July 17

Lots of things going on in the world! Have you noticed? It is easy to get distracted and even discouraged---maybe even afraid! My son reminds me often that this is not even close to how bad the world has been in the past. When I read OT history I know he is right. BUT the thing is, it is happening to ME and my time! What I need to do is do what others in those dangerous times did: Remember the LORD Your God! I was drawn to 2 verses from Psalm 9 this morning: 10 "Those who know Your name will trust in You, for You, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you." and then 15 "The nations have fallen into the pit they have dug; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden." In the same Psalm, David acknowledged that even when things are really bad, God is there and he will NEVER forsake those who seek Him. Today, what are you seeking? What are you focusing on? Write the words in verse 10 on a notecard and put them in your heart today. Our God is in control.

Diary entry July 16

Believers, my reading today was clear and convicting. I started not to write anything but God wouldn't let me ignore this Word: "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him, but if Baal is God, follow him. But the people said nothing." 
I Kings 18:21 (Baal represents following the world's way of doing things.) John wrote something similar in the book of The Revelation to the church at Laodicea when God said that they were neither hot nor cold but lukewarm. God then said He would spew them from His mouth...this lukewarmness made Him sick. We are at a crossroad...either we follow the LORD or we don't. The telling part of the I Kings verse was, "and the people said nothing!" They did not want to commit either way. Today, make your decision. Joshua, when faced with this same situation said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15

New Idea!

Each day on Facebook, I post a short devotional.  I am, starting today, going to post that same devotional thought on my blog so those who are not on Facebook can read it if they like.  I am starting with my post from yesterday.  Please post comments!


Sometimes the grief is over-whelming. Sometimes evil seems to be winning. What should we do? This is where the message of the Gospel gets hard folks. We have for so long basically have lived in ease and our faith has not been tested. We put on the Armor of God as Paul says in Ephesians 6...but then we don't do what he says in verse 18,"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." Believer, be honest, are you talking to others about the situation in the world more than you are talking to God? Are you posting more on social media or writing in a journal your heart felt prayers? There is more to prayer than just saying, "we need to pray!" Jim Cymbala in his book, "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" says, "Am I the only one who gets embarrassed when religious leaders in America talk about having prayer in public schools? We don't have even that much prayer in many churches!" May I add, in our homes or in our personal lives. Today, quit talking about prayer to each other...be alert and keep on actually praying!

There Is a Time and Place!

Let me start this post by saying you will not find a more patriotic person than me anywhere.  I grew up as an Air Force brat! I still get a lump in my throat when I see our flag and hear our national anthem.  I am proud of the men and women who have served or are serving our country to protect it from our enemies.  My own daddy fought against Mussolini in WWII and fought again in the Korean conflict.  I understand the bravery needed. I have high school and college friends who served in Viet Nam, Desert Storm and now in the Middle East.  I honor each one and appreciate greatly what each has done for freedom. I also have been to other countries where the freedoms we enjoy are absent.  I understand what a great country we have BUT I serve Someone much higher and more powerful than our country.  He is the One who set me free and asks only that I give Him the praise and worship that He deserves. 

This morning, Sunday, July 3^rd, there were celebrations of America all over this land. Many sang with gusto America the Beautiful and the Star Spangled Banner.  Many pledged allegiance to our flag.   I too sat in a service like this and while the love for my country tried to come forth  I suddenly felt a conviction that in this place, God and God alone should be honored.  He was being usurped by an allegiance to the gift of freedom (the USA) but not the Giver of freedom.  There were tears in people’s eyes as patriotic songs were sung and much applause for what we have accomplished as a nation.  My spirit grieved that He seldom gets this kind of reaction when we sing of Him and what He has done. 

Please understand, I did not grieve because we were doing these things…they are appropriate things to do, but not during the time and place devoted to worshiping God and God alone.  We offer Him very little of our time as it is, and this should have been a time to fall before Him thanking Him for His freedom.  Fall before Him repenting for how we have forgotten Him.  Fall before Him trembling for the judgment that seems to be coming.   

Yes, celebrate our heritage. But do it on a Saturday night or even a Sunday night.  But the one morning a week we have to corporately show our Father how much He means to us should not be taken over by patting each other on the back.  After all, it was God who gave us the victories.  It was God who gave us liberty.  And it is He who should be honored first and foremost. 

Yes, I love our country.  I also love the Saints and Mississippi State football!  I will cheer for all of these things at the right and appropriate times…but on a Sunday morning, in corporate worship, every cheer, every tear, every passion should be given to the One who made all things possible.  Tomorrow, July 4^th, I will wave my flag but today, it should have been His banner…the banner of the cross…

What's the Big Deal about Marriage Anyway?

You would have to have been somewhere on a remote island to not have heard about the legalization of same sex marriage this week.  While many are rejoicing, many are grieved.  Christians are grieving and I am not sure they truly understand the reason why.  What is the big deal about marriage anyway?  

I have prayed fervently for a Word about this, and what follows is what God has lead me to write.  Let me warn you, if you do not believe in God nor find the Bible an important guide for life, you might not want to read any further…it will make no sense.  BUT if you are called by the name is Christ and believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, my points will be beneficial to you in knowing why you are so grieved.  This will also be a long post.  I cannot do justice to this in sound bites! Print it out and read it little by little.  Finally, this is NOT my opinion.  This is biblical research on marriage. 

This battle for marriage started long before the Garden of Eden.  It began before the world was even created and by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Ezekiel gives us that beginning.

Ezekiel 28:12-17

This is what the Lord GOD says: [about satan]

You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone covered you:

carnelian, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold; they were prepared on the day you were created.

You were an anointed guardian cherub, for I had appointed you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones.

From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways until wickedness was found in you.

Through the abundance of your trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned.

So I expelled you in disgrace from the mountain of God, and banished you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones.

Your heart became proud because of your beauty; For the sake of your splendor

you corrupted your wisdom. So I threw you down to the earth;

And in Isaiah 14: 12-14

“How you have fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, son of the dawn!   You have been cut down to the earth, you who have weakened the nations!

“But you said in your heart,   ‘I will ascend to heaven;  I will raise my throne above the stars of God,  And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.

‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;  I will make myself like the Most High.’ (empahsis mine.)

 

So, there is the beginning of the war between good and evil.  An angel of light became proud…decided he could be LIKE God and was thrown from God’s presence.  Where had he been?  In the Garden and was suppose to be the guardian to take care of God’s creation there.  But  after his fall his main objective was to destroy the very thing that God loved most…humans.  Blaise Pascal once said:  God is intolerant.  He is intolerant of anything that will hurt what He loves most.  God’s enemy was now on a mission to destroy that very thing.

You might ask what all that has to do with marriage?  Our very creation was symbolic of what we call marriage.  We were created and life was breathed into us by the very person of God.

Gen. 1: 27  So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.  Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

We continue reading in chapter two that God had created mates for all the animals in the Garden except for Adam.  God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep and removed a rib from his side and created a woman from it.  Woman means “from man.” When God presented Adam with Eve, Adam said, 

“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman for she was taken out of man.”  For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.  The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.  Gen. 2:25

This began a relationship between Adam and Eve BUT it was much more.  It was symbolic of God’s relationship with man! Stay with me! From God man was created. From Adam, Eve was created.  God built within this first creation the exact relationship we would have with God.

This is further evidenced throughout the Old Testament and New Testament. This union symbolized the relationship God has with us. His children are called His bride and He is our Husband (for we come from Him).  God and humans are not the same.  We were made to be united with Him and only then are we fulfilled in this world.  Before Genesis chapter three, the relationship was perfect.  God walked with His creation and they walked with each other with no shame.

But remember who else was in Eden?  God’s enemy, the fallen angel, Lucifer.  Genesis 3 records his mission of destruction by his causing Eve first, and then Adam to doubt God and to believe something other than what He said. The enemy has not changed his tactics for it is still through the voice of doubt that he causes mankind to turn away from God’s perfect way.

Because they acted on this doubt, sin entered the world and paradise was lost.  satan thought he had won but God loved us even in our sin and prepared a way for the relationship to be restored.  First it was by animal sacrifices and the law.  The symbolism continued for throughout this time those who followed God were called His Bride! When they disobeyed, they were called, harlots, adulteress, prostitutes, and other names.  Unfaithful.  These are terms we use today for those unfaithful in a marriage.  The symbolism of marriage between God and Man is clearly stated throughout. 

God wanted to finally and forever repair this relationship and so He came down to live with us through His Son, Jesus Christ.   John’s Gospel records the word of John the Baptizer when he first saw Jesus:

"You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent ahead of Him.' "He who has the bride [those who belong to him] is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. "He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:28-30

John the Baptist, clearly saw Jesus as the bridegroom coming to save His Bride.  We later see that believers, the true church of God, are called the Bride.

Jesus also used this symbolism several times throughout His ministry but none more evident than in John 14.  We must understand that a Jewish wedding was different than our weddings of today.  The groom took care of all the details.  The bride only had to get herself ready.  The groom went back to his father’s house to begin building onto his father’s house so he and his wife would have a place to live.  When the father saw that it was a suitable place to live, he sent his son to get his bride and the marriage took place.  

In John 14 Jesus said,

“Your heart must not be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if not, I would have told you. I am going away to prepare a place for you. If I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also. You know the way to where I am going.”

“Lord,” Thomas said, “we don’t know where You’re going. How can we know the way? ”

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Clearly, Jesus was using the Bridegroom reference to His followers.  This is yet another clear indication of the Bride/Bridegroom symbolism.

Paul in his letter to the Ephesians said this:

For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.  Eph. 5:31-32

Yes, because of sin, we have destroyed God’s perfect plan for marriage...divorce, infidelity and now same sex marriages. But it has never been about us.  It has always been spiritual… about God’s relationship with us…a union…becoming one with Him.  He used us as man and woman to symbolize this. 

We are different, God and Us.  Men and women are different and through the amazing construct of the body, we are able to become one with each other…to create new life.  Our spirits can also become one with God the Father.  (read John 17: 20-23)

There is a bigger thing here than just two people saying some words in front of an official.  It is more than getting benefits by our union and it is much more than sex.  It is a loving symbol of God’s love for His creation and the restoration of relationship. 

We cannot be the same as God but like Lucifer, we have said that we can be like God. We think we can control the earth, science, reshape bodies, make life and destroy life.  We think we can recreate in our own image, what God already created.  This is the lie of the enemy.   When two people who are alike marry, it is saying that we are also like God.  That is the very reason this sin is mentioned throughout the Bible as being an abomination…because it says, “we are just like God!”

  

When God created us, He created a boundary of protection around us because of His love.  When we go beyond His boundaries, we are no longer protected.  If we continue to stay out of those boundaries, He will give us over to our desires. (Romans 1)  It grieves Him to do this.  He never wants to lose anyone of us but if it is our own desires that keeps us there, He will not force us to come to Him.

Jesus is our boundary of protection.  Come to Him. It is being reunited in righteousness to our Bridegroom. We destroyed His perfect plan but He through His death and the formation of the church, His Bride, we can again be united with Him.  

  

These are the final words of our Bridegroom in the Revelation:  

In the Revelation 19:6-9 we read this: 

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:

“Hallelujah!

For our Lord God Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!

For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean,was given her to wear.”

(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.)

Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

Revelation 22:12-17

  “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

      Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.

      “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

      The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.

He is coming back for His Bride, the church.  Today, hear the truth and quit believing in the lie of the enemy of God.  He has again struck us with his lies about what marriage is so we will go further from the God who loves us.  No court in the world can undo what God set in the beginning.  

Jesus warned us in John 10:10

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

This marriage thing is a big deal to God.  It is as much spiritual as physical.  It is more than just a ceremony…it is the very restoration of God to His people.

He who has ears, let him hear!

My Two Thoughts (cents) on Fifty Shades of Grey

It is out there.  The movie “everyone” has been waiting for.  Christian women as well as none Christian women have read the trilogy and are now waiting for the visual of this mommy porn!  (Heaven help our husbands or boyfriends if they want to watch porn but somehow it is ok for us!)Yay!! This week, women get to be “equal!”  I see confusion about what the conclusions this movie might bring about.  I am sad.  But I am not going to rehash the arguments already written against this movie (and books)  I do, however, want to point out a couple of my own observations I haven't seen this passed week:

1.  The female star of the movie sitting in front of 2,000 women waiting to see the premiere was asked, “Who do you want to see this movie?”  She looked at the interviewer with frightened eyes and said, “NOT my parents!”  She didn’t laugh.  She was serious.  She didn’t answer who she WANTED to see but who she DIDN’T want to see.  Those were her first words. She almost appeared afraid and ashamed that her parents might see it.  They were the ones who probably were most proud of her abilities while she was growing up. I believe she might have been having second thoughts. While filming she wasn't thinking of her parents but now that it is done, she is afraid they will see her do the things she has to do in order for this movie to be accurate.  So the first observation:  The star has some shame about what she has done.  What does this say to us?  There is shame involved with this movie. Satan will encourage many believers to go and see this, yet afterwards will load us down with shame that will be very hard to get rid of.  We can never un-see what will be seen.  Shame is his greatest tool and in my counseling of women the hardest thing to recover from.  My suggestion:  Don’t see it!

2.  The second observation as I watched those 2,000 women screaming with excitement to see the premiere of this movie was, what about the perverted guy who is watching the joy of these women? What might he be thinking? I think his thoughts were, “WOMEN LIKE PAIN!”   I am hoping that the numbers of rapes and violent crimes done to women do not increase because of this, but I will not be surprised if they do. I am hoping there won’t be more kidnapping of women and children for sex trafficking, but I won’t be surprised if there aren’t. We cannot say one thing and then become excited about another.  It doesn’t work.  This could very well be the worst message to those who want to harm women ever!

The bottom line:  This movie is sending a mixed message about how to treat women and how women really respond to things that are not wholesome.  Most of us long to be treasured and loved.  Most of us want to have relationships that go beyond sex.  Most of us like to be treated well. This movie doesn't teach any of that and its success might very well destroy those very things and bring about a “new normal” of relationships.  If this movie is successful, we will deserve what we get. 

Are We the Walking Dead?

        There is a strange cultural phenomenon right now.  It is a multi-billion dollar industry and is seen it in movies, TV shows, books and even in our county’s CDC’s information.  It is the Zombie Apocalypse.  Zombies, also called the Walking Dead, are un-dead people walking around seeking someone’s brains to eat so they can “survive.”  Even though Zombies aren’t real, could it be that our churches are full of them? 

^{In speaking to women, I have sensed a deadness WITHIN our congregations.  Yes, we are still going to church but seem to only be going through the motions.  There is very little passion and the result is a lifestyle of fear and negative living.  Many have become like the walking dead…devouring the brains of any new thing coming along just to make life better while ignoring the one thing that can truly give them fulfillment.  We jump from one conference to the next…from one new book to the next, the newest Bible study to the next and for brief moments are “alive” but soon are walking again in search of another “brain” to devour.}  

^{The prophet Ezekiel saw something similar among the Children of Israel.   The children of Israel knew they were God’s chosen but some had become complacent about God while others became involved in pagan worship, living far outside the boundaries God had set.  Their lives were spiritually dead. When things went wrong these same people cried out, “Where is our God?”  Sound familiar?} 

^{In response to their cries, God spoke in Ezekiel 37:1->.  God took Ezekiel to a valley of very dry bones and asked Ezekiel a simple question:  Can these bones live?  This was a mass grave and so these were the bones of lots of people who had died many years before.  As Ezekiel looks at this mass of very dry bones, God asks: Can these bones live?  If I had been Ezekiel I would have laughed or spouted something like, “of course not!” But the prophet spoke with the wisdom that comes only from knowing God, “ O Lord God, you know!”}

^{Ezekiel was then told to speak to the bones and as he spoke there was a rattling and the bones came together and there was muscle and sinew and skin.  They looked alive.} 

^{But there is one thing missing (verse 8b.)  There was no breath in them.  The breath the scripture is talking about isn’t what comes from the lungs but what comes from the Holy Spirit.} 

^{The reason this passage means so much is that for years it described me.  I grew up in the church and went every time the doors were opened.  I was a good Christian girl who did very little “bad” in the church’s eyes.  As an adult, I continued going to church every time the doors were open so much that I was put on staff as a worship leader!  I believed that as long as I did all the right things, that my life would be fine.} 

^{Somewhere along the way I entered a Christian coma-like state…just going through the motions…feeling neither excited about the Kingdom nor sad about the lack of people coming to the kingdom.  I guess you could say I was among the Walking Dead…eating the brains of complacency.  But God wasn’t going to leave me that way.} 

^{My perfect life slowly began ebbing away…my family started falling apart, and I didn’t know what to do.  People I loved very much were dying and I was left alone…my own health was failing and instead of fighting to become stronger I found myself just wanting to die.  My bones felt as dead as those Ezekiel looked at.}

^{Then one night, I had had enough, and began to tell God how disappointed I was in Him.  I reminded Him about all the things I had done for the church and how good I had been and this was my reward?  This rant went on for awhile and when I finally ran out of steam, I picked up the Bible I had thrown upon my bed only to discover it had opened to a very familiar passage in Psalms with the heading: To the Choir director.  (You think God wasn’t answering me specifically?)  I read Psalm 42 with new eyes…it said, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs for You Oh, God.”  It was then I heard in my spirit as loudly as if God spoke aloud, “Cyndi, when have you ever longed for me? You say you have worked for Me, but wasn’t that really just for you so you could get praise for yourself?”  It was then I realized that even though I had been saved, my life was only deadness and routine.  There was no real longing for Him. That night however, I fell on my face and truly began to understand what having the breathe of God within me was and I was free!} 

^{So, I understand this deadness. Deadness causes us to do things by rote not having to even think about Jesus and often do not!  We are walking dead!  I believe today God is asking each one of us the same question He asked Ezekiel, “Can These Bones Live?”}

^{The answer to this situation is in the next verses.  Look at what happens though when the Holy Spirit comes: “And they lived and stood on their feet an exceedingly great army.”  What we need today is not another book or program, but a fresh breathe of God.  We need to learn to LONG for only HIM. What the world needs to see is a vast army of Christian soldiers doing what the commander tells them to do.}

^{What about you?  What have you been feeding on for your life?  Has it been the brains of others opinions or every new wave of spirituality? Perhaps you feed on, “your way or the highway,” not willing to bend to the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Or have you refused to move forward after a tragedy and are stuck in the past?  Have you refused to offer forgiveness? If so, you are living in a “walking dead existence”.} 

^{The bones Ezekiel saw had been dead for a long time!  The things that had happened to these lives were long gone.  Life changes for all of us.  The way we respond is important.} 

^{Ezekiel wasn’t called to grave-tend, he was called to preach that God can give a fresh new spirit in even in our deadness.}   

^{Has your relationship with God become routine?  Do you recognize yourself in this description of the walking dead?  God wants to give you a fresh new Spirit.  He is here waiting to fill you with His Spirit, which brings life and an excitement about what God is doing.  His Spirit brings us power.  His Spirit will convict and guide us into holy living. Ephesians 5: 14 says:  “Awake, O sleeper and arise form the dead and Christ will shine on you.”   II Peter 1:3 says “His divine power (the Holy Spirit) has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.”   We have been given the Spirit’s power to become a vast army!} 

^{Today, choose life!}