I do not forgive for the sake of my own peace; I forgive to reconcile the relationship when someone is repentant and desires to heal the bond of friendship.
Luke 17:3-4 "…3Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
God is all about relationships and little about feelings. We have feelings, and we need to pay attention to them, not to act on them, but to gauge our hearts to see if we are indulging ourselves or obeying God. We must evaluate our feelings according to the Word of God so that we do not follow feelings that are not accurate.
Feelings lie to us often; they tell us things are bad when they are good, and things are good when they are bad. We cannot trust our feelings, which is why I place no value on making myself feel better by claiming to forgive when someone is unrepentant.
Nothing is resolved according to feelings. In fact they can make us feel proud that we are special because we feel good about forgiving, but it does not cleanse us of anything, nor does it help the relationship.
Saying, "I forgive" someone who is not repentant does nothing at all. It does not resolve any problems, it does not seek to understand someone, nor does it cleanse anyone of anything.
God is not about pretending attitudes to feel superior; He is about resolving problems between people. If they cannot be resolved because someone will not admit to their failures, then we must move on and let God.
We are commanded to bless those who curse us when in company with an offender, but this is not a resolution to a conflict, nor can the relationship be mended until there is sadness that the relationship is broken.
Confession of offense and forgiveness are two sides of the same coin; both must be present for a relationship to be restored. When we pretend we forgive but do not reconcile, then the process is not complete, and the relationship remains broken.
It has been psychology that has taught this idea that we should just say in our head we forgive when someone else is not repentant to make ourselves feel better, but it is useless to God's plan.
God does not forgive without repentance; He is our ultimate example. When there is repentance and forgiveness extended it is a beautiful thing, and the relationships become stronger than it was before.
God cares more about results based on His principles than He does about feelings. We can only do our part, which is seeking confession to be reconciled; we cannot do the part of the other person.
Notice you rarely hear of anyone chastising the offender to confess and repent? All the pressure is placed on the one who was wronged to forgive, but no pressure is placed on the one who offended. Seems unbalanced, doesn't it?
Next time you are tempted to chastise people to forgive someone, be sure you also go to the offender and tell them to repent. And, be sure you counsel the one to wait upon the repentance before forgiving, so there will be a real and lasting bond of friendship.
We are seeking reconciliation, as well as spiritual and emotional maturity, which only comes from both confession and forgiveness. We are not seeking a superficial sweeping under the rug and pretending you did your part by messaging your feelings.
Luke 17:3-4 "…3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”"
Let's obey the Bible when God says; "rebuke your brother" and "if he comes and says I repent, forgive him."
Thursday, May 21, 2026
Appreciating One Another in the Body of Christ
Fellowship gatherings in homes in the first century were devoted to the people centered around Christ and not a building or a system.
It is a wonderful thing because everyone is free to share, edifying one another as they speak of Christ. The relationships were deeper because they were centered around Christ, not a man-made system with rules and expectations God never commanded.
1 Corinthians 14:26 " 26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a psalm or a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done to build up the church."
The leaders did not dominate the church gathering; they guided by example and teaching, and all were included in the exchange, allowing others to bring their perspectives and gifts. When we know the gifts of each are from the Holy Spirit, we will not be criticizing others or expecting them to be something God never called them to be.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
"12 For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body is not one part, but many.
15 If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.
16 And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has arranged the parts, each one of them in the body, just as He desired.
19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?
20 But now there are many parts, but one body.
21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again, the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
22 On the contrary, it is much truer that the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;
23 and those parts of the body which we consider less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor, and our less presentable parts become much more presentable,
24 whereas our more presentable parts have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked,
25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same care for one another.
26 And if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if a part is honored, all the parts rejoice with it."
In God's body of believers, no one is less than anyone else, and all are to be honored and blessed by the love of the others.
When we appreciate that everyone has a part and everyone is to be loved, there will not be competitiveness or a sense of superiority.
We can even appreciate differing personalities that bring color and life to everyone else. With this perspective, we can stop judging things that are not sin and be grateful, treasuring our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Praise God for His design within the church gathering and the beauty of it when all work together in their particular gifts.
It is a wonderful thing because everyone is free to share, edifying one another as they speak of Christ. The relationships were deeper because they were centered around Christ, not a man-made system with rules and expectations God never commanded.
1 Corinthians 14:26 " 26 What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a psalm or a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. All of these must be done to build up the church."
The leaders did not dominate the church gathering; they guided by example and teaching, and all were included in the exchange, allowing others to bring their perspectives and gifts. When we know the gifts of each are from the Holy Spirit, we will not be criticizing others or expecting them to be something God never called them to be.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27
"12 For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14 For the body is not one part, but many.
15 If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.
16 And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any less a part of the body.
17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But now God has arranged the parts, each one of them in the body, just as He desired.
19 If they were all one part, where would the body be?
20 But now there are many parts, but one body.
21 And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again, the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
22 On the contrary, it is much truer that the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary;
23 and those parts of the body which we consider less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor, and our less presentable parts become much more presentable,
24 whereas our more presentable parts have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked,
25 so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same care for one another.
26 And if one part of the body suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if a part is honored, all the parts rejoice with it."
In God's body of believers, no one is less than anyone else, and all are to be honored and blessed by the love of the others.
When we appreciate that everyone has a part and everyone is to be loved, there will not be competitiveness or a sense of superiority.
We can even appreciate differing personalities that bring color and life to everyone else. With this perspective, we can stop judging things that are not sin and be grateful, treasuring our brothers and sisters in Christ.
Praise God for His design within the church gathering and the beauty of it when all work together in their particular gifts.
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
What We Teach Others Exposes Our Own Mentality
Some people are teaching young people to have their fun before getting married, have their fun before having children, because one day they will have to stop having fun, so do it while you can.
The sad truth about this mentality is that life is not about fun. It's about living life for God and for Spiritual and emotional growth so that when old age arrives, we will be full of wisdom and insight.
The wisdom and insight do not come from pleasure, so any growth is delayed until there is sobering of the heart that desires to put away childish pleasures to begin learning about life and truth.
1 Corinthians 13:11 "11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."
Many, perhaps most people today are delaying their wisdom, remaining spiritual and emotinal infants. By the time they should have it, they have developed a full life experience of avoiding it to have fun. The habit of a lifetime is pleasure. Not only has wisdom been avoided it has been interpreted into modern language that elevates play above everything else.
2 Timothy 2:22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart."
1 Corinthians 10:7 "Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”
Life with Christ is full of pleasures that flow from love, developing relationships on the mutual pursuit of working together for the greater good. Seeking God for His purposes, serving others as led by Christ.
Every day is a blessing and an adventure when we live for Christ. Our adventures are simple and uncomplicated. We see the children playing in the yard, the deer walking through, the rabbits in the grass, the smell of freshly cut grass, and the birds that are singing. Things we don't have to chase after but are right in front of us are God's blessings and joy we carry every single day.
There are more blessings, such as the joy of sharing with a friend their heartache or their accomplishments. My husband says frequently, "A shared blessing is a blessing doubled, and a shared grief is half a grief.
When we share with one another the experiences of life, we strengthen and encourage one another. This is a lost art in our day, with everyone wanting to share their own stuff with no interest in the experiences of others.
Why do so many want to share about themselves but are uninterested in others? The answer is clear: we live in a culture of boasting to impress others.
People are remaining immature longer in our culture. Their focus is so self centeredd, boast oreiented and deeply insecure that it cannot find purpose other than pleasure, which has become addictive.
Normal life with all its challenges are no longer fulfilling for most.
In this culture, people pursue God for the sake of what they can get out of Him. Just as they pursue others for what they can get out of them. The basic mentality is to surround themselves with those who elevate them.
1 Timothy 5:6 "But she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives."
We do not want to be self-indulgent people. As born-again believers, we want to be useful for the kingdom of God, even if it means in small matters. Taking care of business in our families, living a Christian witness of love in the community, extending a helping hand to others, and more, as led by the Holy Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 4:4 "That each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,"
Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
The sad truth about this mentality is that life is not about fun. It's about living life for God and for Spiritual and emotional growth so that when old age arrives, we will be full of wisdom and insight.
The wisdom and insight do not come from pleasure, so any growth is delayed until there is sobering of the heart that desires to put away childish pleasures to begin learning about life and truth.
1 Corinthians 13:11 "11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."
Many, perhaps most people today are delaying their wisdom, remaining spiritual and emotinal infants. By the time they should have it, they have developed a full life experience of avoiding it to have fun. The habit of a lifetime is pleasure. Not only has wisdom been avoided it has been interpreted into modern language that elevates play above everything else.
2 Timothy 2:22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart."
1 Corinthians 10:7 "Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”
Life with Christ is full of pleasures that flow from love, developing relationships on the mutual pursuit of working together for the greater good. Seeking God for His purposes, serving others as led by Christ.
Every day is a blessing and an adventure when we live for Christ. Our adventures are simple and uncomplicated. We see the children playing in the yard, the deer walking through, the rabbits in the grass, the smell of freshly cut grass, and the birds that are singing. Things we don't have to chase after but are right in front of us are God's blessings and joy we carry every single day.
There are more blessings, such as the joy of sharing with a friend their heartache or their accomplishments. My husband says frequently, "A shared blessing is a blessing doubled, and a shared grief is half a grief.
When we share with one another the experiences of life, we strengthen and encourage one another. This is a lost art in our day, with everyone wanting to share their own stuff with no interest in the experiences of others.
Why do so many want to share about themselves but are uninterested in others? The answer is clear: we live in a culture of boasting to impress others.
People are remaining immature longer in our culture. Their focus is so self centeredd, boast oreiented and deeply insecure that it cannot find purpose other than pleasure, which has become addictive.
Normal life with all its challenges are no longer fulfilling for most.
In this culture, people pursue God for the sake of what they can get out of Him. Just as they pursue others for what they can get out of them. The basic mentality is to surround themselves with those who elevate them.
1 Timothy 5:6 "But she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives."
We do not want to be self-indulgent people. As born-again believers, we want to be useful for the kingdom of God, even if it means in small matters. Taking care of business in our families, living a Christian witness of love in the community, extending a helping hand to others, and more, as led by the Holy Spirit.
1 Thessalonians 4:4 "That each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,"
Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Let Them Go and Move On with Your Life
In another thread, I was watching a man speak of those who assumed that if a child cut off their parents, then the parents must have been bad parents.
Define "good parents" The best parents are the ones who tried to teach their children good things, but the culture made the children think their parents were bad for having standards and rules.
The parents who do not get cut off are often those who have no standards.
Adam and Eve, who only had one perfect parent, and that was God, defied Him. He is perfect, and yet His children defied Him. David, a man after God's own heart, has a child named Absalom who hated him.
The prodigal son demanded his inheritance so he could go live wickedly. He hated his father and yet nowhere in the scriptures does God say he was a bad parent.
To assume that children are right that their parents were bad enough to be entirely rejected by their children is a form of gossip. Unless you saw what went on daily in a household with the children, you cannot judge the parenting as bad.
Rebellious children will take innocent acts and even good teaching and call it bad. They are never satisfied with just hating their parents; they must punish them by keeping their grandchildren from them and even gossiping about them to turn others against them.
Often these rebellious children marry rebellious people who enjoy the estrangement of their spouse from their parents. They not only facilitate the angry mentality but also endorse it.
We are living in the 2 Timothy 3 times of every evil mentality possible in families.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "Difficult Times Will Come
3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."
Do not allow the rejection of your children to cause you to ruminate on the hate; get on with your life without them, knowing that their company was nothing but continual anger and retaliation for things you never did to them, but they wanted to believe you did.
Titus 3:9-10 "9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, arguments, and quarrels about the law, because these things are pointless and worthless. 10 Reject a divisive man after a first and second admonition, 11 knowing that such a man is corrupt and sinful; he is self-condemned."
To be overcome with grief over the loss of your children is to be co-dependent. You must move on and allow your children to do the same. If they come back repentant, then we can rejoice, but if they want to come back to cause more trouble, you must not allow it.
Define "good parents" The best parents are the ones who tried to teach their children good things, but the culture made the children think their parents were bad for having standards and rules.
The parents who do not get cut off are often those who have no standards.
Adam and Eve, who only had one perfect parent, and that was God, defied Him. He is perfect, and yet His children defied Him. David, a man after God's own heart, has a child named Absalom who hated him.
The prodigal son demanded his inheritance so he could go live wickedly. He hated his father and yet nowhere in the scriptures does God say he was a bad parent.
To assume that children are right that their parents were bad enough to be entirely rejected by their children is a form of gossip. Unless you saw what went on daily in a household with the children, you cannot judge the parenting as bad.
Rebellious children will take innocent acts and even good teaching and call it bad. They are never satisfied with just hating their parents; they must punish them by keeping their grandchildren from them and even gossiping about them to turn others against them.
Often these rebellious children marry rebellious people who enjoy the estrangement of their spouse from their parents. They not only facilitate the angry mentality but also endorse it.
We are living in the 2 Timothy 3 times of every evil mentality possible in families.
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "Difficult Times Will Come
3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."
Do not allow the rejection of your children to cause you to ruminate on the hate; get on with your life without them, knowing that their company was nothing but continual anger and retaliation for things you never did to them, but they wanted to believe you did.
Titus 3:9-10 "9 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, arguments, and quarrels about the law, because these things are pointless and worthless. 10 Reject a divisive man after a first and second admonition, 11 knowing that such a man is corrupt and sinful; he is self-condemned."
To be overcome with grief over the loss of your children is to be co-dependent. You must move on and allow your children to do the same. If they come back repentant, then we can rejoice, but if they want to come back to cause more trouble, you must not allow it.
Salvation is Entirely a Work of Christ
Salvation to those who think they can lose it depends entirely on them.
If it did not depend on them, then they would not fear losing their salvation.
If any part of salvation depends on us, then all of it depends on us.
I don't think these people believe they needed the cross at all because ultimately they determine their salvation by their own works.
Ephesians 2:8-9 "8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
Did God lie when He said no one can save themselves, that there is no good in man that could save him.
Romans 7:18-19 "18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.…"
People say, "He is a good person, look at all the good he does." What they don't know is the heart of the one who "does the good." People who are not saved do good to glorify themselves, so they are not good; they only want to be seen as good by others.
The person who walks with Christ, doing authentically good things in obedience to Christ, is doing it through the Holy Spirit, and God gets the glory.
Romans 3:10-12 "as it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Since no one is good and cannot save themselves, then how could they do enough to gain heaven? Their good deeds are as filthy rags to God because only He is good and could do what was needed to save mankind, which was to shed His innocent blood on the cross to pay for our sins. We couldn't shed our own blood to save ourselves, so how could we possibly do anything short of shedding blood to earn or keep salvation?
Is a good deed equivalent to the shedding of blood? Of course it would be silly to say that. Since we cannot shed our own blood because we are "wicked without remedy", and Christ had to pay the price for us by shedding His blood, how could we think our silly little selfish good works save us on any level?
Those who think they are saving themselves by their good deeds or keeping their salvation by good deeds are trusting in themselves and not Christ. Ultimately, in their mind, they are in control of their own salvation, which is blasphemy.
Romans 3:10-11 "10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."
Galatians 3:10 "All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
If it did not depend on them, then they would not fear losing their salvation.
If any part of salvation depends on us, then all of it depends on us.
I don't think these people believe they needed the cross at all because ultimately they determine their salvation by their own works.
Ephesians 2:8-9 "8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast."
Did God lie when He said no one can save themselves, that there is no good in man that could save him.
Romans 7:18-19 "18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.…"
People say, "He is a good person, look at all the good he does." What they don't know is the heart of the one who "does the good." People who are not saved do good to glorify themselves, so they are not good; they only want to be seen as good by others.
The person who walks with Christ, doing authentically good things in obedience to Christ, is doing it through the Holy Spirit, and God gets the glory.
Romans 3:10-12 "as it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Since no one is good and cannot save themselves, then how could they do enough to gain heaven? Their good deeds are as filthy rags to God because only He is good and could do what was needed to save mankind, which was to shed His innocent blood on the cross to pay for our sins. We couldn't shed our own blood to save ourselves, so how could we possibly do anything short of shedding blood to earn or keep salvation?
Is a good deed equivalent to the shedding of blood? Of course it would be silly to say that. Since we cannot shed our own blood because we are "wicked without remedy", and Christ had to pay the price for us by shedding His blood, how could we think our silly little selfish good works save us on any level?
Those who think they are saving themselves by their good deeds or keeping their salvation by good deeds are trusting in themselves and not Christ. Ultimately, in their mind, they are in control of their own salvation, which is blasphemy.
Romans 3:10-11 "10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."
Galatians 3:10 "All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Lies from the Devil that have Ruined many in the Church
1 John 1:9 "9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1:9 says that to grow in holiness, we are to confess and ask to be cleansed. This is not about salvation but about growing in Spiritual maturity. Those who lack Spiritual and emotional maturity are not asking to be cleansed because they cannot admit they have flaws and hidden sin.
Most Christians are buying into false doctrine, self-indulgence and self-reliance to appear holy, because they have been trained to love themselves first.
Anyone who loves themselves first will never love Christ.
For many years, we heard people say, "if you don't love yourself first, you won't love anyone else." That was a lie of the devil. God says we must love God first and deny ourselves.
If we cannot deny ourselves, then we will neither love God nor others. The more we love God, the less we think about ourselves, and the more we are dedicated to Christ, which will result in loving others.
Often, our modern culture takes three words out of the scriptures and makes a false doctrine out of it without the benefit of the rest of Scripture. Satan loves this and uses it frequently in these days of apostasy.
May each of us be diligent to find the meanings of practices and follow only those things as described in Scripture.
1 John 1:9 says that to grow in holiness, we are to confess and ask to be cleansed. This is not about salvation but about growing in Spiritual maturity. Those who lack Spiritual and emotional maturity are not asking to be cleansed because they cannot admit they have flaws and hidden sin.
Most Christians are buying into false doctrine, self-indulgence and self-reliance to appear holy, because they have been trained to love themselves first.
Anyone who loves themselves first will never love Christ.
For many years, we heard people say, "if you don't love yourself first, you won't love anyone else." That was a lie of the devil. God says we must love God first and deny ourselves.
If we cannot deny ourselves, then we will neither love God nor others. The more we love God, the less we think about ourselves, and the more we are dedicated to Christ, which will result in loving others.
Often, our modern culture takes three words out of the scriptures and makes a false doctrine out of it without the benefit of the rest of Scripture. Satan loves this and uses it frequently in these days of apostasy.
May each of us be diligent to find the meanings of practices and follow only those things as described in Scripture.
Rituals God Never Commanded for the Church
In recent years, I asked God what the hand holding in a circle when praying was all about. It seemed ritualistic based on pagan practices.
I was one of those irritating children who was always asking why. I think my parents saw it as rebellion instead of a desire to understand the why of everything we did.
The idea that there is greater power in the prayer, incentivizing God to hear and answer when we are in solidarity, smacks of ritual that expects God to do more if we practice this, a sort of manipulation of God.
Within pagan ceremonies, there is a saying "complete the ring", with the expectation that the spirits will come if we are in solidarity. It is perceived as a manipulation and power technique.
It seems to be that in holding hands to pray, we are focusing more on the people around us than on Christ. The sense that the power is in the people and the holding of hands and not in Christ.
John 4:24 "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth".
The holding of hands originated from Pentecostal and Charismatic groups, who have added a lot of ideas that are not Biblical, often emulating the pagans, thinking it will bring greater power.
Another ritual that came from paganism that Christians have adopted is the practice of putting one's hands together to pray. We see no mandate or example in the Bible of believers doing this, but we do see it in pagan religions.
When we ask God to show us the traditoins we were raised with to see if they are taught by God, He opens our eyes to many things Christians practice and even require of one another that God never commanded or endorsed. They were brought into Christianity by people who wanted to feel spiritual, so they adopted these practices from paganism, thinking they would Christianize them.
The problem is they adopted the rules that became habits and turned them into mandates that caused others to judge one another over something that is not Biblical or godly.
Mankind has the habit of desiring to appear more spiritual while disobeying the scriptures. They hold dear to their own idea of holiness based on rituals that are useless in our walk with Christ.
God's word is so simple and does not require many rituals. God gave us the Lord's supper to remember Christ and what He did on the cross. He also gave us the head covering during the gathering to demonstrate the relationships between Christ and the church. He gave us baptism to demonstrate the born-again experience and Christ coming to live in the believer at salvation.
These practices were given by God; nothing more needs to be added to walk with Christ, only the things He gave. Anything else is man's pride, adding things to feel more spiritual.
To add things to our Christianity that God never gave is a matter of pride. We think we are appeasing and pleasing God when we are prideful in thinking we need to add to God's commands our own.
When we do not participate the humanistic rituals of the culture around us, that culture will despise us for not doing what they do. I understand that people often do not know why they do things, so in their heart, they may not be disrespecting Christ. I do not judge their heart. I just know that I have no desire to follow pagan practices merely because the rest of apostacy is doing it.
When we ask God the why of things, He is going to show us, and it will set us apart from nearly everyone.
Some example of rituals the church practices are as follows:
Christmas, Easter, Halloween, birthdays, hand holding in prayer, folding of hands while praying, lighting candles during Lent, giving up foods for Lent, lighting candles for the dead, talking to the dead at funerals, attending a large gathering in a building called a church, the paid pastor system, pews all facing forward while no one is allowed to speak except the paid preacher, funerals, and more, that God never commanded and have distracted beleivers from Christ to place their trust in these rituals.
I was one of those irritating children who was always asking why. I think my parents saw it as rebellion instead of a desire to understand the why of everything we did.
The idea that there is greater power in the prayer, incentivizing God to hear and answer when we are in solidarity, smacks of ritual that expects God to do more if we practice this, a sort of manipulation of God.
Within pagan ceremonies, there is a saying "complete the ring", with the expectation that the spirits will come if we are in solidarity. It is perceived as a manipulation and power technique.
It seems to be that in holding hands to pray, we are focusing more on the people around us than on Christ. The sense that the power is in the people and the holding of hands and not in Christ.
John 4:24 "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth".
The holding of hands originated from Pentecostal and Charismatic groups, who have added a lot of ideas that are not Biblical, often emulating the pagans, thinking it will bring greater power.
Another ritual that came from paganism that Christians have adopted is the practice of putting one's hands together to pray. We see no mandate or example in the Bible of believers doing this, but we do see it in pagan religions.
When we ask God to show us the traditoins we were raised with to see if they are taught by God, He opens our eyes to many things Christians practice and even require of one another that God never commanded or endorsed. They were brought into Christianity by people who wanted to feel spiritual, so they adopted these practices from paganism, thinking they would Christianize them.
The problem is they adopted the rules that became habits and turned them into mandates that caused others to judge one another over something that is not Biblical or godly.
Mankind has the habit of desiring to appear more spiritual while disobeying the scriptures. They hold dear to their own idea of holiness based on rituals that are useless in our walk with Christ.
God's word is so simple and does not require many rituals. God gave us the Lord's supper to remember Christ and what He did on the cross. He also gave us the head covering during the gathering to demonstrate the relationships between Christ and the church. He gave us baptism to demonstrate the born-again experience and Christ coming to live in the believer at salvation.
These practices were given by God; nothing more needs to be added to walk with Christ, only the things He gave. Anything else is man's pride, adding things to feel more spiritual.
To add things to our Christianity that God never gave is a matter of pride. We think we are appeasing and pleasing God when we are prideful in thinking we need to add to God's commands our own.
When we do not participate the humanistic rituals of the culture around us, that culture will despise us for not doing what they do. I understand that people often do not know why they do things, so in their heart, they may not be disrespecting Christ. I do not judge their heart. I just know that I have no desire to follow pagan practices merely because the rest of apostacy is doing it.
When we ask God the why of things, He is going to show us, and it will set us apart from nearly everyone.
Some example of rituals the church practices are as follows:
Christmas, Easter, Halloween, birthdays, hand holding in prayer, folding of hands while praying, lighting candles during Lent, giving up foods for Lent, lighting candles for the dead, talking to the dead at funerals, attending a large gathering in a building called a church, the paid pastor system, pews all facing forward while no one is allowed to speak except the paid preacher, funerals, and more, that God never commanded and have distracted beleivers from Christ to place their trust in these rituals.
Monday, May 18, 2026
Friday, May 15, 2026
Marriage is wonderful and hard but worth every lesson it brings.
55 years ago today, my husband and I married. We had been engaged for two years before our wedding day. We did not live together; we chose to wait to marry so he could finish his college degree before beginning married life. My Father-in-Law asked my husband not to marry until he had his degree, and my husband honored that request.
My husband was from a family of fifteen children, and his parents could not afford to help him through college, so he worked at a bakery after school, on weekends, and in the summer to earn what he needed to attend college. He was not one to play; he worked to achieve a goal and realized that goal, then he was ready to take a wife.
I was sixteen when he asked me to marry him, and he was 20.
No one would be able to convince me that marrying too young is the problem in marriages today. It is not the age that makes the difference in marriage, it is the mentality. We were dedicated to the principle that marriage was for a lifetime until death.
All relationships take work to gain closeness. Without the commitment to remain, discuss, and compromise, there is no relationship. Relationships are not built on ease of existence; they are built on mutual understanding, and this can only happen when each listens to the other, determined to grasp the concerns of the other.
It is interesting that people quote all the time things like "no pain, no gain", when it comes to physical prowess, but never speak of these principles for gaining wisdom and spiritual maturity. Life is painful, from relationship problems to physical illness. But when we are dedicated to fixing things we come out the other side of these problems stronger in our maturity and in our relationships.
This does not come easy when the youth of today have been taught in an indulgent play-oriented culture that everything should be fun and just the way they want it to be. They do not love someone enough to go through their challenges with them. We are sinners until Christ changes us into a new creation. No one comes to a marriage exactly what they should be, and sadly, those who think they do remain emotional and spiritual infants until they can admit they have flaws that need the cleansing of Christ.
There are spiritual leaders in our day who teach their followers that the man has ultimate authority over the woman and she should just obey without a word. This is not only the farthest from the truth, it is also ruinous to a relationship.
If a man loves a woman and if a woman loves a man, they will each care deeply about the desires, hopes, and plans of the other. To dominate someone without concern for them is slavery, not a marriage.
Matthew 20:25-26 " 25 But Jesus called them aside and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their superiors exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,…"
This passage is referring to church leadership but applies to any relationship where there is a leader. Leaders are to lead by example and by loving teaching, not by force and indifference to those under them.
When Christ said that we will become one flesh in marriage, His intent was not that one half of the partnership would be completely silent and the other just along for the ride. Christ taught that we will no longer walk alone as if the other does not matter. All our considerations and decisions should be mutual.
If the husband is staunch and cannot be convinced, then the woman can go to prayer as she honors her husband in solidarity, as long as the husband has not told her to sin. If the husband is telling the woman to sin, she must decline and obey God first.
Remember Ananias and Sapphirah, this wife obeyed her husband when he told her to lie to the Holy Spirit, and God counted them as conspiring together and killed both of them. Each spouse must decide for themselves God's will and do it even if the others will not obey God.
The husband never takes the place of the Holy Spirit in a marriage. He is the leader in the home, but he is not the mediator between the woman and God. That is the job of the Holy Spirit. The Wife is the CEO of the household as described in Proverbs 31. That job was not given to her husband to tell her what to do; it was given to the woman by God, and she determines all that goes on in running the household.
The greatest concern of the husband should always be the well-being of his wife, and the greatest concern of the wife is to support her husband when he obeys God.
Ephesians 5:24-26 "24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her 26 to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word."
Obey your husband in all things in this passage does not mean when they ask us to sin, but rather when they obey Christ. We know this because God told us to "obey God rather than man", in other passages.
Colossians 3:19
"Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them."
1 Peter 3:7 "Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered."
Jesus Christ is the head of all born-again believers, no man takes that position.
Colossians 1:18 (Christ) 'And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence."
Marriage is tough, but deeply rewarding when each party learns and grows. It teaches us to become selfless with great purpose when we seek Christ rather than self in it. If anyone marries to gain something for themselves, then they are not ready to marry.
My husband was from a family of fifteen children, and his parents could not afford to help him through college, so he worked at a bakery after school, on weekends, and in the summer to earn what he needed to attend college. He was not one to play; he worked to achieve a goal and realized that goal, then he was ready to take a wife.
I was sixteen when he asked me to marry him, and he was 20.
No one would be able to convince me that marrying too young is the problem in marriages today. It is not the age that makes the difference in marriage, it is the mentality. We were dedicated to the principle that marriage was for a lifetime until death.
All relationships take work to gain closeness. Without the commitment to remain, discuss, and compromise, there is no relationship. Relationships are not built on ease of existence; they are built on mutual understanding, and this can only happen when each listens to the other, determined to grasp the concerns of the other.
It is interesting that people quote all the time things like "no pain, no gain", when it comes to physical prowess, but never speak of these principles for gaining wisdom and spiritual maturity. Life is painful, from relationship problems to physical illness. But when we are dedicated to fixing things we come out the other side of these problems stronger in our maturity and in our relationships.
This does not come easy when the youth of today have been taught in an indulgent play-oriented culture that everything should be fun and just the way they want it to be. They do not love someone enough to go through their challenges with them. We are sinners until Christ changes us into a new creation. No one comes to a marriage exactly what they should be, and sadly, those who think they do remain emotional and spiritual infants until they can admit they have flaws that need the cleansing of Christ.
There are spiritual leaders in our day who teach their followers that the man has ultimate authority over the woman and she should just obey without a word. This is not only the farthest from the truth, it is also ruinous to a relationship.
If a man loves a woman and if a woman loves a man, they will each care deeply about the desires, hopes, and plans of the other. To dominate someone without concern for them is slavery, not a marriage.
Matthew 20:25-26 " 25 But Jesus called them aside and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their superiors exercise authority over them. 26 It shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant,…"
This passage is referring to church leadership but applies to any relationship where there is a leader. Leaders are to lead by example and by loving teaching, not by force and indifference to those under them.
When Christ said that we will become one flesh in marriage, His intent was not that one half of the partnership would be completely silent and the other just along for the ride. Christ taught that we will no longer walk alone as if the other does not matter. All our considerations and decisions should be mutual.
If the husband is staunch and cannot be convinced, then the woman can go to prayer as she honors her husband in solidarity, as long as the husband has not told her to sin. If the husband is telling the woman to sin, she must decline and obey God first.
Remember Ananias and Sapphirah, this wife obeyed her husband when he told her to lie to the Holy Spirit, and God counted them as conspiring together and killed both of them. Each spouse must decide for themselves God's will and do it even if the others will not obey God.
The husband never takes the place of the Holy Spirit in a marriage. He is the leader in the home, but he is not the mediator between the woman and God. That is the job of the Holy Spirit. The Wife is the CEO of the household as described in Proverbs 31. That job was not given to her husband to tell her what to do; it was given to the woman by God, and she determines all that goes on in running the household.
The greatest concern of the husband should always be the well-being of his wife, and the greatest concern of the wife is to support her husband when he obeys God.
Ephesians 5:24-26 "24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her 26 to sanctify her, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word."
Obey your husband in all things in this passage does not mean when they ask us to sin, but rather when they obey Christ. We know this because God told us to "obey God rather than man", in other passages.
Colossians 3:19
"Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them."
1 Peter 3:7 "Husbands, in the same way, treat your wives with consideration as a delicate vessel, and with honor as fellow heirs of the gracious gift of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered."
Jesus Christ is the head of all born-again believers, no man takes that position.
Colossians 1:18 (Christ) 'And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence."
Marriage is tough, but deeply rewarding when each party learns and grows. It teaches us to become selfless with great purpose when we seek Christ rather than self in it. If anyone marries to gain something for themselves, then they are not ready to marry.
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Rebellion and Disrespect are Close Companions
In our day of nearly total rebellion, many adult children are rejecting their parents, and in so doing, they are training the grandchildren by example to dislike their grandparents. They are even withholding the grandchildren from the grandparents.
When adult children keep the grandchildren away from their grandparents, it is often because they want the grandchildren to believe a certain way about them and do not want them to find out what they have been taught is not true.
There is a fear that the grandchildren will love the grandparents and enjoy them, this would be a big blow to the disrespectful parents of the grandchildren.
What they don't realize is that in training the children to dislike, ignore, or disrespect in any way the grandparents, is that one day it will be them who are ignored, disrespected and demeaned. Since the training by example was disrespect, the mentality of disrespect will permeate the lives of those who observed it.
There is no way to train a child to be disrespectful in just one area and respectful in another. Disrespect is a character flaw that will run through all their lives toward anyone who does not measure up to their own idea of good.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
Difficult Times Will Come
"3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."
The idea of valuing people, loving and accepting, and even appreciating who they are is nearly non-existent in the last days apostacy. People are basing their treatment of others on how much those others praise them, not on the value of the person who is loved, or feigned love.
Love now is conditional to how much we feel special when with that person, not on how much we can make someone else feel special to us.
I am encountering many people who are describing terrible disrespect from adult children and their grandchildren for no good reason.
When adult children keep the grandchildren away from their grandparents, it is often because they want the grandchildren to believe a certain way about them and do not want them to find out what they have been taught is not true.
There is a fear that the grandchildren will love the grandparents and enjoy them, this would be a big blow to the disrespectful parents of the grandchildren.
What they don't realize is that in training the children to dislike, ignore, or disrespect in any way the grandparents, is that one day it will be them who are ignored, disrespected and demeaned. Since the training by example was disrespect, the mentality of disrespect will permeate the lives of those who observed it.
There is no way to train a child to be disrespectful in just one area and respectful in another. Disrespect is a character flaw that will run through all their lives toward anyone who does not measure up to their own idea of good.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
Difficult Times Will Come
"3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good,
4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."
The idea of valuing people, loving and accepting, and even appreciating who they are is nearly non-existent in the last days apostacy. People are basing their treatment of others on how much those others praise them, not on the value of the person who is loved, or feigned love.
Love now is conditional to how much we feel special when with that person, not on how much we can make someone else feel special to us.
I am encountering many people who are describing terrible disrespect from adult children and their grandchildren for no good reason.
What is a Kind Person
When you are a kind person in a wicked world, you will be under attack because the world views kindness as weakness.
1 Corinthians 2:13-15 "…13And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.…"
Those who are deficient in kindness will attempt to paint kind people as foolish, even lie and twist the good things they do to make them look as though they did bad instead of good.
They did this to Jesus Christ, claiming He did His miracles by the power of the devil. They will do it to authentically born-again believers, too.
John 14:17 "the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you."
Romans 8:7 "because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so."
When we know the devil is working to foster this in people, using what they already feel in the flesh to escalate the mentality to cause harm to those he hates.
People who are intimidated by kindness will be triggered to include others in their hatred through gossip. They are never satisfied with being rude and mean themselves, they must gather others to do the same. They always need allies to prop them up.
These groups of people will unite against us, because they do not have a legitimate reason for their hate, they must be continually propped up by others to evade the guilt that dwells constantly inside.
True kindness is a character quality Christ gives us and comes from a place of strength. Even though others revile us for doing what is good and right, we remain sturdy and robust. Each rejection leads to resilience and perseverance. We do not become weaker from the attacks of the devil and those he uses, we become stronger.
Some hate our kindness because they think we are being manipulative. They believe this because when they are kind, they are manipulating and they think we do the same thing.
I once heard a woman say she was deliberately being nice to a person who was angry with her to "heap hot coals of kindness", she wasn't coming from the place of loving that woman, she just wanted the woman to feel bad about herself and this was the method to do that.
This kind of false kindness triggers more anger because it is obvious that it is manipulative, and the target knows it.
It is common for unkind people to poke at you with the hope you will become angry so they can justify their rudeness. If they can make you angry, they can claim you are worse than them.
This is why God tells us to bless our enemies, not to manipulate them but to keep ourselves from sinning in response to them.
It is not what people do to us that matters; it is how we respond in a Christlike manner to protect ourselves from becoming someone who dishonors God. This is the devil's goal to cause us to bring a sinful testimony to the world.
We must always be aware of why we are kind. Is it because we have the character of Christ and it is the bone and sinew of who we are, or are we being kind to get something out of it for ourselves?
When we operate out of kindness to make people happy with us, this is manipulation. True kindness coming from the heart does not have to be calculated or feigned; it will come naturally, even without thinking or expecting anything in return.
Healthy people are not threatened by genuine kindness; unhealthy people are threatened by kindness because it shines a light on what they lack. Unhealthy people need to feel special and superior; everything they do is based on the elevation of self.
It is important to be ourselves and allow others to be themselves. Then we can choose who our close friends are and who we need to keep our distance from.
Remember that unbelievers are not our friends, they are the enemies of Christ and of us. They need the gospel and salvation before they can be our friends.
Ephesians 4:18 "They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts."
1 Corinthians 2:13-15 "…13And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.…"
Those who are deficient in kindness will attempt to paint kind people as foolish, even lie and twist the good things they do to make them look as though they did bad instead of good.
They did this to Jesus Christ, claiming He did His miracles by the power of the devil. They will do it to authentically born-again believers, too.
John 14:17 "the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you."
Romans 8:7 "because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so."
When we know the devil is working to foster this in people, using what they already feel in the flesh to escalate the mentality to cause harm to those he hates.
People who are intimidated by kindness will be triggered to include others in their hatred through gossip. They are never satisfied with being rude and mean themselves, they must gather others to do the same. They always need allies to prop them up.
These groups of people will unite against us, because they do not have a legitimate reason for their hate, they must be continually propped up by others to evade the guilt that dwells constantly inside.
True kindness is a character quality Christ gives us and comes from a place of strength. Even though others revile us for doing what is good and right, we remain sturdy and robust. Each rejection leads to resilience and perseverance. We do not become weaker from the attacks of the devil and those he uses, we become stronger.
Some hate our kindness because they think we are being manipulative. They believe this because when they are kind, they are manipulating and they think we do the same thing.
I once heard a woman say she was deliberately being nice to a person who was angry with her to "heap hot coals of kindness", she wasn't coming from the place of loving that woman, she just wanted the woman to feel bad about herself and this was the method to do that.
This kind of false kindness triggers more anger because it is obvious that it is manipulative, and the target knows it.
It is common for unkind people to poke at you with the hope you will become angry so they can justify their rudeness. If they can make you angry, they can claim you are worse than them.
This is why God tells us to bless our enemies, not to manipulate them but to keep ourselves from sinning in response to them.
It is not what people do to us that matters; it is how we respond in a Christlike manner to protect ourselves from becoming someone who dishonors God. This is the devil's goal to cause us to bring a sinful testimony to the world.
We must always be aware of why we are kind. Is it because we have the character of Christ and it is the bone and sinew of who we are, or are we being kind to get something out of it for ourselves?
When we operate out of kindness to make people happy with us, this is manipulation. True kindness coming from the heart does not have to be calculated or feigned; it will come naturally, even without thinking or expecting anything in return.
Healthy people are not threatened by genuine kindness; unhealthy people are threatened by kindness because it shines a light on what they lack. Unhealthy people need to feel special and superior; everything they do is based on the elevation of self.
It is important to be ourselves and allow others to be themselves. Then we can choose who our close friends are and who we need to keep our distance from.
Remember that unbelievers are not our friends, they are the enemies of Christ and of us. They need the gospel and salvation before they can be our friends.
Ephesians 4:18 "They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts."
Honoring God and Parents
Amos 5:20-22 "…20 Will not the Day of the LORD be darkness and not light, even gloom with no brightness in it? 21“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. 22Even though you offer Me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; for your peace offerings of fattened cattle I will have no regard.…"
There are so many things we do that purport to celebrate God and others. Many people say, Happy Birthday, Happy Mother's/Father's Day", Happy Easter, Merry Christmas ", and other greetings pertaining to holidays they wish to celebrate, but really have nothing to do with the people they claim to honor.
When society requires a celebration for someone, it usually involves oppressive expectations of that person they claim to celebrate.
God's response to human holidays that are supposedly created by humans for Him is that He "hates and despises them."
When His commands tell us that divorce and remarriage offend Him and that His commands and rules are for our own good and the response is to ignore them and make up our own rules about them, we are not honoring Him in His way; we are requiring Him to honor us by doing our bidding. The culture requires God to bless their holiday that offends Him.
Many people claim to be Christian but have no reverence or devotion to most of what He says in His Word. They do not value His wisdom, even making up their own version of His commands to satisfy their own fleshly desires.
When honoring someone requires the honoree to do the bidding of others to please them so the giver can feel good, that they did something, this is not honor, it is dishonor and a burden to the one supposedly being honored.
The honor goes to the one who sets the obligation to reverence and admire the one who gives the gift rather than the one who receives it. This sort of honor is a burden to those who are required to engage with those who set the rules.
In our day, "honor your father and mother" has become "send them a card" or "give them a call" while all the rest of the year acting arrogantly and disrespectfully against them as though they have no wisdom or value. The card and the call have replaced actual honor.
This is the same way Christians act toward God; they make up their own rules about honoring God, usually involving words, songs, or manmade special days, but negate Him when it suits them.
Matthew 15:8-9 "8 “‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
Jeremiah 14:12 "Although they may fast, I will not listen to their cry; although they may offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will finish them off by sword and famine and plague.”
Honor has nothing to do with our gifts to God, our holidays for God that He never commanded. Honoring God means we deeply value His wisdom and His commands while seeking Him for guidance, counsel, and personal transformation.
If someone becomes angry because we do not celebrate the culturally man-made rules, then we know they celebrate them for their own good feelings and not for the one they claim to bless.
Malachi 1:10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fires on My altar! I take no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and I will accept no offering from your hands."
God would prefer we do nothing at all than to falsely honor Him our own way.
Jeremiah 6:20 "What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.”
Before Christ came, God's requirement for an offering to Him had to be without blemish.
Leviticus 3:1-5 “If one’s offering is a peace offering, and he offers an animal from the herd, whether male or female, he must present it without blemish before the LORD. / He is to lay his hand on the head of the offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall splatter the blood on all sides of the altar. / From the peace offering, he is to bring a food offering to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them,"
When our gifts to others are tainted with expectations and rules they must follow to satisfy our own desires to be elevated and admired, then it is no gift at all.
Psalm 40:6-8 "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll: I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”
Wouldn't it be better to value a person caring about their thoughts and wisdom than to give them a gift and ignore them, or even disdain them, every other day of the year?
Hosea 6:6 "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
Proverbs 21:3 "To do righteousness and justice is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice."
Manmade holidays are always about the one who celebrates them, not about the one they claim to honor. Perhaps this is a matter everyone should pray about, asking God to reveal a selfish heart of false honor to understand what real honor looks like.
There are so many things we do that purport to celebrate God and others. Many people say, Happy Birthday, Happy Mother's/Father's Day", Happy Easter, Merry Christmas ", and other greetings pertaining to holidays they wish to celebrate, but really have nothing to do with the people they claim to honor.
When society requires a celebration for someone, it usually involves oppressive expectations of that person they claim to celebrate.
God's response to human holidays that are supposedly created by humans for Him is that He "hates and despises them."
When His commands tell us that divorce and remarriage offend Him and that His commands and rules are for our own good and the response is to ignore them and make up our own rules about them, we are not honoring Him in His way; we are requiring Him to honor us by doing our bidding. The culture requires God to bless their holiday that offends Him.
Many people claim to be Christian but have no reverence or devotion to most of what He says in His Word. They do not value His wisdom, even making up their own version of His commands to satisfy their own fleshly desires.
When honoring someone requires the honoree to do the bidding of others to please them so the giver can feel good, that they did something, this is not honor, it is dishonor and a burden to the one supposedly being honored.
The honor goes to the one who sets the obligation to reverence and admire the one who gives the gift rather than the one who receives it. This sort of honor is a burden to those who are required to engage with those who set the rules.
In our day, "honor your father and mother" has become "send them a card" or "give them a call" while all the rest of the year acting arrogantly and disrespectfully against them as though they have no wisdom or value. The card and the call have replaced actual honor.
This is the same way Christians act toward God; they make up their own rules about honoring God, usually involving words, songs, or manmade special days, but negate Him when it suits them.
Matthew 15:8-9 "8 “‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
Jeremiah 14:12 "Although they may fast, I will not listen to their cry; although they may offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will finish them off by sword and famine and plague.”
Honor has nothing to do with our gifts to God, our holidays for God that He never commanded. Honoring God means we deeply value His wisdom and His commands while seeking Him for guidance, counsel, and personal transformation.
If someone becomes angry because we do not celebrate the culturally man-made rules, then we know they celebrate them for their own good feelings and not for the one they claim to bless.
Malachi 1:10 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would no longer kindle useless fires on My altar! I take no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and I will accept no offering from your hands."
God would prefer we do nothing at all than to falsely honor Him our own way.
Jeremiah 6:20 "What use to Me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please Me.”
Before Christ came, God's requirement for an offering to Him had to be without blemish.
Leviticus 3:1-5 “If one’s offering is a peace offering, and he offers an animal from the herd, whether male or female, he must present it without blemish before the LORD. / He is to lay his hand on the head of the offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. Then Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall splatter the blood on all sides of the altar. / From the peace offering, he is to bring a food offering to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on them,"
When our gifts to others are tainted with expectations and rules they must follow to satisfy our own desires to be elevated and admired, then it is no gift at all.
Psalm 40:6-8 "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require. Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll: I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”
Wouldn't it be better to value a person caring about their thoughts and wisdom than to give them a gift and ignore them, or even disdain them, every other day of the year?
Hosea 6:6 "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
Proverbs 21:3 "To do righteousness and justice is more desirable to the LORD than sacrifice."
Manmade holidays are always about the one who celebrates them, not about the one they claim to honor. Perhaps this is a matter everyone should pray about, asking God to reveal a selfish heart of false honor to understand what real honor looks like.
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Tuesday, May 12, 2026
Estrangement in a Day Described in 2 Timothy 3
Estrangement is often based on what people wish to believe rather than anything substantive. We live in a world now in which it is popular to hate parents.
If the family has believed gossip that was not true and treated us disrespectfully because of it, they never loved us. We cannot lose what we never had in the first place.
When someone loves us, they will not believe gossip. Gossip is always based on generalities without true evidence of wrongdoing.
When someone speaks in generalities, such as "he/she is mean" or "he/she is judgmental," without a story to back them up, it is usually what the gossiper wants to believe rather than what is real.
Have you ever been accused of being unsubmissive as a wife? Or have you ever been reviled for taking a stand against sin? Those who claim such a thing may even have lived hundreds of miles away from you all your life, but want to believe they know what is going on in your marriage. This is common in our day, the desire to ruin others out of jealousy through gossip.
Often, people who gossip don't give details because they are choosing to believe what they want out of jealousy. They want to believe you are evil because they hate your progress or talents in life. But, they are not satisfied that they hate your successes; they need to bring others alongside them.
Those who gossip want others to hate their target as much as they do.
Jesus Christ was One Who was targeted by gossipers and liars. When He did a great and wonderful thing in healing, the gossips accused Him of doing His miracles through the power of the devil.
This is exactly what will happen to the target of the gossip. The gossiper will hate our kind deeds and even our gifts because it shines a light on their darkness.
It is unbearable for the gossip to see others supporting and edifying you as you edify others. They want to break this life you have built that brings you joy and peace.
When we realize gossip has been the vehicle for someone to turn others against us, we can pray for those involved while removing ourselves from the gossip and those who listen to them.
Anyone who will listen to the gossip and disrespectfully treat anyone who is a target of gossip, these too are people who must be avoided.
Here is what love looks like:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
"4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
We are living in wicked times in which rudeness and crassness have been normalized. Those who do not like the coarseness of this world are those who are targeted as the "judgmental" ones. They are scorned and rejected, the same way our Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles were in HIs day.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
Godlessness in the Last Days
"1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,
4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people."
There is lots of pretending godliness today that is easily discerned by those who walk in the Spirit of Christ. These covert ways are often undiscernable by those who are not spiritual.
1 Corinthians 2:13-15 "…13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.…"
When we realize the state of the world we are living in it does not have to impact us because we do not take it personally. The devils are in control of the attitudes of people; they are the ones we fight against, people, but against devils.
Ephesians 6:12
"12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
When we know our enemies are spiritual, and the people they use are pawns, we do not have to take anything personally or agonize over what is said against us or done to us. However, we can develop sympathy toward those who are used of the devil and pray for them that one day they will be delivered and become born again.
If the family has believed gossip that was not true and treated us disrespectfully because of it, they never loved us. We cannot lose what we never had in the first place.
When someone loves us, they will not believe gossip. Gossip is always based on generalities without true evidence of wrongdoing.
When someone speaks in generalities, such as "he/she is mean" or "he/she is judgmental," without a story to back them up, it is usually what the gossiper wants to believe rather than what is real.
Have you ever been accused of being unsubmissive as a wife? Or have you ever been reviled for taking a stand against sin? Those who claim such a thing may even have lived hundreds of miles away from you all your life, but want to believe they know what is going on in your marriage. This is common in our day, the desire to ruin others out of jealousy through gossip.
Often, people who gossip don't give details because they are choosing to believe what they want out of jealousy. They want to believe you are evil because they hate your progress or talents in life. But, they are not satisfied that they hate your successes; they need to bring others alongside them.
Those who gossip want others to hate their target as much as they do.
Jesus Christ was One Who was targeted by gossipers and liars. When He did a great and wonderful thing in healing, the gossips accused Him of doing His miracles through the power of the devil.
This is exactly what will happen to the target of the gossip. The gossiper will hate our kind deeds and even our gifts because it shines a light on their darkness.
It is unbearable for the gossip to see others supporting and edifying you as you edify others. They want to break this life you have built that brings you joy and peace.
When we realize gossip has been the vehicle for someone to turn others against us, we can pray for those involved while removing ourselves from the gossip and those who listen to them.
Anyone who will listen to the gossip and disrespectfully treat anyone who is a target of gossip, these too are people who must be avoided.
Here is what love looks like:
1 Corinthians 13:4-7
"4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."
We are living in wicked times in which rudeness and crassness have been normalized. Those who do not like the coarseness of this world are those who are targeted as the "judgmental" ones. They are scorned and rejected, the same way our Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles were in HIs day.
2 Timothy 3:1-5
Godlessness in the Last Days
"1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,
4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people."
There is lots of pretending godliness today that is easily discerned by those who walk in the Spirit of Christ. These covert ways are often undiscernable by those who are not spiritual.
1 Corinthians 2:13-15 "…13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.…"
When we realize the state of the world we are living in it does not have to impact us because we do not take it personally. The devils are in control of the attitudes of people; they are the ones we fight against, people, but against devils.
Ephesians 6:12
"12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
When we know our enemies are spiritual, and the people they use are pawns, we do not have to take anything personally or agonize over what is said against us or done to us. However, we can develop sympathy toward those who are used of the devil and pray for them that one day they will be delivered and become born again.
Monday, May 11, 2026
No Greater Counselor than the Holy Spirit
Proverbs 23:26
"26 Give me your heart, my son,
And let your eyes [a]delight in my ways."
Hosea 6:6 6 "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
God does not want us to add our own rituals in worship to Him. He wants us to seek the Holy Spirit and determine to walk as Christ walked.
Those who must have their human rituals to feel spiritual have replaced dedication to Christ with dedication to their rituals that make them feel and appear spiritual. Still, in actuality, they detract from the Holy Spirit, depending on themselves and their actions instead of on Christ.
When our eyes are fixed on Christ, we will do His will and not our own. We will want to consult with Him for everything before acting on our own desires.
Sometimes I wonder how many things we missed that would have been blessings because we did our own thing instead of consulting the Holy Spirit.
1 John 2:27 "But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him."
Ephesians 4:30 "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
1 Corinthians 2:14 "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."
1 Corinthians 2:4 "And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,"
There is no greater counselor than the Holy Spirit!!!!
"26 Give me your heart, my son,
And let your eyes [a]delight in my ways."
Hosea 6:6 6 "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings."
God does not want us to add our own rituals in worship to Him. He wants us to seek the Holy Spirit and determine to walk as Christ walked.
Those who must have their human rituals to feel spiritual have replaced dedication to Christ with dedication to their rituals that make them feel and appear spiritual. Still, in actuality, they detract from the Holy Spirit, depending on themselves and their actions instead of on Christ.
When our eyes are fixed on Christ, we will do His will and not our own. We will want to consult with Him for everything before acting on our own desires.
Sometimes I wonder how many things we missed that would have been blessings because we did our own thing instead of consulting the Holy Spirit.
1 John 2:27 "But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him."
Ephesians 4:30 "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
1 Corinthians 2:14 "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."
1 Corinthians 2:4 "And my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,"
There is no greater counselor than the Holy Spirit!!!!
True Confession always results in True Transformation
It is not true confession and forgiveness if it does not result in reconciliation.
Often, someone will say they are sorry, but their behavior does not change. We are not required to forgive them when they lie and are not sorry for their own actions.
Many people are sorry for the trouble that comes from their actions, but not that they did the offense. This is not repentance; when someone is truly sorry, they forsake their sinful ways, not just say they are sorry. Their behavior changes because their hearts have changed.
There is only spiritual and emotional growth when someone admits their flaw or sin, desiring to be cleansed from it. Without this, the behavior remains the same, and what was said is only words to manipulate others to pretend all was made right, and everything will return to the old status.
James 5:16 "16 Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail."Matthew 5:23-24
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, / leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
Proverbs 28:13 "He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy."
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Saying words never mend anything, pretending something is over without confession, never mends anything. The only thing that happens when there is manipulation using words to disarm and pretending something never happened only fosters and escalates distrust.
This is why God required that we confess what we did that offended someone else and desire to be changed so that we do not practice the offense again.
Remember too that confession of sin requires naming specifically what was done and that there was regret for doing it, not for the consequences but for the harm that was done to others.
Regretting consequences does not cleanse, only regretting the harm one does and passionately hating having offended others. Without that regret of harming others, there is only pretense and self-preservation.
Those who never confess offenses never grow emotionally or spiritually; they remain immature until they learn to care whether or not they harm others.
1 Peter 3:12 "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Often, someone will say they are sorry, but their behavior does not change. We are not required to forgive them when they lie and are not sorry for their own actions.
Many people are sorry for the trouble that comes from their actions, but not that they did the offense. This is not repentance; when someone is truly sorry, they forsake their sinful ways, not just say they are sorry. Their behavior changes because their hearts have changed.
There is only spiritual and emotional growth when someone admits their flaw or sin, desiring to be cleansed from it. Without this, the behavior remains the same, and what was said is only words to manipulate others to pretend all was made right, and everything will return to the old status.
James 5:16 "16 Therefore, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail."Matthew 5:23-24
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, / leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
Proverbs 28:13 "He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy."
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Saying words never mend anything, pretending something is over without confession, never mends anything. The only thing that happens when there is manipulation using words to disarm and pretending something never happened only fosters and escalates distrust.
This is why God required that we confess what we did that offended someone else and desire to be changed so that we do not practice the offense again.
Remember too that confession of sin requires naming specifically what was done and that there was regret for doing it, not for the consequences but for the harm that was done to others.
Regretting consequences does not cleanse, only regretting the harm one does and passionately hating having offended others. Without that regret of harming others, there is only pretense and self-preservation.
Those who never confess offenses never grow emotionally or spiritually; they remain immature until they learn to care whether or not they harm others.
1 Peter 3:12 "For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Sunday, May 10, 2026
Transformed by Christ Creates a Hatred for Sin
Matthew 7:15-20
You Will Know Them by Their Fruit
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
What is the fruit?
Galatians 5:22-23
"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
The fruit is not work; it is the character qualities of Christ that only those who are born again can discern. Works do flow out of this, and a lifestyle does flow from it, but the fruit is separate from works. Even evil people can do good works this is not the evidence that they are born again and have been transformed by Christ.
1 John 3:9 "No one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God."
Believers do sin at times and must confess it to be cleansed. It is in confessing and the regret that we have offended God that leads to Spiritual growth.
1 John 2:1-2 "1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father— Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."
1 John 1:9 "9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
James 3:2 "We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body."
As someone once said, "Christians are not sinless, but we do sin less.", Because we hate sin and want to walk in righteousness, we are in a battle with the flesh. Those who are not saved do not battle the flesh; they make excuses, pretend they did nothing wrong, and even blame others for their sin.
1 John 3:7 "Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous."
Many "Christians" do not practice sin on the outside that others can see, but they hold grudges, and they treat with disrespect anyone who will challenge them about their misdeeds and offenses. They use covert rudeness to be able to deny their offensive attitudes.
Unsaved people who have not been transformed by Christ but are very familiar with church speak learn to hide the big sins and use covert rudeness and haughtiness to control the emotions of others. They think as long as they can deny what they said or did it lets them off the hook and even justifies them.
Romans 6:12-13 "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. / Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness."
Titus 2:11-12 "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone. / It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age,"
Ephesians 6:12 "12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Our struggle is constant until God takes us home. Those who do not struggle have never been born again; they simply deny and justify their sin.
Romans 12:9 "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good."
Proverbs 8:13 "The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate."
You Will Know Them by Their Fruit
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them."
What is the fruit?
Galatians 5:22-23
"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
The fruit is not work; it is the character qualities of Christ that only those who are born again can discern. Works do flow out of this, and a lifestyle does flow from it, but the fruit is separate from works. Even evil people can do good works this is not the evidence that they are born again and have been transformed by Christ.
1 John 3:9 "No one who has been born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God."
Believers do sin at times and must confess it to be cleansed. It is in confessing and the regret that we have offended God that leads to Spiritual growth.
1 John 2:1-2 "1 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father— Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."
1 John 1:9 "9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous, so that He will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
James 3:2 "We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body."
As someone once said, "Christians are not sinless, but we do sin less.", Because we hate sin and want to walk in righteousness, we are in a battle with the flesh. Those who are not saved do not battle the flesh; they make excuses, pretend they did nothing wrong, and even blame others for their sin.
1 John 3:7 "Little children, let no one deceive you: The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Christ is righteous."
Many "Christians" do not practice sin on the outside that others can see, but they hold grudges, and they treat with disrespect anyone who will challenge them about their misdeeds and offenses. They use covert rudeness to be able to deny their offensive attitudes.
Unsaved people who have not been transformed by Christ but are very familiar with church speak learn to hide the big sins and use covert rudeness and haughtiness to control the emotions of others. They think as long as they can deny what they said or did it lets them off the hook and even justifies them.
Romans 6:12-13 "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires. / Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness."
Titus 2:11-12 "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone. / It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age,"
Ephesians 6:12 "12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."
Our struggle is constant until God takes us home. Those who do not struggle have never been born again; they simply deny and justify their sin.
Romans 12:9 "Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good."
Proverbs 8:13 "The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate."
Saturday, May 9, 2026
Follow Christ not Worldly Psychology
Once again, psychology gets it wrong when it proclaims that "hurt people hurt people." It is irrational and devilish to use this as an excuse.
I know many people who were deeply hurt by others who treat others better because they hate hurting people.
Hurting others is a choice. Anyone who harms others because they were hurt is exacting revenge on those who never harmed them. It is irrational to harm those who never harmed us. Even revenge against those who hurt us is against God.
Luke 6:27-28 "27 But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."
Psychology says we are to forgive those who are not repentant for our own sake, but we don't have to remain friends. This too is foolishness. We are to forgive when someone confesses in order to restore a relationship.
Luke 17:3-5 "…3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”…"
Psychology says, "believe in yourself, trust in yourself", when God says to trust in Him alone.
Proverbs 3:5-6 "5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.…"
Psychology says people are basically good, which is total nonsense. If this were true, there would be no crime in the world.
God says, Jeremiah 17:9 " 9The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"
Psychology says it is child abuse to use physical discipline to train a child. But God said; Proverbs 13:24 "24 He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently."
Many things we were taught over the years about life came from Freudian psychology directly contrary to the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Freud sought to discount and disprove God; in so doing, he created a belief system opposite of the principles of God. It caused many people to do the easy thing instead of the right thing. It caused people to place their trust in feelings and reactions instead of good scriptural sense.
Isn't it time to re-evaluate everything secular religion taught us and begin praying for wisdom from God to retrain ourselves to think with the mind of Christ?
I know many people who were deeply hurt by others who treat others better because they hate hurting people.
Hurting others is a choice. Anyone who harms others because they were hurt is exacting revenge on those who never harmed them. It is irrational to harm those who never harmed us. Even revenge against those who hurt us is against God.
Luke 6:27-28 "27 But to those of you who will listen, I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you."
Psychology says we are to forgive those who are not repentant for our own sake, but we don't have to remain friends. This too is foolishness. We are to forgive when someone confesses in order to restore a relationship.
Luke 17:3-5 "…3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”…"
Psychology says, "believe in yourself, trust in yourself", when God says to trust in Him alone.
Proverbs 3:5-6 "5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.…"
Psychology says people are basically good, which is total nonsense. If this were true, there would be no crime in the world.
God says, Jeremiah 17:9 " 9The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"
Psychology says it is child abuse to use physical discipline to train a child. But God said; Proverbs 13:24 "24 He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently."
Many things we were taught over the years about life came from Freudian psychology directly contrary to the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Freud sought to discount and disprove God; in so doing, he created a belief system opposite of the principles of God. It caused many people to do the easy thing instead of the right thing. It caused people to place their trust in feelings and reactions instead of good scriptural sense.
Isn't it time to re-evaluate everything secular religion taught us and begin praying for wisdom from God to retrain ourselves to think with the mind of Christ?
Friday, May 8, 2026
Traditions of Men are Often Irrational Thinking
Have you ever found yourself questioning everything you were taught because those who taught it were inconsistent and chaotic?
The men of cultural tradition begin to appear foolish. God reveals that their rules and ideas were never given by God; their chaotic, irrational thinking has no Biblical support.
When we compare God's Word with what the culture believes, we find that more things are unreasonable and senseless. We cannot trust our cultural traditions when we become born again.
1 Corinthians 2:13-15 "…13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment."
What most people say and do is based on their cultural thinking and not on the principles given to us by God.
John 14:17 "the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you."
Romans 8:7 "because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so."
Jude 1:19 "These are the ones who cause divisions, who are worldly and devoid of the Spirit."
When we place our trust in Christ, we will not be accepted by the world and that means most people.
The men of cultural tradition begin to appear foolish. God reveals that their rules and ideas were never given by God; their chaotic, irrational thinking has no Biblical support.
When we compare God's Word with what the culture believes, we find that more things are unreasonable and senseless. We cannot trust our cultural traditions when we become born again.
1 Corinthians 2:13-15 "…13 And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The natural man does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God. For they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment."
What most people say and do is based on their cultural thinking and not on the principles given to us by God.
John 14:17 "the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you."
Romans 8:7 "because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so."
Jude 1:19 "These are the ones who cause divisions, who are worldly and devoid of the Spirit."
When we place our trust in Christ, we will not be accepted by the world and that means most people.
Institutional Churches
I left the institutional church because I was chasing after God!!!! The system of box churches distracts from walking with God with their unbiblical expectations and traditions that God never gave.
Many superficial believers who love to be told everything to do and be by men will judge those who have left those traditions and expectations to follow hard after Jesus Christ.
The settings and practices of most church systems today keep people from growing when "leadership" sidetracks us from the leading of the Holy Spirit placing men in charge of our lives, usurping the Holy Spirit.
Rather than encouraging people to seek Christ privately and personally, they demand through subtle expectation that we follow them as a group.
Those who are excited about their new freedom in Christ to seek the Holy Spirit are excluded, judged as unspiritual or as walking away from God when just the opposite is true.
I recall in my study of narcissism, one of the tactics of the devil, while using people, often accuses us of what they are doing and we are not. They count themselves as doing the right thing by adhering to the traditions and customs of men in the organized church system while we are somehow defying the church.
The truth is that most "Christians" in the large organized church system is that they are following rituals and practices devised by men, not given by God.
May every born again believer take time to evaluate in prayer whether they are walking with Christ or following man.
Many superficial believers who love to be told everything to do and be by men will judge those who have left those traditions and expectations to follow hard after Jesus Christ.
The settings and practices of most church systems today keep people from growing when "leadership" sidetracks us from the leading of the Holy Spirit placing men in charge of our lives, usurping the Holy Spirit.
Rather than encouraging people to seek Christ privately and personally, they demand through subtle expectation that we follow them as a group.
Those who are excited about their new freedom in Christ to seek the Holy Spirit are excluded, judged as unspiritual or as walking away from God when just the opposite is true.
I recall in my study of narcissism, one of the tactics of the devil, while using people, often accuses us of what they are doing and we are not. They count themselves as doing the right thing by adhering to the traditions and customs of men in the organized church system while we are somehow defying the church.
The truth is that most "Christians" in the large organized church system is that they are following rituals and practices devised by men, not given by God.
May every born again believer take time to evaluate in prayer whether they are walking with Christ or following man.
Thursday, May 7, 2026
The Blessings of Facebook
Re-sharing because I am again reminded of all the people who felt excluded or rejected by family, and some community, may find their voice and acceptance by those who love Christ as much as they love Him.
Gwendolyn Wehage
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Shared with Public
When I began Facebook, I expected to be treated the way my family treated me. That is to be ignored, mocked, and rejected continually. However, I promised God that I would continue anyway, even if no one paid attention or validated me. Because He was the One Who was telling me to do it, it didn't matter whether anyone would like it. He said, "Use it for Me."
Then something happened that I did not expect! People began liking and requesting friendship; it was a shock to me. Well, having been treated as I was all of my life by family, I expected, over time, that eventually these people would dislike me too.
The shock was that those who have requested friendships with me chose me because they were like-minded with me. They enjoyed hearing Biblical principles and scriptures as much as I do. These people have been a great blessing to me.
God allowed the medium of Facebook for believers who were like-minded to connect during these end times when so many are alone without support for their walk with Christ.
I have many brothers and sisters now that I have never met but value as much as if we had met them.
Having been mocked for being on Facebook by "Christians" or those I might call pretenders, I realize that they do not know even remotely what we do here. Because they have no inclination to connect with born-again believers who are on fire for the Lord, they think our friends are not real friends. Most people are using their Facebook to boast about their lives, even though they only present the "good" things as though they live in a utopia in their own minds. Impressing people is more important to them than speaking about Christ.
I expect to see my born-again Facebook friends at the marriage supper of the Lamb soon. They are my forever family, who bless me as I am allowed to freely share my heart about the things of the Lord. We do not always completely agree, but we love one another and accept one another as our conversation is around Christ. There is a love and respect that we do not see in our families or the communities in which we live. It blesses me greatly. I praise the Lord for all my brothers and sisters who are authentically born again and moving forward in their walk all the time.
Proverbs 18:24
"24 A man of too many friends comes to [a]ruin,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."
Proverbs 13:20
"20 He who walks with wise men will be wise,
But the companion of fools will suffer harm."
John 15:13
"13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."
Proverbs 27:17
"17 Iron sharpens iron,
So one man sharpens another."
Ecclesiastes 4:12
"12 And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart."
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