Judging

Within the last few days I received a call from someone in tears and they said that I was the only person they knew to call that wouldn't judge them. It wasn't always that way. So it got me to thinking about what God has taught me and about judgment in general.


Nicodemus asked the Pharisees, “Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?” They were judging Jesus. They, who should have been the first to recognize Him, judged Him. He had not sinned, but what about those of us who have? Do we judge people or the sin? Sin is NEVER right. But to bring a person back into the fold an understanding of what was going on in their lives can be a big help. We are told to restore the sinner. Condemnation does not bring restoration. If we have honestly looked at our own sin and how much it grieved Father and what it cost Him and Jesus to bring us to restoration who are we to judge any one?

Galatians says, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.”

I use to Judge, oh what a self-righteous pharisee I was. Thank you Lord, for forgiveness. Thankfully we came across a teaching that basically showed how God felt about it. The verses for the teaching were “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you”. The teacher showed how when someone has repented the sin he/she is washed by the Blood of the Lamb and the sin is put into God's sea of forgetfulness. So, if we continue to judge or bring it back up God only sees our finger prints on it so we get judged with that sin. (I can't help but wonder how harsh that judgment is. Is it as harsh as we were to the other sinner?) That was a major wakeup call. God is so good and so gracious to us. That awakening came so gently and lovingly with the call for me to repent and recognize in a deeper way what He'd done for me.

I am not perfected yet but I can Praise God because I'm not where I use to be nor where I will be but I am where and who I am now by His Grace and He loves me!

RECONCILIATION

In the beginning God said, "Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness...." Strong's Concordance says the word "man"--"adam"--means "man", "mankind" or "humanity at large". So we human beings were created in His image and likeness. Adam and Eve were able to have a personal relationship with God. They had unbroken fellowship with Him. Then they sinned and when they heard Him they hid from Him. There was a break in the fellowship that would take thousands of years and a sacrifice of horrendous proportions to repair.

Even with the break God never forsook man. His love was still there, along with His desire for relationship. He had humans who responded to their creator, because Romans says what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. It could say us instead of them. Abram knew Him for that very reason.

Hundreds of years later God would deliver the law to Moses. The summation of the law according to Deuteronomy and Jesus is love--You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself. To explain how to do this He gave the 10 Commandments. To break any of them is to break fellowship. Breaking them kills love. If we love Him we keep His commandments.

In the fullness of time Jesus came to reconcile man to God and to each other. According to Merriam-Webster's on-line dictionary "reconcile" means to restore to friendship or harmony. The entire world was out of harmony and man was out of harmony and friendship with God and with each other. Romans 5 says, "For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation". It is His desire for all people to be reconciled to Him and if we have fellowship with Him we are also to have it with one another. We will have it if we are walking in His Light.

Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan. Normally a Samaritan hated Jews and vise versa. Yet in the Samaritan's heart was God's truth and when he saw a fellow human being suffering he helped. He didn't shirk for any part including paying for the man's room and board. Now that's love. Those who passed by, too busy doing God's work, were not commended by Jesus.

Jesus ministered life to the Samaritan woman at the well. It horrified all those who saw it, yet Love and truth were more important than the cultural divisions of man.

Years ago I heard a sermon on this subject. The Good Samaritan was the primary focus. The man ended with the words, "If you say you love God, yet you hate your neighbor, YOU ARE A LIAR".

I don't want to be a liar, do you? Romans 15:7 says in NASB "Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. In New King James it says, "Therefore receive one another, just as Christ also received us, to the glory of God".

In Strong's the word "receive" is defined as to take to oneself...to admit to friendship. In our day that would also translate "accept".

I want to be God's friend. He says in 1John 1, "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you".

What do you want?

Slave or Free

Do our or your government leaders have your best interests at heart? Are they helping to make you a stronger person or a more dependent one? If dependent, then dependent on who?


The “birth certificate” of the U.S. States that We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Do those men and women in government respect all human life? Or just the lives of those they deem “worthy”. Are they protecting your right to liberty? To live the life God has set before you? Or do they want you to live by their standards? Are they letting people think of them as a “messiah”? Do they care about your happiness? Can you be happy apart from the will of God? Are they angry when people do not think their way? Are they control freaks?


If they are interested in your life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness then these are some of the qualities they should be pursuing in their governing.

If they love freedom they will want:

Less Government

Lower taxes

Strong Defense

Traditional Family values

They will respect your right to life and different ideas

no matter what “group” you belong to.


However, if they have a modern feudal lord approach which makes them little gods and you the slave, they want:

Big Government that micromanages your life

More taxes—all of your income if they can get it

and redistribute it but not to you...

They don't care about defense

They will embrace lifestyles that the Bible calls

abominable.

Your life will be endangered and possibly taken from

you if you disagree with them.. You could be put in prison at the very least.

Rights will come because of the “group” you belong to

not from God above.


So as the mid-term elections are heating up, listen closely to what they say and find out what they have done in the past. You could be voting to put yourself in a “slave” mode. Do they care about God's ways:Regarding governments:
3 Don’t put your confidence in powerful people;
there is no help for you there.
4 When they breathe their last, they return to the earth,
and all their plans die with them.
5 But joyful are those who have the God of Israel[a] as their helper,
whose hope is in the Lord their God. (Psalm 146)


Remember: Prov. 14:33 Wisdom reposes in the heart of the discerning and even among fools she lets herself be known. 34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.

One last point--pray for those in authority at this moment. Pray they will repent and seek God.

Friends

For the second time in a couple weeks I've talked to a friend I'd lost contact with years ago. For me it was like drinking fresh cool water. We were on the same page spiritually and emotionally. So much of how we have grown is parallel.

Jennifer lived with us, along with her son, for a few months before her marriage to Duke. Duke was my "little brother". I'd never had a brother and he sure filled the bill for me. What is so funny is that before Duke and Jennifer met she was good friends with Garry. I hadn't met him yet!

God is so wonderfully awesome. At a time when I needed that fresh drink of water and when they needed some too He got us together again. Thank you, Abba.

PECULIAR PEOPLE

Today I did a Biblical Word study on the words: heathen, nations, peculiar and people. In the O.T. "heathen" meant "gentile". In the N.T. "nations" comes from the word ethnos, we get ethnic from it. It means "a race, a tribe, a foreign one". "Peculiar" means "being beyond usual, i.e. special" when it was used in Titus. In 1 Peter it means acquisition, to acquire, to purchase. "People" means "people".

1 Peter 2: 9, 10 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special (peculiar) people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

As I studied the words, this verse and thought about it all I saw more than ever God bringing forth HIS Kingdom. He's bringing forth a peculiar people and we are being brought from all countries. We, who have called upon the name of Yeshua, are His Kingdom people. He's not bringing forth American, Irish, Chinese, Hispanic, First Nations, African Americans, etc. as such; He's bringing us all forth as His Kingdom people. He's not looking at our ethnos, He's looking at our hearts and the fact that we have been saved by the Blood of His Son. We have been bought with the price of that Blood--He purchased us.

Just like Abraham was called out we are we being called out. Our first identity must be with Jesus, not with a politically boundaried system. Abraham did not have the Bible and he walked in faith anyway. We have more information than Abraham had and we have access to the throne room of God so we have all we need to continue on. He is calling us forth from all the nations to be His--united in His Spirit.

We are to follow this scriptural admonition: 1 Timothy 2 1-5Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And because it is God's heart that these people be part of His Kingdom we can not ignore this. Our focus at this junction, our energy, our passion has to be for Our King and that His Kingdom comes and His will is done. We must become strong in Him and the power of His might and we must strengthen our brethren.

Denominational distinctives and territorial imperatives are useless. They cause arguments and disunity. Our focus must be on Jesus. We must get to know Him, get to know all about Him............

EMERGENT CHURCH?

In the past week I have received numerous e-mails on the "emergent church". However, I have not even had time to deal with them but I realized it was time to think about what I'm sensing, learning and to where I'm being led. Now I have no idea what other people mean by the "emergent church".

When I got saved it was a wondrous day. For years I sat in a church with an excellent Bible expositor. He taught and I intellectually grew, spiritually not so much. And week after week after week the Gospel was boiled down to getting saved by repenting of sins and receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior. Now I AM SO GRATEFUL that my Father in heaven gave His only begotten son so that I might have ever lasting life. I never want to forget or denigrate that fact. Without it and the resurrection nothing else would matter.

In all that teaching though so much of the message of Jesus: Kingdom and Love and the Bride were left out. After years of stagnating and crying out for Jesus I'm seeing more, loving Him more, longing for Him more. I am becoming passionate about Him. I want that beautiful intimacy He desires. That has been a hard place for me to get to because intimacy was taught as only being sexual...That type of thinking does a great disservice to the Gospel and to my Lord and to any who have thought that way. We are part of a Divine Romance and I'm just starting to see this.

What I see emerging is a group of people who are pursuing their Lord with all their hearts, minds, souls and strength. Who are willing to go through the process of transformation so we can be without spot or wrinkle. We love the cross and what Jesus did and have come to know that is just the beginning of His wonderful all encompassing love for us; it is not the end. Neither is just going to heaven the end.

His love for us has been a burning passionate love since before the foundations of the earth. We were already in His heart and mind before we were created; and He knew we'd sin and be who we would be when He would save us, Yet HE LOVES US. It is just like with the Jews in Deuteronomy 7:7, 8a The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; ⁸ but because the LORD loves you,
It is not because you or I were righteous, perfect, beautiful that we were saved. It was because Father so loved the world that He gave His Son...... I was a horrible wretched sinner when Jesus caught me. Unfortunately the attitude of many of my teachers seemed to keep me thinking that I had to be perfect to win His love. The Word doesn't say that, but the subtle teaching did. Even though the Word says God looks on our hearts externals were pushed. The attitudes were of having to do this or that to please Him. Spirituality was measured by how often people were at church, how radiant their smiles were, whether they were having problems or not, by how many good works were being done. Works are to show our faith and glorify our Father. They were created for us to walk in but not to manipulate God into loving us. He can't love us any more. He loves us totally.

For me there has been much lacking in my understanding of His love and plans for me. I thank His for His love, for the Gift of his Blood and for letting me know I have a wonderful life and future in and with Him, all because of Him. He is expanding my revelation knowledge and understanding of Him. He is more, not less of all good things.

I do not ignore the cross but I will no longer, with the Holy Spirit's help, be blind to all the wondrous plans and future that are before me. They are possible because of the Cross!

OBJECT LESSON FROM A CAT

Right at the start let me say that our cats had their names before a TV show began using those words to mean something not so nice. O.K?

Now on to Frack our cat.

Today I was talking to God about being distracted instead of focusing 100% on Him. So I went to sit down with my Bible and focus. At that point Frack came up and began walking on the Bible I had on the table. She was going to have my attention NO MATTER WHAT. I was getting irritated but sensed God giving me an object lesson. Yup, it's how He wants me to be with Him--nothing stopping or sidetracking me from Him.

Giving the cat attention was a pleasurable and soothing time for me. I couldn't help but think of all the times in the Old Testament God talked about sacrifices being a soothing aroma (NASB).

I think He was telling me how much He enjoyed it when I sought Him that way--whole heartedly. He says in His Presence if fullness of Joy. I found that when I went back and sought Him with no regard for anything else the Joy was sweet.

1 Thessalonians 5:^16-18Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live. (Message)

Being a single parent for all those years was financially challenging. When people lent a helping hand I was thankful. There were many times I'd ask God where the next loaf of bread was coming from as my pay check or the child support would be a few days away. And I'd go home to find groceries waiting for me, or a check in the mail. Much of this was given anonymously. It did cause me to rejoice and be thankful. I helped me know God really did want to take care of us.

There were times though when being thankful was a challenge and that was when we were given junk. Someone would think we should want the stuff of theirs that was really ready for the trash. Then there were the times people did what wasn't needed and were infuriated because my thanks wasn't ebullient. I tried to be polite but my heart obviously wasn't in it. Looking back I realize those people did it for their own gratification not out of love. There strings attached to what they did.

What brought me to musing about this is our current economy and how it is effecting my husband and me and my kids and their families. The President made no secret that he planned on redistributing wealth. So that brought me to thinking about the attitudes of some in the "minority" communities and I had to wonder about some things. Will those who have felt disrespected, insulted, held down and kept back (and many have been) then do the same and worse to those they perceive to be the enemy? Will they realize that not all people of a different "race" are their enemy and that they never were?

At the same time as things get financially challenging will we, who are not a minority, have an attitude of gratitude for what we do have? Do we have it now? Will we fall into the trap of resenting any one who seems to have more? Will we curse our leaders and forget to pray for them? Will we continue to speak life and blessings and find true joy in Jesus? Will Christians come together in His Spirit and forget racial barriers? What kinds of strings will be attached to a helping hand?

And what about our faith? The persecution of the church is growing. Will we stand strong for Jesus no matter what?

There is a refining fire coming to our hearts. God wants us to be pure in heart so we can see Him. If we allow Him now access to all of us, not hold one thing back, then it will not be nearly so traumatic.

Regarding God...Jesus

Regarding God:

A good parent always lets the child know what is expected. They let them know what pleases or displeases them; what will harm the child and what is safe. The good parent's desire is for the child to grow up strong physically, emotionally and morally (body, soul and spirit). Unfortunately we human parents are not perfect and we make many mistakes. On the other hand, God is perfect. He created human beings in His image and let them know what would keep them safe, what would please Him and the consequences of going their own way. Adam and Eve had the choice of eating from the Tree of Life or the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Up till the time they ate of the Tree of Knowledge they lived in peace, actually surrounded and clothed in the Glory of God.

God is not a man that He should lie and when they sinned they suffered the consequences. They were cast out of their perfect garden, not because God hated them, but because He hates sin and it will not be in His presence (holiness). But at the same time God told them He would make a way for their restoration. That's in Gen. 3

This fact angers many people who want to know about a mushy warm fuzzy love, His love is more than that. And along with His love God is also holy. No one seems to want to deal with that. For years I sure didn't. His attributes are infinite and He is true to all of them.....

After the sin man then began making up his own idea of who God is, what He is like, what he will do and not do and what pleases or displeases him. He began making up rules by which he wanted to lived. My kids would try to make up the house rules, I wasn't amused. Discipline followed. It is not unusual that we want to set ourselves over authority, Lucifer tried it and became Satan......

History

As I begin writing this in less than 2 hours Barack H. Obama will be inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States of America. It is historic. He is the first black man elected to this office. He is also somewhat of a puzzle. Is he liberal? Middle of the road? Is he really a believer in all Jesus did and said?

We have a choice: If we pray we can have a new day with beautiful skies, or we can speak curses against him and have it very gray. Our prayers need to be things like: Ephesians 1:17that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to Barack Obama the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of President Obama's understanding being enlightened; that President Obama may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us (President Obama) who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

I keep coming back to something prophesied by Kim Clement (I am copying and pasting it here--it won't let me change the font, colors, size, etc. sorry)

Prophesied on July 27th, 2007--Harrisburg, PA:
Rejoice, please, for God said, "You shall see fires through this Nation, but holy fires. You will see an intervention and Me going into the media and taking the streets of this Nation." Why? God said, "You have prophesied the wind and now you shall reap great, great, great rain," says the Lord. "You will reap great whirlwinds and they will come."

One more thing, the Spirit of God said, "Rejoice in this that you hear tonight. For even as you understand that the fires I speak about will burn out dross and put in the White House a man who will then be transformed into a righteous believer." God said, "Do not fear, for I will Not allow this Nation to fall on their knees in unnecessary humility, but in humbleness of mind. And I will take the fire and destroy your enemies. Your time of peace has come, but more than this--your time of prosperity has come, America," says the Spirit of the Living God!

"Pray, pray, pray for America. Smile saints, smile for 2008. For who I place in your White House, shall know the Spirit of God in a way. A very unique thing I will do. I told you before, there will be joy and celebration. For the man I place in the White House, shall not be filled with My Spirit when he goes in, but when he settles down, I will baptize him with fire and the Holy Spirit."

We must pray for this man. If you would like to know about the numbers of this presidency 44, you can go to philoslogos.org and they have on-line books. Go to E.W. Bullinger's page and then his work on numbers. It is eye opening.

Prov. 21: 1The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD;
He turns it wherever He wishes.

THOUGH............YET

As the world turns......not that isn't what I was going to say but it made me laugh.

Our world is turning and continuing on and people are seemingly more upset and worried and fearful. Yet God is still on His throne, His Word is still true and He will accomplish all He has said.

And we have decisions to make regarding all that is going on. Will we allow all the destructive forces of hell to get at us or will we choose to walk God's way.......

This Thursday a women's meeting with a special Prophetess is to be held at my home. The attacks to stop this are mounting, including trying to give me a cold, BUT GOD . . . I am praising Him today and thinking about praise and thanksgiving. Peace that I did not have when I woke up is starting to spread through me.

All that let me to thinking about how we are to do everything without grumbling or complaining and how God inhabits the praises of His people. Then the term "sacrifice of praise" came to me and right after "sacrifice of thanksgiving". And of course that brought more thoughts and questions. Graham Cooke talks about lamentation being the highest form of praise because everything in us is crying out for some terrible reason. For him it was when his very dear friend was murdered in Ireland and the last thing he wanted to do was praise or worship God and that is how he found out about lamentation from a personal perspective. In Job we find, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him..." Though the stock market crashes and I have no money I will praise Him because His plans for me are good and not evil...if that happened could we say that and mean it? Though the men in Washington give more money to corrupt executives and want all my pay check to pay for it.....would we praise God? Though______ you fill it in and see if you will say Yet will I praise Him???? My prayer is He will strengthen me to say that.

Psalm 107
22And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing (KJV)

The word "sacrifice" means to slaughter and in the OT an animal was slaughtered. The sacrifice of thanksgiving went along with the sacrifice of peace (Lev 7). But Jesus shed His blood for us. There is no need now for the blood to be shed. Yet, our "flesh" must die.

When I am really emotionally upset the last thing I want to do is praise or be thankful; I want to wallow and make someone suffer (sure not Godly), yet if I focus on who Jesus is, what He has done, or what He is doing I'm offering my flesh and my ways up to be killed off and speaking out all the good and wonderful things about Jesus I find peace. There is only good to be said about Him. Phil 4:8 "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things". He is the only one who fits this description. All He does fits this description.

The enemy of our souls hates us with a white hot hatred. BUT GOD's love is stronger, more powerful and it is victorious. It is imperative that we focus on Jesus..........He does inhabit our praises.