Drive On

The future is always before us, and God has given us gifts and abilities--tools to be able to build that future into something worthwhile. The height of foolishness is to use our God-given gifts for our own benefit and enjoyment. God's plan for you is no more matured if you are using your enjoyment of reading to delve into secular adventure stories or play an instrument for musical appreciation. As long as we are still alive and breathing, God has a plan for us; if we are still here on earth (aren't we still?), God has something for you to do, something specific. It is your duty as a child of God to chisel the snow from the road so that you can see its lead and drive safely on, into the distance!

P.S. God won't mind if you stop at the gas station for some Happy Holidays and a few desserts along the way!

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ~1Corinthians 12:4-7 (ESV)

"Mucho" HATE "Para Poco" SIN

Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. ~Psalm 97:10 (NIV)

Something good is different than something pleasurable. Sin is very pleasurable, and if you have ever convinced yourself that sin can be good for you as long as it's not permanent, then it could dig you a pretty deep hole. When we give in to sin, it consumes us and we try to enjoy it while we can. My prayer is that God will constantly help me to see the sin for what it is and to hate it before I take any samples.

"Giving into sin, and calling it love--it's a dangerous run, a gravity bomb." ~I Am Empire

Wise guy ;)

 

Most to be Pitied

Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. ~Zechariah 4:10 (NLT)

Wow. I was just reading Romans 4 where it says "blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin." That's crazy to think of in light of all I've done to hurt him. As it says in 1 Corinthians 15:19, we as humans are most to be pitied--in this life we have no hope. Our only hope lies in the taking up of God's offer to forgive and comfort us in our troubles, and while we can place our hope in him for getting through this life, we must also acknowledge the hope of the life after, for it will be more glorious a day than any we might see here.

The cry of every long-suffered heart and tired soul

Wakes to see the light of heaven's glory shone, of grace untold

And the depths of human trials [will be] taken up by the great I Am

Unto the cry of a desperate man

When the morning star sang out into the world on that day

And the son of God laid out before our eyes to pave the way

Into this broken home he spread his arms, what’s better than

Any cry of a desperate man?

~"The Cry of a Desperate Man" (song by NET)

Succesful Succession

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other." ~Abraham Lincoln

 

We can have good intentions sometimes, a plan to make things in our lives better, but if we have no discipline in forcing ourselves to complete an uncomfortable obligation, then there won't be much forward motion in our steps for other people to see. And this self discipline doesn't only have to apply to ourselves--perhaps to our patience with others. Loving people is not easy, but if it's possible, wouldn't it be worth it in the end? Let's follow in the success of Jesus' perfect life and do our best to live our purpose-full lives to the fullest.

And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow.  ~Thessalonians 3:12

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/abraham_lincoln.html#coSAeaiq8eBrhxPY.99

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/abraham_lincoln.html#coSAeaiq8eBrhxPY.99

Shadow

Look for the light at the end of the tunnel.

It's nearing winter and the days seem to be getting colder. I am remembering a day a year or two ago when the roofs of the houses in the neighborhood had been frosted over during the night. It was nearing midday, and most of the ice was gone, but there was a certain house that had a double roof overhang construction, so one part of the roof was higher than the other and it cast a shadow. Because the sun had nearly overcome the roof and fought back the shadow, the ice on the roof was practically gone as well . Under the cool reach of the remaining shadow however, there was still a definite line of frost coating the panels. This got me thinking.

As the shadow slowly died down, so did the ice creep back to the corners of the roof where it was the coolest and "most comfortable." If our lives and actions are represented by the ice, then the shadow is the protective comfort of the devil's subtle lies and the sun is the Son of God. The devil wants us to crawl back in our holes apart from Christ's reach, but as God fights back the shadow, he asks us to do the impossible: stand our ground and not melt away even when the sun is flashing us full in the face.
Stay strong, friends!

As for me, I look to the LORD for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light...The LORD will bring me into the light, and I will see his righteousness. Then my enemies will see that the LORD is on my side...with my own eyes I will see their downfall. ~Micah 7:7-8, 9, 10 (NLT)

Satisfaction : Complacency

As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness. ~Psalms 17:15 (ESV)

If we are always unsatisfied with ourselves and our inferiority/sinfulness, then our hearts should always yearn for the God who is perfect in holiness. Let us never become satisfied with our lives in a way that allows for complacency and self-absorption to take over our walk.

And I will say to my soul, 'Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. ~Luke 12:19-21 (ESV)

 

Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. ~Job 1:21 (ESV)

Kill & Destroy

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ~Colossians 3:3 (ESV)

What does that verse really mean? For most Christians, it means that there was a time when we killed our lives of sin and worldly cooperation to make new lives set apart for Christ our savior. That is true, but it leaves out something very important. Although we disposed of our old selves and allowed God to change our way of thinking and acting in this world of sin, it is still impossible for us to stay pure, holy and sinless the rest of our lives. We are held lock and key by Jesus because he was the one to destroy any hope of our old lives consuming us, but what we should never forget is that we are to constantly put our sin to death--every time we sin we are to confess and be reborn. Never forget that Christ's death and our acceptance of it are not a permanent means of escape from the world and that we must keep an open chat box with God for the times when we will stumble. Stay strong, friends, and continue to fight the daily battle without losing sight of God's eternal life for us.

American Cheeses

In America at least, where Christians are not generally physically persecuted, Cheeses is seen as a figure, a point to focus on, an excuse to follow in order to be called a Christian. It's much easier to keep our eyes shut to the light rather than to open them and have to get used to reality--it's much easier not to see the reality of Cheeses by your side unless you are in desperate need of him. Americans generally grow up getting what they want and enjoying life easily. While depression, bad family life, aloneness are big issues in the American society, people in those situations still don't look to Cheeses because those trials are not last resort efforts. Cheeses seems to either be a last resort or completely hidden these days by the noise of life. We can conclude that while we might not seem to need divine intervention in this life of small comforts, we definitely need Cheeses to get us into the afterlife. Go ahead and call him today--it's free!

Just Don't Look Down!

Victory comes from you, O  Lord.
May you bless your people.

~Psalms 3:8 (NLT)

There is a battle with sin that goes on every day; it will never be won as long as we are human. The devil is always attacking, and often winning, so here is a tip for putting a stop to his influences before they start a chain reaction.

Temptation arises and the battle commends when we begin fighting to stay in control of a diligent mind-set. The battle is immediately lost when we start considering ways to justify the sin we long to commit. This is because it won't matter what the excuse is, we will more than likely continue considering the options until we can narrow it down to something we will feel the most comfortable with violating our morals--God's morals. In response to this, we must learn to do two things: 1) Ask God to keep our minds and thoughts constantly on Him, and 2) Shift our schedule around those times and/or places we know will hold temptations for us--find ways to distract ourselves, because the devil relies on our complete attention in order to be effective.

With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it.

~Proverbs 4:23 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)

Milking God

Is God taken advantage of? Is that even possible? Let's think about it: God is always there, He offers his help when we need it, it is impossible for Him to do anything "wrong"...so I guess it's not. There are really only two things about Him we can use to our advantage. Here they are:

1) Using his name. We can twist the holy name by using it as just another word in our dictionaries. Well, let's just say that He's made it clear He don't like that too much. We can use the title "Christian" to let others view us a certain way, however that may be.

2) This one is the one that counts. We can take advantage of God because He is always there. Since He is always by our side and willing to help, well, why would we reasonably ignore Him in our times of distress? All He asks is our repentance and cooperation, so any other reasoning to ignore our God is folly. Take advantage of God "while you can", not because He only gives you one chance or a certain amount of time to choose, but because we only have one life to live, and who knows how long that will be?

--P.S. Stop milking God to get what you want, take what He's got and you won't need milk ever again!

--P.P.S. Recall what Paul said in 1 Cor. 3:21 "I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready."

Muck

Ode to the Stagnant Waters 

by Nathan Titchenal 

Waters abide by nature alone 
Unaffected by civilization’s wood and stone. 
Life held in its barren form, 
A thing to be visited in seasons of warmth. 

Meaning held to be compared
By feelings and actions not many can spare,
But the stagnant waters that glow with life;
Pools amidst the frontage of strife, 
Of glamorous figures who have hidden their ways, 
Hidden their feelings over the span of days, 
Can be found even in the worst of life’s storms 
In the worst of our troubles, our doubts reformed. 

Oh, the stagnant pools, 
Your wisdom surpasses the rush of fools. 
From the knowledge you hold of life and its workings,
Of death and its doings,
You must recognize by now,
As every knee must bow,
We are never alone
For we cannot possibly survive in this broken world
On our own.

Jesus wallows in our muck.

 This poem was written to portrait the morality, frailty, monotony, insignificance (etc.) of the human race. If you can picture a pool of stagnant water, never having been seen nor touched by man, lying dormant in some secluded forest, then you might consider how it would practically feel it's own insubordination and helplessness to be some physical thing. The application of this kind of position in the chain of life is to say that, 1) All humans beneath God cannot possibly be or become more or less equal to this analogical stagnant pool, and 2) At such a level of depravity, we should not be able to help but see the significance of a bondage with the only being who could possibly fulfill our needs.

That being, that figure, is Jesus Christ. Remember him when you begin to feel like a mucky pool of water again.

Think Different.

The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. ~Isaiah 8:11

So think about it for a minute: what does the world think about? What do we neglect to think about? I'll start with a list:

-Language

-Perversion in ads/movies/TV

-Aggressive attitude toward friends/family/coworkers

-Fighting over prices

-Gluttony/complacency

Now, we as Christians generally try not to participate in these things. Because it is all around us, however, we begin to write it off and often become desensitized to it. We no longer harbor a hatred for the sin we see or a longing to help those people who don't see it.

"When will we realize that we've been desensitized by the lies of the world" ~Skillet

Instead, consider reevaluating what it is Jesus would be disgusted by--how he would respond--were he standing by you experiencing it firsthand. My bet is that he would already understand the depth of our sin, so he would begin showing love to those who don't seem to see the evil in their lives.

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ~Romans 12:9

Whose Shoes?

Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. ~Ephesians 5:10

If you've ever watched a fly or an ant, you may have noticed that they seem to move in random directions that will take them much longer to get to their destination than simply moving in a straight line. We like efficiency because it was how God made us: sentient beings. The ant can't necessarily see far enough in front of itself to know where it needs to go, simply because God did not make it to be quite so tall as us. Although we can't hold to this ant analogy too strictly, considering they most likely don't have an afterlife, we can take something from them. God made both us and the ants to see only so far ahead of us and gave each of us an inherent purpose in this life. Part of pleasing the Lord is simply to pursue the traits God implanted in us, to be who God made us to be. We have gifts, we have desires, and we have a God who wants to see us strive; so, in order to know what pleases the Lord, we have but two things to do: be ourselves and expose our strengths for his use, and ask Him just where it is He would have us go with whatever we find.

Me: I'll find the right style and sized shoe if you program my shoes where to go, deal?

God: Let's do this together, my child! 

"To please God is to obey His commands no matter how difficult. To please God is to offer Him all that I am, all my heart and soul. To please God is to have faith in His Son. To please Him is to turn away from a sinful past. To live to please God should be my goal as a Christian. To please God is to bear the Fruits of the Holy Spirit — that I should learn how to love, be joyful, be peaceful, be patient, show kindness, spread goodness, not lose faith, be gentle, and have self-control. To please Him is to be strengthened by His power in every circumstance. To please Him is to live a life so grateful to the blessings because they are undeserved–causing me [to live] each moment carefully as if it is my last." ~Reah Padla

Ignorant Lese Majesty

Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the one you should fear. He is the one who should make you tremble. ~Isaiah 8:13

If I could underline just a few things in the verse above, one of them would be the verb Make. It's up to us to make God holy to us. God is holy, but if we can't see that, then we can't see God. The connection must be made, just like when we make new friends here on earth. We make a connection, see a face, call out a greeting, and it feels so natural. Meeting with God won't feel natural at first, because it's hard to see him.

Some people call God invisible, but that is far from the truth. If God were a human, he would be visible as we know the term, but because he doesn't take shape, he can't be anything, but rather he can be in things. God can be seen in people, in nature, in everything he has created, but it takes time. First make the connection, then make God holy in your life by honoring his will.

Tongues of Action

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. ~Ecc. 9:10 (NIV)

Any one part of the church can become a leader to the rest. Leadership simply means guiding the people to new grounds. That's what the pastor does, that's what the guest speakers do, the worship leaders, all the volunteers who provide information and new ideas: they plant a seed that may or may not take flight and reproduce. The difference then, between a church of stagnant waters and a people of action is how the leader leads.

Take the presidents' many roles for example. If all they do is explain what they will do for their nation before election but end up not following through with it in office, they won't be reelected and America won't be as well off as it might have been. As leaders, it doesn't always work--in fact, it almost never works--to just explain an idea to the church during a service or somewhere convenient and expect results. It allows time for the thoughts to settle in, for the already stagnant pool to stir up a few bubbles, and for the devil to twist those motives until everyone forgets the idea again. The truth behind an accomplished president is that they know how to take action responsibly and show the people their thoughts without ever having to explain them first. As leaders, we must take initiative and do. Then, when God works through us to accomplish his will, the people will see it and follow. It's precisely how Jesus worked in his short time on earth, so maybe we should try doing the same in our own lives. Think about it.

Swim At Your Own Risk!

I have held this idea for the past week about how we are rivers, or rather, carriers of an ever-flowing body. Now, there are many different angles you could look at this analogy, and they all might make their own decent points, but for this post, I'd like to bring up just one.

The river of life flows through us as it does through all people. It is a river of blessings that fill us in our darkest days. God is its source; He was the one to start it flowing, and guides its branches through everyone--I have no doubt that he blesses even the unsaved. They simply don't know its source, they brush it aside and call it fate. The point is that we all are gifted with the blessings of the Most High, but we are also faced with the choice of how to use what we are given.

Many Christians today lose such a potentially strong connection with God because they speak to him and never listen, take from him and never give back. We tend to gather the river up in a dam and keep it for ourselves. This causes a problem though, as the river was meant to flow from one being to the next. We are to take the spirit of God and follow it to wherever it leads, helping those it touches. Only then will our connection upstream be strong and healthy. Only then can we truly communicate and coordinate with our Maker.

Celestial, Prevalant Esse

"God's a skyscraper
Every window's just another way to see
Every different floor is just another place to be,
It's all the same its all the same why cant you see
We're family" ~Light Beam Rider

What this verse says to me is that God is in every part of our lives, and that as humans (as sinners even) we are all in the same boat. So just open your eyes world! Can't you see just what we could be? We are all a part of God's family, and God wants us to be united as one! We may all be looking at it differently, we are certainly each on a different floor, but God has always been the answer. And although there are many windows to look through, there is one absolute truth: His word is truth. We need God.

"You know, when I look around at everything it just
Blows my mind to think, "where'd this all come from?"
So I got some questions, like yo...

What's it all about? Why are we here?
If there's no reason, why do I care?
A lot of people put they thoughts in my ear
But I gotta know for myself,
So yo God, are you really there?" ~Andy Mineo

That's No CPU...

Unless your faith is firm, I cannot make you stand firm.” ~Isaiah 7:9

God doesn't play us like a video-game, sitting on a cloud with a controller in his hands. We are not his robots to worship him as he pleases, we have the choice to worship him. Although we are characters of choice and freedom in this life--free from the all-controlling power--God does intercede if and when we let him. So perhaps it's more like we are playing the video-game of our lives, and we can use the God Power for attack, defense, or reinforcement!

Called to Qualification

In life, we are given a single road. Our roads may feel like they are constantly changing directions or that they are too narrow to stand up straight on. Sometimes they will feel dirty and unpleasant. The most important part about following your road however is not the easy or hard parts while on it, but where it will eventually lead to. Roads don't end. There will always be another road to hop onto, meaning that even after this road (life) is over and we have accomplished whatever it is we placed at the end of our road, there will be a STOP sign with only two choices of turning. What you place at the end of your road will determine whether you go left or right (up or down). Sounds easy enough, right? Almost. You see, you can never know when a car might come driving down your road and you have nowhere to go. It'll just push you to the end that much faster, and if you hadn't already planned your route, chances are you'll be taking the wrong turn in the end--down.

You don't have to choose your own road either, because if you listen, your smart phone will be ringing to tell you the way to life...

 

And don't worry, it's not like you're alone...

“Jacob was a cheater, Peter had a temper, David had an affair, Noah got drunk, Jonah ran from God, Paul was a murderer, Gideon was insecure, Miriam was a gossip, Martha was a worrier, Thomas was a doubter, Sara was impatient, Elijah was moody, Moses stuttered, Abraham was old,… and Lazarus was dead. God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the CALLED!” ~Rev Michael Beckwith

  

“The call of God is like the call of the sea—no one hears it except the person who has the nature of the sea in him.” ~Oswald Chambers

God's The Gardener

Say I have a job gardening for someone. They come out and say "Wow, you're great at mowing that lawn! Thank you." Well, I may be, but that's only because I have the muscle-power to push it, the oxygen to keep moving, the eyesight to see where to mow, etc. So, what if we simply responded in truth all the time? Well, what is the truth? It would be like saying, "Hey, thanks for the compliment and all, but honestly, it's only because God gave me all the tools to do this work for you. He's the one you should be thanking." Now, that might be a very different approach than people are used to, and you know what? It would open up a legion of opportunities everywhere you go, whenever somebody asks "Hey, how are you doing?"

A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. ~1 Corinthians 12:7

Seek Justice, Love Mercy -- Love Justice, See Mercy

"I won't let you slip away.
Not this time, not this time.
This time you're gonna learn what it means to receive the very mercy
That you denied when you denied
The means to believe,
I'll keep feeding you the proof that you need,
But you spit it out to follow your doubt."

~Oh, Sleeper

 

Sometimes (fair to say always?) the world is blind to the mercy God brings us every day. Let us not be hypocrits, let us not be blind. And being blind does not only mean that we don't consider, keep in mind, the things most take for granted, but it is also the lack of outward appearance. Even Batman agrees that "It's not who I am underneath, but what I DO that defines me." We must know, and we must share; the two steps in making God's presence real in this dark world.

 

"Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, 'Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.'" (John 7:38)

 

"Nothing within me is righteous
'Till You breathe upon my spirit.
Nothing within me is pure
'Till I call upon the name of the Lord."

~"My Heart Fails" by Mark Tedder

"Justice is God's way of showing us mercy."

~"Justice" by Mark Tedder

Why Is Hate A More Common Verb Than Love?

Remember how worship is not only personally experiencing God and praising him through music, it's also enacted through service. Now we must find a way in our own lives to create a bridge form "worship service" to "worship through service", and it's no easy thing. It is one thing to be able to be a light in the workplace, at school, in the neighborhood, etc. and overcome the urge to hate all the wrong you see, but it's another to actually be pro-active about your faith and love not only by not hating but by, well, loving; because love is a verb.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. ~1 Corinthians 13:1-13

If you enjoy DC Talk, I guess they must not sound like a clanging cymbal and therefore, they must be God-sent people-lovers! Kidding; I can't really speak for them except that they put the song out there and they do make good music!

Now, essential to talking with others about how Christ could change their lives, you must be read up, meaning you can't just take a test without studying first. It needs to be ingrained in you, because when the Holy Spirit leads and you're listening, it won't always be at the most practical of times.

"I want to live like I lost the script." ~Icon For Hire

Why is it that nobody asks the question, "What would happen if I just never evangalized? It's not like that would stop me from getting to heaven..." Well, I'm pretty sure if you're down in the book, you would necessarily be a cold-hearted person, and only that kind of person would leave sinners as they are: Hell-bound.

Life is a McDonald's

It doesn't matter what you are experiencing, it matters what you know. When life becomes a ball of dirt and confusion, train yourself to keep remembering the basic points of faith, love and staying a strong character under stress; it's all those comforting truths that you used to know when the times were good. If you can't do that (stay strong during the difficulties), you can't really ever say anything during the good times without being hypocritical.

When the devil becomes your cloak, making you believe your own lies, just keep a mind to what Jesus would tell you, what you know in your soul, because it sounds so good, but you know it's just fake cheese.

Good thing they knew to follow the correct star. Everyone else was looking in the wrong place!

"I know what you would say, and it would sound like wisdom, but for the warning in my heart." ~Frodo Baggins

So if we can just know things, why can't we ever seem to act on that? Answer: because we will always be afraid of something that isn't there--death--unless we allow Jesus to cover some of that fear and doubt up with his encouraging smile.

"If death is victory, how afraid of life can we be?" ~Oh, Sleeper

Romans 16:20
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

Big Man Behind the Curtain

Two different, clashing cultures right now are those who hate on others that don't meet the standard and those who are accepting of all types. It's this idea that we should all be equal because of bully-prevention, human rights and so much more; things that don't directly tie in to God. Let me rephrase: they have always tied in with God's morals and laws, but the secular population tends to take a few of those morals and twist them so that they don't seem like religious views but are still convincing and crowd pleasing.

Human hands can’t serve his needs--for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. ~Acts 17:25

Now, the culture/movement that appreciates and supports individual rights and personal differences, those who advertise a better way to live, even for those who are often looked down upon, can actually be appraising differences too highly. The problem with uplifting peoples' differences as a standard higher or more important than those God has already set is that it puts us troubled mortals on the throne where God should be. God has actually always been the man behind the curtain to lift people up and bring them back to life, give companions to those willing to listen, and fixing their differences as He stands behind them letting them shine with his glorious reflection. It's just about how you view the lifting of the soul--you either see yourself winning the battle or you understand that there will always be a man behind the curtain helping you out if you only ask.

"When I close my eyes, do I see light or darkness? Because regardless, when I open them darkness is all that remains." ~Yours Truly

Don't Be Too Smart

Don't be smart in a good way. What I find so easy to do is think up or reference or hint or hear interesting truths about God, convincing ideas that get me going and I share them with people. That can be very good...but then...

"We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God's name to it." ~Oswald Chambers

Those truths can become common sense, and we begin to uplift the good ideas that happen to coincide with Jesus' teachings and things that he might say. However, that common sense and those inspirational ideas become the idol and they get in the way of worshiping God. If they cannot simply be a step, a reinforcement to be pocketed but not dwelt upon, then they are most likely going to become a sort of god, or at least making God become his moral standards rather than what he is: the ultimate, perfect and holy being who created those standards to keep us in our place.

"In essence, Jesus says, 'Continue steadily on with what I have told you to do, and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance.' Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard--we do not believe Him." ~Oswald Chambers again

Piscatorem piscis amare potest?

“The demons that make a person afraid are the hardest to cast out.” ~The Bronze Bow (book)

As a sort of epilogue to or follow-up of last week's blog...

Sometimes people can't see past the thing that blocks their view. Jesus asks us to not only see past those demons however, but to love those who might represent the demons we face in our own lives.

 

"'Daniel,' he [Jesus] said, 'I would have you follow me.'
'Master!....I will fight for you to the end!'

'My loyal friend,' he said, 'I would ask something much harder than that. Would you love for me to the end?'" ~The Bronze Bow (book)

Piscatorem piscis amare potest? Can the fish love the fisherman? Indeed it can. Does that mean it has to like it? Nope. You can dislike the sin, just not the sinner. Love the sinner (yourself included) for the life they have been given and the potential they have.

Open up your moat today!

De Profundis

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid. ~John 14:27

When you get into that pit, those ugly depths of self-torment and utter despair when life seems pointless and love has abandoned you, there aren't too many options for getting out again. Eventually we always do, whether it is because of a friend/someone who comes life, satisfying our depression with worldly pleasures, or seeking out a higher power to walk the road of life alongside us. It is impossible for anyone to journey through life without those low points when God might as well be a golden idol to spit upon, so to get out of that is no small thing. It takes faith and just a bit of theurgy. Theugry is the working of a divine or supernatural agency in human affairs.

Just let it go; there's always someone there to catch you!

From the depths of despair, O LORD, I call for your help. Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer. LORD, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive? But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you. I am counting on the LORD; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word. I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn. O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is unfailing love and an overflowing supply of salvation. He himself will free Israel from every kind of sin. ~Psalm 130

Isolato

 

  

Isolato, according to Mr. Dictionary, is a person spiritually isolated from society. As Christians, it can be one of the most difficult things to find a niche where we will not be affected by the things other people so easily give into. This is essential, however, to living according to God's plan and being in-the-know with him 24/7.

Be encouraged, because God can find a home in the frailest of hearts. Simply dedicate your whole life to him, live in the word, work hard at not giving in to temptations of the flesh, and then sit back and watch him do his work in you!

Apologetic Few

This is a section from The Apology: The Mission of Socrates - The Apology is Plato's version of the speech given by Socrates as he defended himself in 399 BC against the charges of "corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel" (24b). "Apology" here has its earlier meaning (now usually expressed by the word "apologia") of speaking in defense of a cause or of one's beliefs or actions (from the Ancient Greek ἀπολογία).

"Death is one of two things. Either it is annihilation, and the dead have no consciousness of anything; or, as we are told, it is really a change: a migration of the soul from this place to another. Now if there is no consciousness but only a dreamless sleep, death must be a marvelous gain. I suppose that if anyone were told to pick out the night on which he slept so soundly as not even to dream, and then to compare it with all the other nights and days of his life, and then were told to say, after due consideration, how many better and happier days and nights than this he had spent in the course of his life--well, I think that the Great King himself, to say nothing of any private person, would find these days and nights easy to count in comparison with the rest. If death is like this, then, I call it gain; because the whole of time, if you look at it in this way, can be regarded as no more than one single night. If on the other hand death is a removal from here to some other place, and if what we are told is true, that all the dead are there, what greater blessing could there be than this, gentlemen?"

Verisimilitude of Life

The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. ~John 16:9

The world sees a different truth than the one Jesus offers. The truth of the world is to live a good life; keep it simple. Sin is only a part of that complacency.

Just because it looks nice...

So how are we to know what's truth comparative to worldly morals? When things are so deceiving, they will sometimes look like something good when the real purpose behind it is to capture and tame its victims. The answer is simple. Nothing is too complex that you can't simply pray about it, ask God to guide you in the decision and then make the right choice about it. God wouldn't lead you somewhere deceiving, so just trust in your feet belonging to Him, live in Him 24/7, and you won't go wrong. 

And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. ~John 8:32