There is much anguish in this life, even through the joy that dwells in us, there are troubles enough for all.
Revelation 21:4-5 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There won’t be any more death. There won’t be any grief, crying, or pain, because the first things have disappeared.” The one sitting on the throne said, “I am making everything new.” He said, “Write this: ‘These words are faithful and true.’”
Psalm 107:19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
Psalm 34:17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles.
Psalm 107:6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
THE SOLUTION TO THE HURT THAT COMES OUR WAY:
1 Peter 5:7 Turn all your anxiety over to God because he cares for you.
Psalm 37:5 Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you.
Philippians 4:6-7 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Psalm 46:1 God is our protection and source of strength. He is always ready to help us in times of trouble.
Psalm 9:9 The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.
Saturday, March 12, 2016
He Remains With Us Always
I praise the Lord for His protection, His provision and His love over the years. There have been many who have attempted to undermine my faith, that is the life of a believer who desires deeply to walk with the Lord according to His principles.
Thankfully, this rejection has only managed to drive me closer to the Lord! Each situation was exercise to stretch and build spiritual muscles. And, I can praise Him for all those believers who encourage me to keep going! I hope that I can be that person for others as they move through this wicked world continually under fire from the evil one.
Psalm 121
"I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8 The Lord will [b]guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever."
"I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8 The Lord will [b]guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever."
Only God's Traditions Count
If the tradition you were raised on, is not found in the Bible, you are free to discard it.
Mark 7:6-9
"6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
7 ‘But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’
8 Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition"
Mark 7:6-9
"6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
7 ‘But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’
8 Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition"
Don't Let the Culture Dictate
My husband and I have agreed not to have funerals or memorials. If someone wants to get together for a potluck that would be alright, but no fancy caskets, no slide productions, no expensive gatherings. I have been to so many, feeling like a third wheel having no contact with those relatives after the memorials. There is no Biblical mandate for the way it is done, so why not make everything simple, easy and inexpensive.
I have no dilutions that anyone will understand this, our culture is so locked into tradition, that they may not understand, however that isn't our problem.
In so many gatherings, and we have been guilty of this ourselves, we go to a funeral of someone we had not communicated with in 30 years, never had a relationships with, but was family.
We cannot say goodbye to the deceased person because they are not there, when they were alive we didn't call, they didn't call us, we didn't visit, they didn't visit us, the only reason for the contact was that some of the same blood raced through our veins.
In life we had nothing in common that bound us together as kindred spirits. Our lifestyle choices were very different, we did not agree on matters of faith, nor did we enjoy their company necessarily, but felt the cultural pressure of attending, as they say, "to be supportive" of the survivors.
Support for survivors ought to be those who shared everyday life with them, not those who would never have seen them had there not been a funeral, and will not continue the contact after the funeral.
I am all for doing things God's way, however, I don't see a modern funeral with all the expensive trappings, described anywhere in the New Testament for Gentiles.
So often we place unnecessary burdens on believers to do the cultural thing, when God never commanded us to do it. I prefer to have people contact me if they desire a relationship, while I am still alive.
God made it clear that our companions ought to be those who share our faith. I have heard it said that people have funerals to be able to preach the gospel. That makes no sense to me, why not visit those same people who would attend the funeral, and give them the gospel? Are we so embarrassed to speak to others about the gospel that we hide behind a preacher in a pulpit so no one will persecute us?
If you want a family member to hear the gospel, speak to them directly one on one, instead of cowardly hiding behind preaching to justify our own lack of involvement.
Send a gospel letter or card to them in the mail, call them on the phone, or invite them over for dinner. So often we defer to cultural gatherings to spread the gospel, while cowering in a corner hoping those who attend will not notice that it came from us, that way they can still like us.
I do not say that funerals or memorials are necessarily wrong or evil, I am only saying that we have no right to expect others to do things our way just because it is the practice of the culture. We need to allow diversity in gatherings, when there is no command in the Word to do them a certain way, there is freedom in Christ to do them another way or not at all.
My only purpose in my writings is to show that not everything we are guilted into doing by our families or the culture, is necessary. We are free to do as we are led by the Holy Spirit, to go a different route.
If we love our brothers and sisters in the Lord, we will allow them the freedom to march to a different drummer when there is no command from God demonstrating how to do something. The beauty of our walk with Christ is that we are free, free to obey Him and free from cultural expectations.
John 8:31-35 "31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.
36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."
Personally I consider our modern practice of funeraling a colossal waste of money, for one hour of crying and saying only nice things about the dead person who is not there to hear them, while pretending they were perfect human beings without any flaws.
LOL, notice how every person who is memorialized never did anything bad or wrong in their life. Of course the aim is to make everyone feel good about their loss, I understand that, but so often there wasn't anything very good about the dearly departed relative, and yet they were declared as "in heaven now."
I love people, I desire to know people one on one, I am not good in crowds, crowds tend to be superficial and phony, everyone on their best behavior, not the real them.
Perhaps we could remember the whole person, loving them even if they were not perfect, warts and all. Isn't hat what Christ did?
Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
I have no dilutions that anyone will understand this, our culture is so locked into tradition, that they may not understand, however that isn't our problem.
In so many gatherings, and we have been guilty of this ourselves, we go to a funeral of someone we had not communicated with in 30 years, never had a relationships with, but was family.
We cannot say goodbye to the deceased person because they are not there, when they were alive we didn't call, they didn't call us, we didn't visit, they didn't visit us, the only reason for the contact was that some of the same blood raced through our veins.
In life we had nothing in common that bound us together as kindred spirits. Our lifestyle choices were very different, we did not agree on matters of faith, nor did we enjoy their company necessarily, but felt the cultural pressure of attending, as they say, "to be supportive" of the survivors.
Support for survivors ought to be those who shared everyday life with them, not those who would never have seen them had there not been a funeral, and will not continue the contact after the funeral.
I am all for doing things God's way, however, I don't see a modern funeral with all the expensive trappings, described anywhere in the New Testament for Gentiles.
So often we place unnecessary burdens on believers to do the cultural thing, when God never commanded us to do it. I prefer to have people contact me if they desire a relationship, while I am still alive.
God made it clear that our companions ought to be those who share our faith. I have heard it said that people have funerals to be able to preach the gospel. That makes no sense to me, why not visit those same people who would attend the funeral, and give them the gospel? Are we so embarrassed to speak to others about the gospel that we hide behind a preacher in a pulpit so no one will persecute us?
If you want a family member to hear the gospel, speak to them directly one on one, instead of cowardly hiding behind preaching to justify our own lack of involvement.
Send a gospel letter or card to them in the mail, call them on the phone, or invite them over for dinner. So often we defer to cultural gatherings to spread the gospel, while cowering in a corner hoping those who attend will not notice that it came from us, that way they can still like us.
I do not say that funerals or memorials are necessarily wrong or evil, I am only saying that we have no right to expect others to do things our way just because it is the practice of the culture. We need to allow diversity in gatherings, when there is no command in the Word to do them a certain way, there is freedom in Christ to do them another way or not at all.
My only purpose in my writings is to show that not everything we are guilted into doing by our families or the culture, is necessary. We are free to do as we are led by the Holy Spirit, to go a different route.
If we love our brothers and sisters in the Lord, we will allow them the freedom to march to a different drummer when there is no command from God demonstrating how to do something. The beauty of our walk with Christ is that we are free, free to obey Him and free from cultural expectations.
John 8:31-35 "31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.
36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."
Personally I consider our modern practice of funeraling a colossal waste of money, for one hour of crying and saying only nice things about the dead person who is not there to hear them, while pretending they were perfect human beings without any flaws.
LOL, notice how every person who is memorialized never did anything bad or wrong in their life. Of course the aim is to make everyone feel good about their loss, I understand that, but so often there wasn't anything very good about the dearly departed relative, and yet they were declared as "in heaven now."
I love people, I desire to know people one on one, I am not good in crowds, crowds tend to be superficial and phony, everyone on their best behavior, not the real them.
Perhaps we could remember the whole person, loving them even if they were not perfect, warts and all. Isn't hat what Christ did?
Romans 5:8 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."
God's Kind of Love
God's definition of Love:
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
"4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away."
If we do not understand love God's way, we will never have wisdom to deal with anything else pertaining to relationships.
Pray for God's kind of love deep within our hearts!
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
"4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away."
If we do not understand love God's way, we will never have wisdom to deal with anything else pertaining to relationships.
Pray for God's kind of love deep within our hearts!
Attitudes of Superiority Destroy
No one becomes born again by:
Saying they are a Christian
Going to church
Doing good deeds
Dressing conservatively
Wearing their hair a particular prescribed way
Wearing prescribed clothing acceptable to their denomination
Quoting the Bible
Knowing the Bible intimately
Looking good on the outside, while paying little attention
to the inner man
Making extra Biblical rules to prevent others from sinning is lack of faith, a need to control others, rather than trusting Christ to work in them.
These things can be good if they are done in Christ, but when they are done in the flesh to impress others or to be accepted by others, they are of no use and have no saving power whatever. A good test of someone who claims to be a believer, might be to ask them why they do what they do and listen carefully to their answer. Anyone who places rules on others that are not specific to the Word, are often those who are proud of their own choices, measuring the salvation of others by their own idea of righteousness.
We become born again by believing Christ, trusting in Him for our salvation, then He begins all the work in us.
John 3:4-8 "4 Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
John 3:16-21 "16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
Believing in Christ is the only way to become born again! After that Christ begins His work in us.
Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
Many people have developed pride, displaying much arrogance over how wonderful they think they are when God condemned this thinking. They really believe their righteousness is in their own acts even when they will tell you they are saved by grace alone, they remain deeply connected to their own version of righteousness, even negating much of the Bible themselves, they proclaim loud and clear that they obey it, when in fact they obey very little. Outward appearances are far more important to them than spiritual holiness.
Luke 18:9-14
"9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’
13 But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be [f]merciful to me, the sinner!’
14 I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Those who dwell on the island of continual superiority to others, cannot be saved until they are humbled by God.
1 Peter 3:3-4
"Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious."
2 Corinthians 4:18
"As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
What to look for that demonstrates holiness?
There is a deep and enduring love for the Word of God, so much so that it is almost all we think about continually. Everything we do is evaluated on the basis of what God thinks about it. When we sin we are deeply sorrowful over it, hating what we did, while trusting Christ to help us to do better.
When we have messed up, forgetting to consult God, we recognize it, confess it and begin again searching His Word for His answers.
Anyone who rages at us because we have challenged them to greater holiness or if we rage at someone because they have challenged us, then we need to go to our knees confessing pride and ask the Lord to cleanse our hearts of the pride that keeps us from growing in holiness.
One way to tell if we have a desire for the Lord, might be to evaluate how often we think about the Lord and how often we seek Him in prayer and Scripture study to learn His ways.
Many people spend far more time defending their sinfulness than they do seeking Him, that's the reason they remain stagnant and unteachable and possibly unsaved. These people remain spiritual babies all of their lives or have never been changed into a new creation. Resistance to training and teaching prevents learning. God will not force anyone, He will present His case and we will choose to obey or disobey.
Proverbs 16:5 "Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Assuredly, he will not be unpunished."
All pride will prevent growth, but also prevents those who are not saved from realizing their own lostness, they continually justify their sinful habits and attitudes. There is no hope for someone who will not confess their sin to be cleansed. They can look forward to a life of continual conflict, mostly of their own making.
Following Christ, confessing when we need to and obeying will lead to Spiritual growth and freedom from all spiritual bondage as a believer. As a non-believer trusting Christ is the only option.
Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling."
Saying they are a Christian
Going to church
Doing good deeds
Dressing conservatively
Wearing their hair a particular prescribed way
Wearing prescribed clothing acceptable to their denomination
Quoting the Bible
Knowing the Bible intimately
Looking good on the outside, while paying little attention
to the inner man
Making extra Biblical rules to prevent others from sinning is lack of faith, a need to control others, rather than trusting Christ to work in them.
These things can be good if they are done in Christ, but when they are done in the flesh to impress others or to be accepted by others, they are of no use and have no saving power whatever. A good test of someone who claims to be a believer, might be to ask them why they do what they do and listen carefully to their answer. Anyone who places rules on others that are not specific to the Word, are often those who are proud of their own choices, measuring the salvation of others by their own idea of righteousness.
We become born again by believing Christ, trusting in Him for our salvation, then He begins all the work in us.
John 3:4-8 "4 Nicodemus *said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”
5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
John 3:16-21 "16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
Believing in Christ is the only way to become born again! After that Christ begins His work in us.
Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
Many people have developed pride, displaying much arrogance over how wonderful they think they are when God condemned this thinking. They really believe their righteousness is in their own acts even when they will tell you they are saved by grace alone, they remain deeply connected to their own version of righteousness, even negating much of the Bible themselves, they proclaim loud and clear that they obey it, when in fact they obey very little. Outward appearances are far more important to them than spiritual holiness.
Luke 18:9-14
"9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’
13 But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be [f]merciful to me, the sinner!’
14 I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Those who dwell on the island of continual superiority to others, cannot be saved until they are humbled by God.
1 Peter 3:3-4
"Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious."
2 Corinthians 4:18
"As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."
What to look for that demonstrates holiness?
There is a deep and enduring love for the Word of God, so much so that it is almost all we think about continually. Everything we do is evaluated on the basis of what God thinks about it. When we sin we are deeply sorrowful over it, hating what we did, while trusting Christ to help us to do better.
When we have messed up, forgetting to consult God, we recognize it, confess it and begin again searching His Word for His answers.
Anyone who rages at us because we have challenged them to greater holiness or if we rage at someone because they have challenged us, then we need to go to our knees confessing pride and ask the Lord to cleanse our hearts of the pride that keeps us from growing in holiness.
One way to tell if we have a desire for the Lord, might be to evaluate how often we think about the Lord and how often we seek Him in prayer and Scripture study to learn His ways.
Many people spend far more time defending their sinfulness than they do seeking Him, that's the reason they remain stagnant and unteachable and possibly unsaved. These people remain spiritual babies all of their lives or have never been changed into a new creation. Resistance to training and teaching prevents learning. God will not force anyone, He will present His case and we will choose to obey or disobey.
Proverbs 16:5 "Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Assuredly, he will not be unpunished."
All pride will prevent growth, but also prevents those who are not saved from realizing their own lostness, they continually justify their sinful habits and attitudes. There is no hope for someone who will not confess their sin to be cleansed. They can look forward to a life of continual conflict, mostly of their own making.
Following Christ, confessing when we need to and obeying will lead to Spiritual growth and freedom from all spiritual bondage as a believer. As a non-believer trusting Christ is the only option.
Proverbs 16:18 "Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling."
Independence Destroys
One of the reasons we are being destroyed as a nation is the concept of individuality. Man kind was not designed to work alone, we were designed to collaborate, working together gives us more ideas and greater strength against enemies.
Our stubborn independence has caused us more problems than we realize. Not only have we been independently minded with one another, but in churches, communities and even families.
We have worked against one another instead of with one another, making each of us weaker. Churches were designed by God to operate as a family unit, but instead we seek to validate ourselves apart from the group to remain unaccountable to anyone.
Accountability brings stability, snuffs out the evil and encourages righteousness. Righteousness brings blessing, while evil creates carnage.
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."
Our stubborn independence has caused us more problems than we realize. Not only have we been independently minded with one another, but in churches, communities and even families.
We have worked against one another instead of with one another, making each of us weaker. Churches were designed by God to operate as a family unit, but instead we seek to validate ourselves apart from the group to remain unaccountable to anyone.
Accountability brings stability, snuffs out the evil and encourages righteousness. Righteousness brings blessing, while evil creates carnage.
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."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)