ENOUGH WILL BE ENOUGH

This journal entry will get loud; be prepared.

Reading Psalm 46 this morning I suddenly realized that a favorite verse (10) which calms many believers in times of stress, is not actually a very gentle verse.

We love the seeming gentleness of “Be still and know that I am God.” But I have always wondered why this gentle reminder is in this slightly turbulent Psalm. Why does the subject turn from talking about God's ability to control in a harsh and Godly manner, and suddenly become a gentle “prompting” to us to trust Him. Well. It apparently doesn't.

Not all versions use these words. Several use the Word, “CEASE! or DESIST!” And some notes indicate that the phrase “Be still...” could be translated: ENOUGH! And that would indicate that the words are actually directed to those causing the CHAOS in the world of sin. ENOUGH will be spoken and the sin and sinfulness will STOP! It will happen in God's time, but it WILL happen.

ENOUGH with the wars!

ENOUGH with the murders and other crime!

ENOUGH with the chaotic uprisings and hate mongering!

ENOUGH with brutality and stubbornness against God and His people.

ENOUGH with the lack of commonsense replaced by stupidity and cruelty.

ENOUGH of not listening to God Almighty!

ENOUGH! ENOUGH! ENOUGH!

CJB - “DESIST and learn that I am God,
supreme over the nations,
supreme over the earth.” (caps mine)

NAS - CEASE striving and know that I am God; (caps mine)

“BE STILL and know that I am God.” (caps mine)

ENOUGH! I AM GOD!

This is a reminder that God will not be eternally rejected. He will not let sin go on forever. He will put an end to it. Anyone not covered by the blood of Christ will be REJECTED by Him and will come to a very bad ending. He will conquer; and He will be the last word on the subject! Hallelu Yah! Amen.

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has wrought desolations in the earth.

9 He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariots with fire.

10 “Cease striving and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. NAS

REMEMBERING AN INFLUENCE

BUT I AM PRAYING...

In this first week of the 2017, I find myself tearing up over the influence of someone who has moved away from my life; but who had immeasurable influence on it.

When I came into this new phase of my life back in 2005, God literally pushed me into a program called Celebrate Recovery and broke my heart over what I had been and what I needed to be instead. CR, as we call it, was just the tool He wanted to use it to turn me from hating into loving; from twisting everything to God's failures in my life to seeing God's Great Power and Love and Mercy at work in my life.

The walk before me was extremely painful and exhausting. But due to this influential woman in my life, I learned to cling to God through, not just my own personal prayers and pleading, but by reaching out for Joy in the music that was the epitome of all that I needed to pray. Because of her, I became a “hand raiser,” unable to stop reaching up to God as I prayed along with these songs. To this day, I find pure Joy in singing my prayers. A morning of musical prayer is always a very high note in my life!

Since not many people in my church “arm raise,” the question sometimes came up as to whether it was really alright to do that.

At one evening prayer meeting, a small discussion came up and our precious guiding light Shepherd leader was put on the spot by everyone looking to him for an answer:

In his sweet way, he said that it surely is not wrong and, in itself does, not interrupt a calm and orderly worship service. But it is true that the Bible only mentions it in regard to prayer. What I did not say, but thought, was, “But I AM praying!”

I will never forget how this woman influenced my growth in Christ by showing me how to reach up to God in prayer, as well as look up to Him as the owner, Savior and Lord of my life.

May we all “reach up” to God with our prayers, even if our arms do not rise!

And may we see the power of God in our lives day after day in this new year and beyond!

DID MARY KNOW?

Of late I have seen arguments that say, “Of course she did. The Angel of God told her.” (Most of these comments were of male origin. Ladies, what do you think?)

Well, I do not have actual experience with being pregnant, but I am a woman and I have paid very close attention to the process over the years; vicariously, through many friends and relatives who have been pregnant. So I am going to jump in here and say, “No, she didn't”.

So what did Mary know?

She knew she was a virgin.

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

She also knew that she was betrothed to Joseph.

“...a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.”

She did not know why Gabriel greeted her the way he did.

“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

“Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.”

She was told to not be afraid because this was a message of blessing from God that he was bringing.

“Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.

So what did he actually tell her?

“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants

forever; his kingdom will never end.” and

“The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.“

Mary, in turn, said “good-bye” with these words:

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”

Then the angel left her. 

MARY DID YOU KNOW - Mark Lowry 

[Verse 1]
Mary did you know that your baby boy will some day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you.

[Verse 2]
Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.

Oh Mary did you know

The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb

[Verse 3]
Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding is the great I AM

She may be declared to have known, and maybe understood, the facts of verse three; but the truth is that she didn't know exactly what that entailed.

So the rest: probably not. She pondered the praises and blessings and certain other happenings, in her heart... but, no. she didn't know what would happen or when.

And the first thing she did not know was that they would have to flea from the murderous Herod to save the baby's life.

Nor did she know that He would grow up in a fairly normal way after that. Nor did she know when He would depart to His ministry. Nor did she know exactly what His ministry would be.

Remember that those expecting the Messiah, were expecting a warrior who would grab a sword and take over the whole world. And she was raising the gentlest, wisest child ever born.

No, she did not know or realize exactly what His life would really mean. But she stepped right up and said yes to God, and promised to keep this difficult calling which came from Him:

MARY'S SONG...

46 And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,

47 And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.

48 For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

49 For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.

50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.

51 He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.

54 He hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;

55 As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

Have you ever noticed that most of the truly beautiful praises recorded in God's Word come from a heart that remembers all the things that He has already accomplished? May we also have such a heart.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

DECLARED LOVE

As I was journaling this Sunday's sermon and went back to hear the end portion again, I was taken by the summary of the very last subject on the outline:

2 Cor 2:4 - For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you.

How often do we actually declare our love for other people? Or do we assume that they know that we love them and avoid telling them directly that we do? This is an age old problem that runs in families, and cultures down through time.

I am tempted to assume that in the Pharisaical culture that Paul was raised in, telling of love was a hard thing to do. Whether or not this is true, what is true is that when Paul met Christ, Christ filled him with love that ever overflowed from him to the people he was teaching.

In this case, the people had forgotten his love for them and became wrapped up in gossip about him; very negative and hurtful to him and harmful to them. As he is writing this letter he has just been through what he describes as a “life and death” situation which held him in some despair and now he is hearing about the gossip and harm that is a part of the church at this point. His heart is broken and the words he writes come from deep inside him. He must make corrections in their thinking and it weighs heavily on him to have to do that.

But he moves forward and writes an urgent letter to them from his heart; his Holy Spirit, love-filled heart! The overflow of the love that God has for Him is loudly stated in verse 2:4: I love you! I did love you, I do love you , and I will always love you; because God, Himself, gave me this love for you!

1 John 4:19 “We love because he first loved us.” We truly love only through God.

Wow. How often do we feel like that, let alone say that to the people we love?

We do not have the capacity to love a deep and abiding love without God's love in us. Love, without God's love, is always selfish. It happens when someone else makes an effort to love us and that makes us feel good. We respond to our own needs and not the needs of others. What can this love relationship do for ME; rather than how can this relationship help me do things to show love for that person.

May we grow in the ability to let God flow His great love out of us and onto others; coworkers, friends, extended family and especially to our children and our spouses. May we be quick to say “I love you,” or at least “Love ya” (and maybe a hug) to those God has given us to love.

I think that right now would be a good time for me to write down the names of as many extended relatives as I can think of and ask myself if I love them at all, let alone God's way. Will you join me?

DEVELOPING LOVE IN THE BODY

Colossians 3:14 - And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

12 - Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

When we were saved we became a part of the Body of Christ and were given the Holy Spirit to guide us, comfort us and give us the desire and the strength to be different—different from who we were and different from who non-Christians are. In many places in Scripture, we are told to be different; to cloth ourselves in various ways that protect us and help us shine in a world of darkness.

But He does not expect us to do this change alone. He gives us others , as brothers and sisters and members of the same body to reach out and achieve this change in ourselves and to help the others to also reach out in change.

Clothe yourselves with:

compassion—recognizing need and responding to it

kindness—keeping anger out of the situation

humility—taking blame wherever necessary

gentleness—speaking and acting with thoughtfulness

patience—repeating these things as often as necessary

13 - Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Most of our the simple hurts we experience in life are unintended: slights that may not have been meant as heard; injuries to our hearts or pride that may not even have been intended to hurt us, but were chosen as a hurt; some are actually intended, but may not be worth the time and effort to respond with being hurt. Checking these things off as inconsequential should be our chosen reaction. Getting angry and holding a grudge is not good for any body; yours or ours (the Body of Christ.)

This makes me think of the old adage about “If your head hurts, slam a hammer onto your finger and you will forget about your head hurting.” A pretty ridiculous thing to do, but probably true enough. Not giving others room to irritate us without creating a chasm in the body is the proper thing to do. Keeping the body healthy with forgiveness keeps the body working for Christ in the best way.

14 - And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself. This summation of God's commandments for us is the key to being different; God is Love; we love because He first loved us.

He also told us that others would know us by our love for one another:

Colossians 1:7... From the very first day you heard and recognized the truth of what God is doing, you’ve been hungry for more. It’s as vigorous in you now as when you learned it from our friend and close associate Epaphras. He is one reliable worker for Christ! I could always depend on him. He’s the one who told us how thoroughly love had been worked into your lives by the Spirit.

I Corinthians13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

15 - Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.



Peace develops in our lives as we turn away from fear and grumbling and turn more and more to Praise and Thanksgiving:



16 - Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.



One of my favorite preoccupations is to watch the sky. A clear sky is nice, but one with at least a few clouds is even better; the sky becomes a drawing board for God with wonderful patterns and shapes scattered about. Last night was an excellent example as an array of “mountainous” billowy cumulus clouds appeared in the sky reflecting the last lights of the day on bright white surfaces which appeared to be mountains in the distance. There are no mountains north of me, but it is always fun to look up and see the mountain-like clouds shining in God's Glory.



Another special time for me is catching bird pictures and videos from a site online Bird) that allows me to be a “bird watcher” from my home. It is wonderful to see the variety and colorfulness of birds around the world. There is no end to the numbers and colors and mating rituals! God's creatures are extremely beautiful (with the exception of spiders) and something to be enjoyed—from a distance—and to Praise the Lord about mountains, lakes, rivers, oceans, forests, meadows and even farmlands which are all beautiful to behold and rich and colorful enough to send us praising the Lord, the Creator of it all, even in it's sin tarnished state.



17 - And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.



And, thus we are instructed to pray IN Jesus Name... “In Jesus name, and for His sake, Amen.” The world seems to despise that phrase more than even the call to Allah for destruction of all who are not themselves. But that is God's fight. Ours is to tame ourselves with praises to Almighty God, through Bible truths and wonder. Ours is to love, even as God Almighty has loved us. His love endures forever; and it is never failing! Praise Him, Praise Him, Praise Him!

May we love one another enough to be noticed!

THE 24/7 WORK WEEK

MARK 2:27

Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.”

Here, Jesus was answering the Priests inquiry as to why He let His followers gather grain to eat on the Sabbath. He quite simply declared that the Sabbath was not a chain, but a blessing for all. It gave people the right to rest, for at least one day every week.

The people He included in this statement where not just the upper crust, but it did include the upper crust. And it went all the way down to the lowliest of slaves. God's commandment to keep the Sabbath was to insure that all people and animals would get a day of rest each week. For the Israelites the day was set—Saturday, the seventh day.

As the faith grew around the world and as Christ came and lived and died and rose again for us, believers began to celebrate Sunday, the first day of the week, as a day of rest in honor of His resurrection. There is a lot of debate a this, but the thing that really matters is that we take a day of rest every week.

There was a time in this country when businesses were closed and farmers did only the absolute necessities to care for their animals and then they also rested.

Now, of course, nearly all service businesses are open seven days a week, but most give their workers at least one day a week off, and most have been forced to give two days a week off; plus Holidays, and these holidays have been adjusted to be on Monday, creating a three day weekend almost every month.

All of that is to say, that we have been given more time off than seems right. But it does not stop there; especially if you count sick days, personal days, and vacation days. WOW. Talk about overkill!!

And yet, there are workers who do not get all of these privileged days off: It is those who work hard so that they can work even more; and they are primarily those who wish to move up the ladder, higher and higher. It also includes those who work for themselves and want to push themselves into what is considered successful in our society. And it includes those who are working for commissions, and pay taxes as an individual contractor. There are millions of these in this country. It also includes those who work two jobs that overlap and keep them working 7 days a week.

This is a sickness that invades our society so badly that homes are wrecked, stresses rise, and bodies fail; all because people are not taking a day of rest—at least one day of rest—each week.

We call this the “rat race” trying to be cute about it ; but mice can die of “body failure,” too, if they get too stressed out.

God gave us a clue and Jesus reiterated that clue: TAKE A DAY OF REST FROM YOUR WORK EVERY WEEK. Spend time with your family or friends and relax. Shut off your work computer; shut down your work phone; take time to breathe. The world will not end because you do that; but you might end because you did not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnjeMwxFuBA

PUSHING TIMETABLES

When I was young, time past too slowly. I pushed to be on with life. I am sure I am not alone in that. I pushed for school to start, I pushed for Christmas to come, I pushed for school to be out and summer to come. I pushed to be in the next level of classes.

Moving on in life was the dominate pressure. Time kept it's own schedule and I had to wait, wait, and wait. It was agony.

When I finally got out of school and I started working, time seemed to settle in: Things happened in good time and there was no need to rush. I was an adult and that was all I had been seeking as a child. Time was my friend now.

Now that I am more than officially old--declared by the letter I received from AARP, welcoming me to old age—I am frantic to slow things down. Time whizzes past me at lightening speed! Putting on the brakes does not help at all; but I keep trying.

Was it really ten years ago that I met and fell in love with several Middle School and High School teens? Are they really out there now ministering and working hard, even raising babies and trying live as good examples and good teachers of the faith. Some are actually teaching Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers. Wow. How did that all happen in such a short time?

Was it really five years ago that I helped with leading a group of five year olds learning to be cheerleaders? Now they are ten and quickly advancing through elementary school! The shoes I bought that matched the uniform shirts we wore are now officially five years old. Whoa! Too fast!

As I read in Mark this morning, I was loudly reminded that God has a timetable. He knows the beginning, the end and the circumstance of all the goes on in our lives. Mark 1:14  After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said...”

What struck me the loudest was that Jesus did not preach openly in Galilee until John was no longer preaching there! He did not push His Father's timetable! Neither did He try to stop what needed to happen in the meantime.

One of my greatest delights is that I know that God knew me before I was born and chose me to be my mother's baby. He did not place me until it was my time to be born. He did not withhold me just because I would be born in sin. It was my time and my place to be born.

He does not make mistakes and He does not waver. He sets the time. He created time. He uses time. And He knows the end of time and all things, including me.

He knows when and where and under what circumstances I will die. There is great comfort in that. Whatever happens to me, God will be in charge of whether I live or He takes me home. There is great in that truth.

I have nearly died three times: The first and second times I was completely unaware of how dangerous my problem was. The third time, I knew exactly how much danger I was in: I just smiled and let the Lord take care of everything. Obviously, He let me continue my life each time. God is Good!

Trusting God's timetable is one of the hardest things we are asked to do. We live in time and we want time! We want time to do all the things we want to do. We do not like to be interrupted. We do not like to be delayed. Nor do we like to be hurried. We have our own timetable entrenched in our heads (not necessarily a bad thing), and changes to the table are very hard for us.

But our beloved Jesus always knew when the time was right. He knew when to begin and He knew when to end. He asked the Father to override His desire for the time to die to be put off. He went willingly to the Cross to Die for our sins.

The least we can do is trust His timetable for our lives; even when it makes no sense at all to us. And that is much of the time.

Father, may we realize everyday that you are in charge of our time. And may we dedicate that time to you and to your timetable for us. May you bring us humbly to your side and walk us through this life with patience and trust. In Jesus Name, Amen.

CAN WE PRAY FOR SOMEONE WE HATE?

FROM MY HEART

According to Galatians, apparently we better.

When I was 17, God set me straight about one very important thing: Love and hate cannot live in the same heart.

I had been hating my Dad for all of my teen years. It was a very deep hatred which bound me tightly and made me determined that I would never forgive him for his mouth and his behaviors and his complete lack of being there for me when I needed him most. The very sight of him made me want to scream and run.

However, God gently told me that we (God and I) would never be able to work out my life together if I continued to hate him. “Love and hate cannot live in the same heart.” The hate had to go, no matter how much he deserved to be hated.

It was not easy to do, but is was easy to want to do and God helped me do it.

I prayed for him as hard as I prayed for my mother and my brother. I began to do kind things for him. He interpreted it wrong, of course. But I was not responsible for his interpretations. I was responsible for not hating him and for treating him kindly for Jesus sake.

GALATIANS 5

1.“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Hatred)

13-15. It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know a bout God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom. If you bite and ravage each other, watch out—in no time at all you will be annihilating each other, and where will your precious freedom be then? The Message

NIV

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit,

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; HATRED, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

20-23. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Our course of action is set for us. We are forbidden to hate. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This commandment is found throughout the Bible and is as solid as a rock.

My Mercies are new every morning and My Love endures forever! Solid rock promises from God to us.

Lord, may we examine ourselves and find any hate that is in our hearts, and turn away from it back to you. In Jesus name, and for His sake, Amen.

P.S. I happen to be terrible about praying for people who's behavior and ideology appear evil to me. Only prayer can make any difference in our lives or theirs.

SOME DO, SOME DON'T CELEBRATE

Today I bumped into a quote I had written perhaps more than a month ago and it stopped me short as the truth of it hit me again. “All Israel rejoices today, except for those who don't.”

This quote is from a fictional character caught up in the rejoicing over the celebration of the expected Savior. She was a wise Jewish mother in the town of Bethlehem at the time when Jesus was due to be born. But her excited exclamation can refer to anytime that we celebrate our God and our Lord: “Some do, and some don't.”

At this time of Easter, which used to be a country wide celebration, there are a multitude of people objecting to the day even being on the calendar, let alone being celebrated. Some Christians celebrate Palm Sunday; some Christians don't. Some Christians celebrate Good Friday; some don't. Some Christians get up early and go to Sunrise Services; some don't. Some Christians go to church on Easter Sunday, even though they never go there at any other time; some don't go even then.

And, then, there are those Christians and non-Christians who celebrate the day with the hiding and hunting of eggs and toys; a totally unrelated social experience that helps explain why it is a holiday to those who do not believe in the Resurrection of Christ.

The point is that “All Christendom rejoices on this day, except for those who don't.” We are not alone in our rejoicing and it goes on for 24 hours as the world turns and Sunday morning comes in places around the world.

We cannot force the world to rejoice with us. We cannot even force other Christians to rejoice with us. And we need to stop letting this truism frustrate, irritate, or anger us. We need to settle into celebrating to the max and letting those who “don't,” don't. In God's way of handling things, the “don'ts” have a purpose. It is He who will bring about His Own Glory, in His own way.

Meanwhile, we need to let our celebrating be known and to stand up for what we believe by doing, not by complaining.

This is a great time to start taking back our religious freedoms by simply doing what they say we cannot do: that is to casually bow our heads in prayer wherever we are and whatever we are doing. That alone will begin to bring about change in our lives and in the lives of others for whom we are praying.

Perhaps Good Friday at 3:00 would be a good time to start? Stop and thank God for the blood that was shed for your salvation and the pain that Jesus was willing to bare for our sake. Think about it.

Then we can move on to bigger issues that arise all around us; perhaps one at a time, as need be.

May God and His Wisdom be with us as we seek to live for Him.

THERE IS A TIME TO HATE

My Tenth Year Testimony

My thinking this morning jumped the fence and ran across a field before I could catch up with it. I was reading in I John 4 about recognizing the Holy Spirit in life around us and the admonition to LOVE, especially one another, because that is the way we know that the Spirit is alive in us. The chapter is all about LOVE.

Then my thinking jumped to an upcoming opportunity to share my recovery testimony and it ran off to a whole different subject: HATE

We see a lot of hate all around us, and many of us hate, or are tempted to hate, the people we see doing all these evil things. Then, perhaps, we mantra the phrase, “Hate the sin, but love the people!” This is an important proposition for Christians, but one we have trouble grasping at times.

But my mind, being set on recovery, did not hang around in that neighborhood at all. It ran right into the first words I spoke in my breakthrough to recovery: I HATE BEING ANGRY!

This was the key that turned the lock on my slavery to anger. And I was not the one who initiated that phrase. In fact, I was not sure who said that; and it stopped me in my tracks to think that I had said that. Why? Because I had always LOVED my anger. It was my go to, feel good about myself addiction.

Now, ten years later, I can say HATE is what brought me back to sanity. Hating being angry gave me reason to hope for a life not controlled by the anger. Hating being angry, and HATING the person I became every time I became angry, were tools God used to bring me out of the darkness of anger and into the light of LOVE.

So, as I mulled over these thoughts I developed a sermon on that subject:

If you want to recover from any Hurt, Hang Up or Habit (Recovery speak), then you need to let yourself HATE IT. You cannot play with it. You cannot continue to love it. More than that, you cannot continue to love the person you are—or become--when you submit to it. You must HATE that person. You must hate the ugly person you become and you must hate the addiction that brings that person out.

The ugly truth is that most addictions are loved.

That is why they are so hard to give up. They are like little teddy bears to the addicted. We reach for them, grab them to us, and hug them tightly. If recovery is going to work—it is TIME TO HATE.

We all know that “God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but shall have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) We also know that God is LOVE and that because God loves us, we can love others. But God does HATE something: He HATES sin. And we need to HATE our sin and the person we become when we sin.

God loves; God IS love; God sees us through loving eyes and aches to have us see ourselves as He sees us. But all we seem able to see is the helplessness and hopelessness of our lives. God has plans for all of us. But we are fully capable of thwarting those plans with our choices to continue loving and participating in our addictions.

It is time to start HATING. Not the people around us. Not even their sinful behavior and contemptible actions; but our own contemptible actions and behaviors. It is time to hate our addictions with a passion and to give them up to the power of Christ to heal us and to love us through it all.

Ten years later, I still have to be aware of the possibility of falling into anger again. I still have to watch out for all the little ways anger calls me back into its fold. I still struggle to keep myself clean from thoughts and habits which bring strength to the anger that wants to control me.

God loves me and He sees me through the blood of Christ, a veil I cannot see. The blood of Christ had paid for my sins and God has chosen to forget them. Thus, the need for us to dump our garbage and not carry it around with us. Confess it. Dump it by talking about it as a past thing, and never look back except to share your pain with others in pain.

He knows who I really am and He guides me into becoming stronger in the faith that keeps me at His side in all that I do. My weakness is His strength.

His plan is to make it all count for His Glory and for my Joy. He doesn't remember the screwed up me; He remembers the child He placed in my mothers womb and the child He has been guiding all along. He sees me as His child and loves me more than I can imagine.

At least a part of His plan is for my screw ups to help others with their screw ups. I hope my screw ups and healing have helped you. Praise the Lord! God is good.

I WAS SKEPTICAL ABOUT JOHN DUGGAR

The world has crashed mightily around the Duggar Family. For many years they had lived their lives in front of millions of strangers, proudly displaying their life of faith. They truly are people of faith, I believe; and even in this horrible time for them, Christ will guide them through all of this, teaching them and bringing ultimate Glory to Himself. God is bigger than this crisis. They, and we, have been humbled by the simple truth of sin.

I was not a “fan” of the Duggars, but I tried it out one year and enjoyed following the courtship, engagement and wedding of the first daughter. I was not convinced that their way of life was the only way for life to be lived; but they did make some great points about temptations and how to avoid them. I was not drawn back to watch it the next year.

Rest assured, I did not see a problem with having as many kids as you could support and enjoy raising. That argument is baffling to me. And I certainly support home schooling and family closeness in large doses.

My brother and I had none of that kind of support. We did not even have cousins our age to consider family and enjoy from time to time. It was just Bill and I, and we were close as very young children. Then we realized we did not like each other all that much and got over that. We were too different to quite make that connection.

I believe that the last thing Mom and Dad Duggar ever expected to have in their home was a sexual pervert, or murderer or any blatant sinful person. When they discovered his sins, they basically did everything wrong in their attempt to do right by him. I suspect that they had never been aware of the perversion of child molestation and did not have a clue how ingrained the temptation is. Nor were they aware of the broader implications that that sexual desire, kept at bay ,would explode somewhere, somehow over the years no matter how much counseling and retraining might be involved.

Regardless of what was done, I never believe that John had come to the conclusion that what he had done was really wrong. This is because of my own experience; and the known consistent failed results of trying to remove perversion from a heart determined to do it.

My Father came into my room when I was only 12 (or 13) and attempted to molest me. At first, I had the normal victim reaction of not understanding what was going on and not knowing what to do about it. But in his attempt to win me over to his side he told me that he was not really my father... I jumped up, threw the door open and yelled at him to get out and never come back. The victim spell was broken.

He never came back into my room, but he never quit molesting me with his eyes and gestures for the next years of my teens. I felt at risk if we were the only ones home, so I stayed in my bedroom a lot. He continued wanting to molest me and I knew it. I hated him.

Then after my seven year drought of not being able to worship the God I had come to love at 8 years of age, I was finally introduced to a church and a place where I could worship and praise and learn. In that learning, God was very close to me and He made it clear that He was Love (my Father who love me and did not want to harm me in anyway); but He also made it clear that Love and Hate could not live in the same heart. I had to forgive my Dad and at least try to be friendly to him. So, I did.

The sadist part of the story is that over the years, Dad continued to secretly reference the occasion and quip that he knew that I had enjoyed what “we” did: even to the day he died. He truly believe dthat he had done something that pleased me. He never repented or changed his mind in anyway. Perversion is a liar and those lies live loudly in the pervert.

Now that the most drastic news has been uncovered, I am not only not surprised, I am not yet finished asking questions: Did he molest his own children?

I personally knew a molester and his wife. He finally went to jail because what he was doing was finally told by a granddaughter. This was followed by confessions of his own children that he had molested them.

I kick myself about this because I should have recognized the signs. I simply laughed him off as he made passes at me and others right in front of his wife. I called him a dirty old man, the phrase of the day, and left it at that. Shame on me. My Dad was also a dirty old man who had had sex with every woman he possibly could, even on the day he married my Mom. It was a very tawdry story. And so was the one I had been watching.

Sin has a hold on all of us and we can fall into any of it in seconds. We can also be forgiven any of it in seconds. But we cannot be cured of it's effects quite that miraculously quickly. John Dugger had the unfortunate experience of being declared healed way too soon.

Any person who commits such sin must be watched; closely and forever. Even with God's help they need a kind of support that will seem an invasion of privacy, but which must be carried out; prayerfully. Only God can get into and grab hold of the sinful desires and cast them out; or help the person to lean on Him for self control of those desires

So, again I ask, Has he molested his own children? If so, he needs to own up to that as well. They will need a lot of help, and they must get it soon.

God, we know that you know this family only too well, and that there is a great deal of healing needed in every heart right now. We asked that you intervene in your powerful manner and help these children of yours to come clean and place their hurting hearts in your hands. The world is not finished punishing them. All they have is You, but You are enough, even for all of this. In Jesus Name and for His sake, Amen.

DO NOT LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE

While reading through Daktar, a book about the establishment of a Medical Mission work in East PakIstan (late 60s and early 70s), I find myself in the middle of something that reeks of today's political climate of cooperation with the enemy. As I was reading I also felt the heaviness of the deceit of the Japanese as they plotted our demise even while they were “cooperating” with peace negotiations in Washington D.C.

It makes my heart ache to realize once again that there is “nothing new under the sun.” It has long been said that if we do not learn from our history, our history will repeat itself over and over again. This is happening on so many sides right now that even thinking about it can make for a very heavy heart; even a sense of despondence and depression.

BUT GOD* - As we approach this Easter Sunday, we have every reason to rejoice that we live. One song on my heart these days is, Because He Lives, by Matt Maher  This song reminds us that our very lives are completely in His hands because He rose from that grave and gives us new life as we surrender to Him in faith and worship.

So many passages in His Word remind us that He is in charge of the nations and, though we must be watchful (including refusal to cooperate with the enemy), we must Trust in Him and pray heartily that His Will be done with us and with our temporary home on this earth.

Even as the Missionaries involved with the enormous task of bringing life and love to these needy people of East Pakistan -- now Bangladesh – we must also go about our business as He guides us, while being bent on our knees with the realization that the only thing that can change what is happening around us is the Will of God,. And our job is to pray earnestly for just that in every move we make and every conversation we have.

At the height of the turmoil in East Pakistan, there was a free election nation wide that brought a new President elect. This election was the first to be directly from the ballot to the result with no middle men being elected to cast votes for the president or anyone else. (Sound familiar? The electoral voting system?) This President Elect, as we would call it, had no authority until sworn into office, an event the West Pakistan government was determined to stop at all cost. And the fighting raged into a cyclone of national destruction in East Pakistan in order to destroy him and his followers - who numbered more than any other group of people in this split Nation – from taking office and power over entire Pakistan.

Meanwhile “peace talks” went on, with the President elect attempting to make a deal with the enemy, who posed as ready to make peace, while actually building up an army of West Pakistan soldiers and an arsenal of weapons within the boarders of the East. When the “papers” were agreed to and the signatures were expected, the hidden army burst out of their hiding and slaughtered millions of Bengali's and Hindus.

While our President Roosevelt sat in conference with the Japanese officials, Japan slaughtered thousands of people in Honolulu.

While our current President sits at conferences to make peace with our enemies, our enemies are getting stronger and stronger. And he looks the other way. Meanwhile, our only reliable supporter in the midst of all this mess, is rejected by him as an unruly intruder in the Middle East.

Again I say, *“BUT GOD.” This is a book written by our Associate Pastor, Casey Lute, which explains how often things looked and were dismal, BUT GOD intervened and He still is in charge and can and will intervene as He sees fit.

So how do we stop those sleeping dogs from taking over the world? We PRAY, and we pray and we pray: together and singly, we pray. And we PRAISE: together and singly, we praise!

Our Hope is in Him. And, at this season of rejoicing, we have many reasons to give ourselves to Him completely. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! HE LIVES; HE LIVES INDEED.

AMEN! AMEN! I'M ALIVE! I'M ALIVE, BECAUSE HE LIVES...

AN EVER PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE

Yesterday I shared this photo on facebook asking, “What does trusting God look like?”

As a former cat lady, I came to see a truth unfold about cats: They only sleep like this when are are completely at peace with where they are. Wild cats do not sleep like this. Neither do feral cats nor strays.

My lady, Polo, was transported away from us on her 1st Birthday. We lived where people came and went frequently. It could have been an accident. But she was gone for a whole year, arriving back home in the same month that she had disappeared. She knew she was home, but she was still on alert, looking over her shoulder constantly and sleeping only briefly with her senses on full alert.

Eventually, she calmed down and began to sleep comfortably with her brothers and mother around her. But she never, ever trusted strangers again. She could take off faster than a rocket ship when any stranger came around her. She gained quite a reputation as a sprinter. She never quite got this comfortable again.

As I live among loved ones who are in many different types of troubling and suffering, I find it difficult to speak in sincere words rather than cliches and well worn Bible verses. My greatest desire is that God will hug them tightly as they travel through these troubles and will make His presence known to them.

Psalm 45 starts with just such a promise: God is (my) refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

I choose to quote the King James here because “a very present help” means something deeper to me than just “a help.”

To me it says that God is in the midst of it. God is deeply present in whatever is going on. He saw it coming, He was and is prepared for it and He will help us to it, through it, or out the other end of it, as He sees fit. But He will never, ever, leave us alone in it. He suffers along side us as we walk the path He sets before us.

This verse touched my heart today on behalf of those many whom I know who are suffering through serious trials:

A tiny daughter with something unknown taking her down. Some tests have revealed that the worst case is not the reason. But more tests must be done and a diagnosis must be made. This is frightening. They need to know and trust God's part in this.

Another family with a second diagnosis of Juvenile diabetes.

Cancer patients in various stages of healing; a great grandfather separated from his family due to insurance issues and his need to be diagnosed through test after test on his veins; families who have just adopted and those who are seeking adoption against the wall of bills that will need to be paid overall, and the heartbreak of anticipation; but they are determined to give a baby a loving home; and then. there are friends with issues too personal to mention. They all need the strength that God has for them if they rest in Him and and a heart that knows that He is present with them every hour of everyday.

I can only pray that God will strongly make His presence known to them all and be with them as He has promised in many places in His word. And I pray that they will feel His presence and find their strength in Him, as He walks with them, never leaving their side.

There are approximately 104 Bible references to God's UNFAILING LOVE. This is just one:

Psalm 27:3 – For I am constantly aware of your unfailing love, and I have lived according to (that) truth.

May we all live with this truth at the front of our minds and imbedded deep in our hearts so that we may bring peace to our hearts and glory to God as a result. Amen.

INFECTUOUS DISEASES STRIKE FEAR IN THE WORLD

Currently we are in a world of panic over a particular infectiuous disease called Ebola, or Ebola Virus, the hemorrhagic fever caused by the Ebola virus – AKA: Ebola Fever.

The media (and certain governers) are intent on causing panic over this whole situation, even though our learning curve is high and in force, changing as needed for each situation, and containment has been close to miraculous.

But Ebola is definitely a very dangerous virus. And there is no doubt that it must be contained.

However, all reason has left the reporting and panicking over this disease. It has clearly been shown that people who do not attend to someone in end stage Ebola have very miniscual chance of getting the virus. At the very least they have to have touched the person in some way and would have to have been direct in contact with some form of that person's bodily fluids in order to even be watched for symptoms.

The fact that American doctors and hospitals are getting ahead quickly in this invasion of a virus has not really come through in the reporting and speculations about the coming catastrophe. Right now, everyone who comes down with a fever seems to be a cause for fear.

Panic is a strong

I was having a conversation with a stranger over a year ago, maybe two, and as we discussed our aches and pains in our aging years, she suddenly said this mouthful:

You know our bodies are not made to fail like this. They are supposed to be perfect, but they have flaws. Someday science will figure out what to do about that.

As my jaw dropped and my mind was grasping what she had said, the person we were there to talk with came up to us. I was blown away that she had given me a perfect opportunity to explain that situation in testimony for Christ and that the opportunity flashed away as quickly as it had come! I was dumb founded, to say the least.

She was so right: Our bodies were not meant to be weak and vulnerable. But Science is not the answer. God, and God alone is the answer.

As for the Ebola “epidemic,” the truth is that even with the few patients brought into this country, and even with those in this country coming down with this, we are nowhere near the need for panic. But that is the big buzz for now: Epidemic sure to follow! We will all be killed.

Actually we like to panic about a lot of things - check this list I borrowed from facebook:

But, truly, there is one infection that will kill us all and which we cannot avoid. No one can.

It is the most destructive infection of all infections. Way too many people refuse to recognize that it even exists, let alone panic about it; rather, they keep trying to obliterate any thought of it from their lives.

This is an infection that all of us are born with and it came “genetically” down the line through our ancestors, destroying lives left and right for centuries; bringing all that were born to a time of dying: no exceptions. Well, okay, there were a couple of people whom God reached down and brought up from the earth before they had a chance to die; But even they were destined to die from this disease if God had not taken them home to be with Him, out of his deep love for them.

This disease is SIN. Even before we are born we have begun to die, because sin has permeated this world and no one can escape it. Even before we are born distress effects our lives; dead cells collect as hair and nails; and some things begin to go wrong with our development: some of those being life threatening, while some are actual impairments or simply distressful annoyances once we are born.

In this day and age the word sin is laughed at. Even the word evil is frowned upon, though we see it at work every single day of our lives and it enriches the imaginations of those who love horror.

But sin and evil do exist. It is a topic of much discussion ,not only in Christianity, but in religions world wide. There are many remedies suggested, and many ways to express it are shown constantly in movies and TV shows, even in innocent comics, movies and TV shows.

Why are Super Heroes needed? Because there are evil forces at work all around us. Someone has to save us from them. If there is no good and no evil there cannot be such comics and movies and shows. But they do exist, so... on some level we all pretty much acknowledge the struggle between good and evil.

Christians did not make this up. It is “Good Guy vs Bad Guy” all over the place, all over the world. Christians are simply trying to tell you the truth about good and evil: that evil is led by Satan, who is Evil itself; and good is led by God, who IS GOOD.

Satan came into the lives of Adam and Eve and established his reign on earth by infecting them with his Evil. God, knowing this test would come, had already planned the only way out of this predicament through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. And God kept His word that Christ's Blood would be shed for the sins of all mankind. And that all who asked would be forgiven their sins through that shed blood.

This is a very short summary of this truth of sacrific which can be found in Christianity, but also in many other religions who developed their own sacrificial lambs to artificial gods.

The point is that knowing Christ is a life changing thing. Following a religion is slavery to rules and regulations, none of which help change or cure the conditon of sin.

There are many ways to begin seeking this truth, but the important one is to choose Christ with your heart and voice: let yourself hear Him call you, and answer Him with a ”Yes, Lord, I am here.”

Christ is wooing you even now, let Him into your heart and your life and change your direction from sinning and doing evil, to following Him through this sin-filled world, with a goal of seeing Him one day in the true home of God, where Love lives.

What are the benefits of accepting this truth: Eternal life with God in Heaven and expert assistance for getting through this life as the Holy Spirit of God enters your life and brings you Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness (a God who is faithful to you and helps you to want to be faithful to Him), Gentleness and Self-Control. As you follow Him, you will grow and grow away from the sinfulness of your earthly life to the eternal faithfulness and peace of the next.

If you are sick of sin and greatly disturbed about the evil going on around you, take the time to seek God now:

God so loved the world that He gave (to death) His only Son (Jesus Christ) that whoever believes in Him shall not perish (to eternal death) but (shall instead) have everlasting life (with God in Heaven.)

For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through Him, might be saved (healed from sin.)

(Whoever) believes on Him is not condemned: but he that does not believe (on Christ) is condemned already (to eternal death) because he has not believed on the Name of the only Son of God (Jesus Christ.)

Check out John 3:16 online at Bible Gateway and you will see many translations of this truth.

Seek Him while he may be found. And, if you are reading this, He may be found right now. Just ask Him for His help for you to believe this. He is listening for your prayer.

May those who hear (by reading this) also respond to it and find the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior today.