CHRISTIANS--TODAY'S LEPERS

Lately Luke 17 and the Lepers have been running through my mind. In Jesus' day the lepers were outcasts, unclean, despised. Today, more and more the world is treating Jews and Christians as lepers. To strongly believe in YHWH, Yeshua and all the Bible teaches finds us at odds with a world that calls good evil and evil good.

At this time in history we Christians must choose to be all God's called us to be. We must be in intimate relationship with Him. We have been washed by His Blood, empowered by His Holy Spirit. We have His promise He will keep us from stumbling. His mercy and lovingkindness are new to us every morning. IF we dwell in the secret place of the most high God we abide in the shadow of the Almighty. We can say with full confidence and faith He is our refuge, our fortress and we choose to trust in Him.

He protects our inner spiritual man and often also our physical body. But sometimes the earth cries out because of the blood of martyrs. So the most important thing we can do for ourselves is to KNOW Jesus not about Him. To know Jesus you have to spend time with Him. Read the Gospels, Psalms and Proverbs and ask The Holy Spirit to help you know Jesus. That's part of His job.

The line that had been drawn in the sand between good and evil is a canyon that cannot be bridged. (Luke 16 will help you understand) If you want to know what hell is like go into a dark hot room so that you are only aware of yourself and after putting on a blindfold so you can't see any light hold your hand over a torch till you can't stand the pain...that is just a taste of what hell is like. (Make sure the room is empty...you don't really want to catch on fire—although in hell the fire is never ending and the torment doesn't stop).

Heaven—In God's presence is fullness of Joy. We often think in terms of time—there is no time there. And since God is always the same in His nature: Love, Holiness, Peace, Patience, Creative, The pleasures and fun and happiness that we will experience there seems impossible to express in our languages that are limited.

So Christians let's remember that Christ is for us so no one who is against us and no power of the enemy will prosper. Our souls/spirits which are who we are will always be with Him. We will eventually, one way or another, shed our earth-suits. And what a glorious day it will be.

Kingdom Thoughts

The kingdom of God is near you even in your mouth. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. The secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you.n he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.

Just like being transformed from faith to faith and glory to glory the Kingdom of God coming to earth and within us is a process. That process is not always fun, but we can find joy in it if we realize God's reasoning behind it all. It's how all things work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purposes thatyou find it in the next verse. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, that he might be the firstborn among many brethern.

The more we allow that transformation process to happen the more evident the Kingdom of God is. The culture we live in is not the culture we are to be a part of. We are to be in the world but not of it. Being a part of something is human nature. We like feeling that we are part of something bigger than we are. So God wants us to be part of His culture. We are to bring it from heaven to earth because Jesus did and we have been called out of the world to follow in His footsteps. Our time here is not to just be static until He comes again. Father chose for us to be part of His plan—He wants us partnered with Him.

God's culture is one based on love. The Two Great Commandments attest to this. This love is not a mushy kind of love, but our emotions can be involved. Nor is it a door mat kind of love. But a love that sees clearly and is full of His Wisdom. A love that puts Him first and ourselves and others second. As we are transformed then the nature of God begins forming within us and is shown to the world partly as fruit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Yup, the Fruit of the Spirit. It is all part of His nature.

His nature is larger than that. After all He measures the universe, the entire universe, by one span of His hand.

There is more to Him. This is just the beginning. Feel free to share you insights.........

Isaiah 24

Years ago I asked God this question: If one sin had the devastating effect that it had in Genesis what does it do to the earth now. He took me to Isaiah 24. I realize Chapter 24 of Isaiah deals with what happens in the very end but I do believe God allows a foretaste in order to get people's attention--if they will listen. Haiti was dedicated to Satan in the 18th century. Aristide wanted to do it again. I've read conflicting reports of whether he did or didn't accomplish that. Voodoo is very strong there. I know there are Christian organizations there working to make a difference. I can't go there physically but in prayer I can. Here is just a part of Isaiah 24:

¹⁹ The earth is broken up,
the earth is split asunder,
the earth is thoroughly shaken.

²⁰ The earth reels like a drunkard,
it sways like a hut in the wind;
so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion
that it falls—never to rise again.

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.