Dangerously desensitized

Who are we really fooling? Do we think we can excuse our selfish motives or claim we misunderstood? We have allowed ourselves to indulge so much in the world, that we have become dangerously desensitized, and now, we deceive ourselves, so expertly and habitually, that the enemy left on vacation weeks ago and we didn’t notice he was gone.

Matthew 25:31-46 NLT — “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’ “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’ “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’ “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’ “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

We are so selfishly unselfish. We stopped needing the enemies’ help, talking us into being less compassionate, humble, kind, merciful, understanding, forgiving, and self-sacrificing a long time ago. And misery loves company, so when one of us starts feeling convicted about our behavior, we just call each other and talk it out until we feel like the victim again. Then we feel better and justified as we hang up the phone. All the while, the enemy is lying on the beach, drinking Pina coladas, laughing at us, while patting himself on the back.
Sadly no matter how I try to excuse it before Father God, no matter the reasons or alibis I might come up with, the whole truth is, every single reason, alibi and excuse is undeniably hollow, void of any substance, the echo of words come back to me sending chills of knowing down my spine.

Father, God has done absolutely everything there is to do. He has been more than merciful, patient, and forgiving. And as if that alone wasn’t enough, He went even farther, He Himself did all the work, strategically putting everything into motion. He himself took on all liabilities, all the work, all the suffering, pain, and every single consequence that He neither earned or deserved upon Himself.
He did all this without expecting anything in return. Loving each and every one of us, His most prized creations, both at our worst and in our best. He made every way possible open up in order that if we, His creation, wanted to love Him back, decide to seek Him with gratitude for all He has already done, the opportunity is open to us.

After giving up His heavenly dwelling and coming to us as the Son of man, healing, teaching, serving, and loving on us, He literally took 39 lashes, leaving Him physically unrecognizable He took all the spit, jokes, and ugliness of those about to crucify Him. Then He died upon a cross, went down into hades, all in our place, therefore breaking down the barriers between Him and His creation. He also left us the instructions on how to reach Him. He left no stone unturned, no T un-crossed, no I un-dotted. All we need to do is respond by accepting His grace, His sacrifice, His love.

There is no way to twist it, maneuver around it, or argue with it. There is absolutely no excuse if we choose not to read His word, and instead of seeking Him, thankful for His Goodness, we selfishly live to please our own perception of needs and desires.

We can claim fatigue, personality hiccups, old age, being busy, falling asleep, the dog ate our Bible, even that we find it hard to understand, but the question still remains. Are we living a worldly perceived safe, comfortable life, seeking what the world deems is necessary? Spending our time going to the best schools, collecting degrees, buying big houses, driving fancy cars, climbing ladders of success, seeking our piece, our place, our own stature and happiness?

Our perfectly normal, busy lifestyle leaves us having little to no time left to seek out a lonely widow needing only a conversation, a Lil orphan boy needing only to know he’s not alone, or a homeless woman hungry, cold and scared, just wanting to not be forgotten, by the world.
We are so busy seeking the best for ourselves in a life that lasts not even a millisecond in eternity instead of the best for ourselves in our eternal life.
Have we conformed to the world? We seem to give our attention to the things of this world, leaving so little time, if any at all, for Father God and seeking His Will.

Romans 12:2 NLT — Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

When you arrive in heaven and stand before the Lord, you will not be rewarded for what you received. You will only be rewarded for what you have given. – Dr. Charles F Stanley

Until next time, may God bless you and keep you as you seek Him with your whole heart.

Without reading the Bible

Being raised in a Christian home, and brought up faithfully attending church, you memorize key scriptures taught and those you regularly heard mentioned in sermons or recited in conversations. One could get a really good knowledge of scripture (at least enough to sound knowledgeable to those less studied) without ever truly reading the bible for themselves.
For a long time, this was me. As a child, I loved to read story books about those written of in scripture. I understood the moral values and I grew to love what I knew of Jesus. I asked a lot of questions and as I grew older, I would study what was needed to pass a memorization test or what was needed to beat other churches in the bible bowl. Most of these were usually written out for me on a lesson sheet and rarely required my own bible reading. Even in my early teens, I found it exceptionally boring reading the bible myself. I would often fall asleep or find myself daydreaming and needing to reread what I already read for the fifth time.
In my late teens, I became intrigued, even fascinated, by prophecy and end times. I loved trying to figure out what scripture may be referring to in modern times. My dad and I seemed to share this fascination which fueled my hunger for knowledge and desire to be educated on the subject. I loved to talk for hours with him and exchange books on the subject. I studied books of the bible such as Revelation, Daniel, Ezekiel, and a few others, while occasionally looking up verses in other books of the bible mentioned in a book I happened to be reading. Still, I had no real desire to read the entire bible.
I had a good understanding of the Christian way of life, and I knew a lot about the bible and the stories therein, I knew little, however, about relationship with Jesus Christ Himself. God was always in heaven and as for me, well, I’m here in the world. Relationship with Him to me was metaphorical in the present, anticipating the day it would be personal upon entering heaven.
Because of my naïve reasoning, partly due to my lack of interest in reading God’s Word, and partly due to my selfish, self-serving nature, I believe certain popular scriptures such as Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, were often used out of context. Aside from the comfort in this verse that I always felt, I believed anything I set my mind to do could be accomplished because Jesus would give me strength. It wasn’t until years later after using this verse a long time according to my own will and purposes, God finally called me to read the entire context in which it was written.
Talk about eye-opening! To understand the context in which this scripture was written I was taken back a few verses to Philippians 4:10.
Philippians 4:10-13 NLT — How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
I thought to myself, that changes everything. This whole time I’ve been using this verse to convince myself that I had the power backing me to do anything I set my mind to, like move mountains and such. All the while knowing not one mountain I commanded to move budged even an inch. I would have been happy with even one moving a centimeter, a millimeter for that matter. I knew beyond any doubt that God, Father, Son, and Spirit were not the problem so had to be my lack of faith why mountains were not moving.
Because I had not made it a practice to read and study God’s Word I was defeated and believed I didn’t have enough faith.

Hosea 4:6 NLT — My people are being destroyed because they don’t know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priest. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children.
Father God does speak to His children in many ways. The sad thing is, the number one way to hear God, is also seemingly the number one way rejected by His children. I know a lot of professing Christians who rarely if ever even pick up the Word of God. I am not naïve to believe God won’t find other means to grab the attention of those He calls, however, I am absolutely sure that He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6 KJV — But without faith, it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Before Holy Spirit led me to read Philippians 4:13 in context, my understanding was prideful at the very least. I was not displaying an attitude of humility and surrender to Almighty God. My use of His Word was more like rubbing a bottle expecting a genie to appear ready and able to help me accomplish my own will and purposes.
When put in context, it’s not about strength obtained to go out and conquer, it’s about strength to get through current circumstances. The secret to living with plenty or in poverty, having a lot of family and friends around or being alone not having anyone, having a life full of love and joy or trying to fake a smile with a shattered heart, having unlimited options for a beautiful future or running into nothing but slammed doors, being fairly treated or becoming a victim of injustice. Also, the secret too remaining kind, gentle, and self-controlled when enraged, to forgive others that repeatedly hurt us, etc. The secret to getting through any circumstances in life is surrendering to Christ who strengthens me.
Reading His Word for myself with the help and leading of the Holy Spirit, made all the difference in my understanding.
To believe God means to believe He is who He says He is. This belief alone should bring a humbling to anyone who truly believes. How small are we compared to the Almighty, all-powerful, all-knowing, always-present God? Even just a healthy fear of Him one would think reading and applying His Word would be a no-brainer.
So the question then is, do I believe He is? If so I wouldn’t want to be on His bad side. I sure wouldn’t want to be prideful about or toward Him.
The amazing realization is, although He most certainly can demand my obedience, He doesn’t. Instead, He is pleased by my belief and rewards my willingness and desire to seek Him through His Word.
For years I wanted God to be a part of my life. I wanted my prayers answered, I wanted to be a straight A, top of my class, Christian, I wanted to stay out of hell and be invited into heaven, etc. The problem was watching American Idol was entertaining, reading God’s Word and trying to get to know Him, wasn’t.
Karaoke night with family and friends was my idea of a fun, good time, allowing Father God to speak into my life through His Word, a chore I will tackle someday.
Why ever would God try to speak to me in any other way when I repeatedly reject His first choice of ways to speak to me? Why give me anything more when I can’t be bothered to use what I already have?
I’ve heard it said that every single Christian in the world, already has the relationship they want with Father God. The question I finally had to answer was, how much effort am I willing to put into having a real, tangible relationship with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
I found the Word of God is 100% opposite of the boring I once had thought it to be. Changing my perspective about why I’m reading His Word opened the door for me to experience the most exciting, worthwhile, adventure it truly is. Furthermore, I am always quite amazed as Father God shows me another mind-blowing secret within the pages.
Jeremiah 29:13 KJV — And ye shall seek me, and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
To seek Him with my whole heart, to me, undeniably means, searching for Him, His ways, His likes, His dislikes, His plans, and all His attributes within His written word. So He is my perspective as I read. I look for what I can learn about Him. I’m learning, this is also where I find myself, my worth, my purpose, my weaknesses, my strengths, His thoughts about me personally, and His will for my life.
Until next time may God bless you and keep you as you seek Him with your whole heart.

Warrior Words

I think about the word of God. He said let there be,
and it was. And now thousands of years later, it still is.

Then I think of
the Psalms. Most were written by David, before and after he was king. His words
still have power today, thousands of years later, to change and touch lives.

When David was
just a boy tending the family sheep and he would sing songs to Father God, I
don’t think he had any inkling that those very songs would be a witness to
people thousands of years into the future.

I’m willing to bet most biblical characters never
thought Father God would be using things they have said and done to help reproach,
teach, inspire and encourage us today.

Who am I to think my words will somehow go unnoticed?
Maybe Father God intends to use my gossip session as a lesson of what not to
do, a few hundred years from now.

Matthew 15:18-19 NLT — But the words you
speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil
thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.

Think of our words as warriors we send out into the
world. They are unstoppable once uttered. Once they are loose there is no way
to change our minds and call them back. These warriors go out with mission and
purpose and they don’t rest or sleep and they never tire. There are two tribes
of warriors we all have available to us in endless numbers. The white warriors
and the gray warriors. Every single word we give voice to and speak out is
activation of either the white warriors or the grey warriors.

Once uttered the white warriors will go out to spread goodness,
kindness, gentleness, peace, patience, joy, forbearance, self-control, faithfulness
and love. The gray warriors will go out spreading gossip, division, hate,
anger, lies, intent on killing, stealing and destroying.

No matter what, one or the other, white or grey, are
attached to every single word we utter or give voice to. The possibility of empty
words containing no warriors at all doesn’t exist. Even empty words we choose
to say that have no emotion or meaning behind them whatsoever, still contain either
white or grey warriors. So no matter what if we choose to speak we release
warriors. We either utter life giving
words or words that will end up being a curse upon somebody else or even
ourselves.

James 1:26 NLT — If you claim to be
religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your
religion is worthless.

Our words are very, very powerful! Although
we are told this over and over in God’s Word, we still speak so carelessly. We
allow words to slip from our lips, choosing to stay blind to what we create for
our own reality, and blessing or hurt we speak over those around us.

Proverbs 29:20 NLT — There is more hope for
a fool than for someone who speaks without thinking.

The enemy deceives us with the lie, “sticks and stones,
may break my bones, but your words can’t ever hurt me.”

Scripture tells us opposite.

The truth is, sticks and stones, have less chance of breaking
my bones, than your words, that are sure to curse me.

I had a few physical fights with girls I went to school
with when I was young. Thinking back, I cannot remember any physical pain or injuries
I may have obtained from those altercations. I can however, remember all the mean things girls in school
would say about me, as if they were just said yesterday.

Words that have emotion behind them, good or bad, gray
or white, have more power to cause what they’re bent out to cause such as, good
or bad, hurt or help, division or unity, destroy or encourage, hate or love.

Proverbs 21:23 NLT — Watch your tongue and
keep your mouth shut, and you will stay out of trouble.

When our words come from reaction to something or
someone, we, by reacting, open a door to the enemy. The enemy then takes over
and manages our reality. As long as the enemy can keep us reactive and speaking
emotionally, we cannot elevate spiritually because our words keep us in
bondage.

If however we choose to practice self-control and decidedly
bite our tongue, choosing not to react, we maintain control of our own reality.
We also, as we hold our tongue and remain self controlled, realize we had the
means of spiritual growth, all along. We also start to see the floodgates of
blessings open up, as we choose our words carefully.

Proverbs
18:20-21 KJV — A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth;
and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the
power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

We have to
understand, we don’t get to choose if our words hurt or help others just
because of how we meant them. No matter if we think someone should discern our
meaning or not, wont stop them from feeling the way our words made them feel. We
cant dismiss our responsibility for the effects our words have by saying we
didn’t mean it like that. This includes the words we utter about ourselves. We
say things like, I always lose, I’m just clumsy, I’m not good at that, etc.
Etc. We barely notice we are living the very things we allow ourselves to speak
out. Whether we like it or not our words every single one that comes from our
mouth has power to do either good or harm.

Proverbs 12:13-14 NLT — The wicked are
trapped by their own words, but the godly escape such trouble. Wise words bring
many benefits, and hard work brings rewards.

James 3:5-10 NLT — In the same way, the
tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a
great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of
wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire,
for it is set on fire by hell itself. People can tame all kinds of animals,
birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and
evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and
sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so
blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers
and sisters, this is not right!

Friends, the words we speak have a power we can’t seem
to truly imagine. None the less whether
we can imagine their power or not, wont
change the power they possess or the consequences, of our carelessness, in
which we speak them.

Until next time, may God bless you and keep you, as you
seek Him with your whole heart.