and often struggle with mental illness issues and even self-medicate on alcohol, drugs, and even sex. Controlling a relationship on earth destroys a relationship. Therefore, if we are to have a relationship with our Abba (Father) we have to recognize that He gives us free will to make our own choices but He wants to lead, guide, and direct our lives just like any other good parent. We don’t give up our free will when we come to Him; our will becomes one with His. The closer we get to Him the more we learn about Him and consequently about ourselves and what we truly want out of life. Anything that is an idol and doesn’t point to Him, He makes us give up for His glory.
Go after God and seek His Face,
Bro. E
What is Marriage?
Ever wonder what constitutes a marriage? Society and most churches only recognize a couple as “married” if they have a marriage license. Although you can be married legally after living together for six months, or simply if your wife (or g/f) takes your last name. Living together and having sex creates an emotional bond that means you are married in God’s eyes whether you like it or not. Having a marriage license doesn’t mean a couple will connect emotionally. Many couples nowadays base love on physical attraction only and have no emotional depth. When the romance dies they find someone else and are usually driven by a spirit of lust rather than love. Couples that choose to live together and have sex don’t understand God’s priority in marriage and usually don’t have a deep commitment-meaning they consider divorce an option. A divorce is basically a breakup with legal consequences so if remarriage is a sin then anybody who has broken up with their high school sweetheart would have to commit to a life of celibacy because we’re only allowed one relationship in life and if that doesn’t work-oh well. Rigid and controlling view of God that leave no room for grace. If a relationhip fails, look at it as a learning curve rather than a failure. You have to work on any life-controlling issues (preferably before you enter into a relationship because they are hard when you are stable). Keep in mind marriage isn’t for everyone. It says in Corinthians that all things are permissable but not all things are beneficial. Not everything that’s good is good for each individual person. It’s a matter between the individual and God and should be settle with divine wisdom and two or more confirmations from others. Follow your heart but lead your heart or else your emotions will rule you and cause much humiliation. However if you are not in a right relationship with God thru faith in His Son you cannot follow your heart because you are still enslaved to your self-directed human nature which will always lead you into sin and bondage (the root of sin is not trusting God to lead).
Breakdown of a Troubled Economy
In looking at the breakdown of the national debt one day, I noticed that most of the it was in public funding. Approximately $10 trillion out of the $14 trillion deficit. Most of that is tied up in education, healthcare, and social security/medicare programs.
We will start with social security and medicare. To start, the baby boom generation is exceptionally large. These are people born after World War Two to just before the start of the Vietnam War (1946-1964). The average family was having four or more kids after they got home from the war.
The following generation, known as Generation Xer’s, is significantly smaller, maybe two kids per family. Because of this, Social Security is going to hit a wall when all the baby boomers hit 70 and the majority of them are relying on it for their fixed income.
There is also a growing number of people with disabilities relying on Social Security because they are unable to work for whatever reason. Many of these, due to stressors in society nowadays, are mental illnesses ranging from Major Depressive Disorder to Bipolar I & II and Schizophrenia. This actually furthers the complications facing the government when it comes to paying out Social Security claims to the retirees and disabled combined.
Another avenue of public funding is in the Healthcare sector. Programs are set up to help people who are low-income who cannot afford their prescriptions because they either don’t have good jobs, are unemployed for whatever reason. Again, coincidentally, many of these programs are targeted at the mentally ill because their prescriptions are usually more expensive. The basic medical illnesses are usually generic scripts and don’t usually cost as much.
Lastly, we’ll talk about education. There are public funding programs for grants for low-income students and loans that are disbursed thru the Department of Education and lenders like Sallie Mae. The rise of online schools that are typically for-profit rather than nonprofit have seen greedy college recruiters target low-income and people looking for work convincing them of their need to “better themselves” by getting an education.
This is nothing more than brainwashing and creating a demand for education which drives tuition prices up so the government has to set aside more money for education funding, further putting a crimp in the economy which is already crumbling. Furthermore, many college students with business and technical degree are becoming more disillusioned upon completing college when they aren’t making $60,000 per year like they were promised. Because of all the students who were duped into enrolling, competition for the better jobs is fierce so many students end up working jobs as retail clerks and waiters upon graduation. Many of them default on their loans while all the while the headhunter that recruited them is driving around in his rolls royce and eating a leg of lamb in his mansion.
The only solution for all these problems is: 1) Better educate people who are considering going to school about being wise in regards to taking out loans, or better yet work hard and set up a tuition budget and pay your way thru; This would actually be a tax write off. 2) In the area of Healthcare we offer Health & Wellness classes as noncredit courses or thru clinics to teach people how to take care of themselves so they don’t have to rely on the healthcare system and modern medicine to make them functional, this could include looking into herbal supplements and vitamins. 3) The Social Security Administration should find ways to get their disabled recipients into programs to make them more independent so they can work full-time and save their Social Security for when they retire like it was intended in 1935 at the passing of the Social Security Act.
Addictions & Recovery
In the last quarter century we have seen in American the rise of 12-step Anonymous groups for almost every kind of addiction you can think of. I myself am in Emotions Anonymous where most of the member struggle with managing their emotions. Most of us are mentally ill as well. This can be a form of addiction in itself. Some of the side effects of the psychotropic drugs can be addicting, especially if they have sedating effects. I actually had an addiction to Seroquel because it would knock me out for several hours.
Many psychiatrists and pastors point out that mental illness and the use of psychotropic drugs can be a chemical dependency in itself. We Americans choose the path of least resistance so we would rather take a pill than do anything to really help ourselves, such as seeing a psychotherapist on a weekly basis to work on issues and trauma in our lives.
Most psychiatrists also tell us that these drugs only relieve symptoms, they don’t actually heal you. Healing comes from looking to a Higher Power, as taught in just about all Anonymous groups, rather than looking inside yourself, as taught by the New Age movement. We were created for a relationship with our Creator and our addictions, illnesses, and emotional problems are just strongholds we haven’t truly let go of and given to our Higher Power.
It’s the same with Sexual Addiction. We are sexual beings, so therefore we desire emotional intimacy with another being, usually a monogamous heterosexual relationship, sometimes homosexual if we are more oriented toward the same sex. Either way, when we pursue relationships that don’t lead to an intense emotional connection, we come away empty and unfulfilled. This usually drives us to seek other relationships that leave us even more devoid of meaning and purpose until we find the right one. Until we have truly let go and given it to our Higher Power, we will have a hard time connecting with each other.
Even thought I am in Emotions Anonymous, the Today devotional book has had a few daily excerpts on sexual relations. The one that stands out to me is the one that says God can meet our sexual desires even if we don’t have another human being in our lives by developing an intense emotional connection that is the basis for a rock solid relationship. Granted, having sex with God is rather blasphemous, but the basis of a lasting relationship is the emotional connection where we learn to trust another person with the deep parts of ourselves and to share our lives with them. In building this personal relationship with God, we become whole and complete, lacking nothing, and if He chooses to bring a physical soul mate into our lives, we are doubly complete.
The Kingdom of God is within you
It’s amazing when you seek God for yourself and choose not to be a sheeple (someone who believes what’s being taught them and ends up being brainwashed because of their refusal to investigate) the things He teaches you. I’ve learned God is more gracious than the rigid view the church makes Him out to be. However He is still just and will have send people to hell if we fail to trust Him, but He’s made available all the means to trust in Him. He’s forgiven you of your sins, all you have to do is receive it. You can’t do this in and of yourself, you have to be spiritually empowered. This comes when you make a conscious choice to seek God above all else, not for any personal gain, but simply to know Him. As you get to know Him, you fall in love with Him because you realize how much He loves you. Then you want to serve Him more and are willing to give up anything that gets in the way (repentance). It’s all about relationship. Unitarian Evangelist, Tony Campolo said on JCTV one day that many people today are more spiritual than religious because of all the abuse done in the name of religion. However the churces are the source of religious truth, and true religion as defined by the Word is separation from the world and looking after those that can’t help themselves (which is all of us). We are to live independently of erverything but God, yet interdependent on each other. However, due to American individuality we have come far from this standard. There are some people who take advantage of people’s hospitality and this is the another reason people are reluctant to help one another. They are to be prayed for like anybody else. Sometimes that’s the only way to help them. Jesus said to the Pharisees of all people in Luke 17:20,21; “The Kingdom of God is within you.” It’s within all of us because we are all spiritual beings, but when we choose to walk according to the flesh we become children of wrath and put ourselves under a curse. When we surrender ourselves to God and admit He controls all things (whether you know Him or not) we will have true inner peace and He will empower us to receive His Son and fill us with the Holy Spirit. As long as you focus on the religious aspect you will be bound up in legalism. When you are truly Spirit filled you will subconsciously follow God’s law without realizing it, or “working”, but living by faith. Walk in the spirit, or light, and the blood of Jesus will cleanse you and you will have fellowship with God and with one another and will be ready for the return of Christ. Universal Reonciliation is the goal of the church (a Unitarian belief) but depends on your hearts response to God’s grace. Our sin nature makes us spiritually dead, but the grace of God can renew us when we offer our lives as a living sacrifice in response to His sacrifice. A friend of mine on Facebook said: “Religion, by it’s very nature, stands in the way of what it states to be seeking.”-Mike Bow. One last thing, Hell may not be a literal lake of fire, but it is as Jesus described: A place of outer darkness (because the light of God isn’t there) where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (because demons will remind one of their conscious choice to not trust in the love and grace of their Heavenly Father).
Singleminded Devotion
A great debate in the Church today is the rise of single adults in the church. Marriage & Celibacy are both high callings in the Spiritual life, both require sacrifice, and what’s good for one is not good for the other. I’ve learned over the last year though that you can have a single-minded devotion to God and be married. In fact that’s the only way to make a marriage work. Focus on God and He will live thru you and be the person you need to be to your spouse. Your devotion to God could sanctify your mate if they are not believers and they will come to faith because of your faith in God. We are only responsible for ourselves in ou relationship to the Almighty but we are responible to the people He puts in our lives, to serve them and pray for them. As far as being single, there are many singles who should find a mate, unless you sincerely feel the call to singleness & celibacy, in which case God will remove your sexual desires because sexual sins are the most disastrous in the christian life. Here are some likely reasons why many christians are single late in life:
1) Beginning your relationship with God late in life. Many christians who have lasting marriages at a young age grew up in the church and developed a vibrant relationship with God during the adolescent years.
2) Some have life-controlling issues that would hinder a relationship if they were in one. Such as inability to commit which is common in many churches nowadays if you look at young adults and singles ministries. After they get out of high school, many college students and young professionals stray away from God for many years and get lost in the world.
3) Many are called to find a mate but doubt the call on their life because other brothers & sisters who are single tell them it’s just a human desire and it’ll go away as you focus on God.
4) Failure to step out in faith and actually look for a mate-i.e.; trusting God to do everything for you without any human responsibility.
5) Unable to date because one has tends to move too far too fast and ends up fornicating. This applies to any area of life. If you don’t have to freedom to do something without sinning then God will appear more rigid with you because He won’t allow you to do anything that will lead you into sin.
6) Not putting God first and seeking Him above all else to become the person you need to be in a relationship.
7) Being so focused on God that you don’t actually look for a mate. This can be good if you’re actually renouncing marriage for the sake of the Kingdom but if you’re so focused on God that you’re repressing desires that aren’t necessarily sinful it can lead to depression.
In closing, remember my life verse, Psalm 37:4. ..”Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desire of your heart.” This doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want but you should give up any desires that aren’t in keeping with God’s Word and ask for His plan for you life so you can step out in faith and do pursue what He wants for you. Seek Him first and all else will be added but you still have to factor in human responsibility.
Biblical Assault
You see it everyday. Nonchristians putting professed preachers on pedestals and then putting on a smear campaign when one of them stumbles into sin. They’re not perfect either, and what’s more, many of them aren’t true christians and are preaching Jesus out of wrong motives. We are not called to judge people. Jesus didn’t come into the world to judge or condemn, He came to save. The first chapter or two of Romans says sinner’s have a conscience so they know that what they are doing is not right but until they make a decision to seek God with their whole heart they are enslaved. The deeper you get in your sin, the more of a seared conscious you get but in the back of you mind you still know it’s not right because there’s know inner peace. If you keep track of your good deeds, then you don’t have inner peace with the one true and living God, otherwise you would just know because you would have an actual relationship with Him thru His Son’s sacrifice. Bible abuse and false converts who profess to “believe” in Jesus but love sin more than God are the reasons why christianity is a minority. Jews haven’t accepted their Messiah because of Anti-semitism done in Jesus’s name. Christians who can’t agree on anything and who judge each other affect the rest of the world. Preach the truth of God’s Word is the first part of the Great Commission and leave the Baptizing of the Holy Spirit up to God when the person receives that truth and seeks it for Himself. We are not called to judge because God has already ordained a day for that when He sends His Son back to take over. The future is in the hands of the
Church so quit “waiting” for the Lord and be a soulwinner. When the Church finished the Great Commission by reaching everybody that’s going to be reached then He’ll probably come back. Unity, people, unity.
Life, Liberty, & the pursuit of Happiness
Happiness? What is it? It’s so alluring and so far away to most people. We all have our desires as to what it would take to fulfill us but we go about it the wrong way in trying to reach them. We were created for a purpose and we try to find our purpose in our work or our relationships. Then when we come up empty we become addicted to our idols and end up self-medicating by trying to fill the void and stifle the call of God on our lives. God gave us an independent nature so we’d come to Him on our own, However we can’t come to Him on our own unless He draws us because we are so enslaved to our passions. Until you have a proper understanding of who God is you remain in bondage to your idol, which could be your religion and church involvement. If you don’t seek God for yourself you will become brainwashed by society’s views, even from your own church. However God won’t reveal anything that goes against His Word or denies His Son becvause they are essentially the same person in Spirit. We were created to find fulfillment in all these things because my two life verses (Psalm 84:11 & Psalm 37:4) say that if we delight ourselves in Him He will give us the desires of our heart and that He won’t withhold any good from those that walk uprightly. We can only find fulfillment by offering ourselves as a living sacrifice in response to His sacrifice for us. That’s what marriage is. Sacrifice for the one you love. He may make you give up some desires but most are the ones He gave you before you even knew Him and tried to go after in the flesh. Ultimate fulfillment flows from a personal relationship with Him and when you “awaken yourself to consciousness”, as New Ager Eckhard Tolle puts it, you surrender yourlife to God and the blood of Jesus washes over all yur sins. Only God can awaken your consciousness through being born anew-the ability to see God at work in your life and consequetly Satan too.
One Beatitude to Live
Heard in church last week that being born again means being able to see God all around you. Are you sensing the presence of God? Can you see Him at work in your life and the life of those around you? If so you have been born of God’s Spirit. It happens when you realize how Big God is and how unworthy you are. Despite the teaching of many churches that condemns people it’s not about how “bad” we are, it’s about how GOOD GOD IS! You can only experience His goodness by faith though. That is trusting in Him. Heard many preachers preach, and even seen it firsthand, people that profess to have faith in God but don’t appear to much faith in God in their daily living. Everytime a trial comes they crumble. Not saying they don’t know God, but you can know God personally through His Son but not intimately. Intimately means you’ve come to a point in your life where you seek nothing but Him and let go of all else that hinders you. Then you have conquered the flesh and His Spirit can be released fully. However you will still sin from time to time because of the body of flesh. Proverbs says love covers a multitude of sins. When you come to repentance and have a genuine sorrow for offending God and embrace His sacrifice, you fall in love with Him. Thus, your sins are forgiven, you will have a pure heart before God because He won’t see them. Also you will see Him at work all around you working in your life and the lives of others.
