Subtle Miracles and Strong Faith

We have no need to see God because we walk by faith and Jesus Christ lives in us. I have no doubt that people are seeing a god sent by satan to deceive them.

Many people love to see sensational miracles to get attention on themselves or to build their faith because they have weak faith. It diverts people from Christ to the "miracle", a form of religious sensationalism.

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 "…6 Therefore we are always confident, although we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.…"

Personally, I don't feel a need to see a miracle to have strong faith, otherwise, it would not be faith. I do see miracles from time to time but they are so subtle that only someone with faith will know they are miracles.

Hebrews 11:1

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Who or What Do You Speak about the Most?

When the world is obsessed with something then we can rightly assume something is wrong with it. 

What things is this world obsessed with:
Exercise,
Outward beauty
Self
Materialism
Personal achievement
Perfect food
Praise

When we are obsessed with something its what we speak about the most.

Do believers speak of Christ more than anything else? Just asking!

All the hype about Exersize has destroyed Character and Damaged the Body

When the world obsesses over something we know it is probably not of God. We live in a western world that is obsessed with physical exercise, "healthy" food and outer beauty, perhaps we ought to see the source and purpose of this and question whether it is Biblical or not.

I am convinced this "exercise crazed" mentality of the western countries has actually shortened the lives of those who work out hard every day. They are so invested in "appearing" beautiful on the outside that they are damaging the organs and the spiritual aspect of one's being.

Back in the day, everyone worked harder than many of us today and their life expectancy was shorter. Why would the life expectancy be shorter for those who had difficult labor jobs? I am convinced that working very hard all their lives wore out their organs and ability to heal.

Notice, when we have an illness or injury the doctors' advice is to "rest." When someone works out every day in intense ways, lifting weights or running, they are damaging their organs muscles, and bones. It is not seen until later in life when these things begin to have problems.

Walking was given to human beings because it was necessary and even served us well to be able to live life, however, running was given as a panic response to danger, not to be done every day unless the job required it as in war or physical labor for strength for heavy jobs an extra need for muscles to be strong. Many people in labor jobs who have to work physically hard every day have a shorter lifespan than those who live more sedentary lives.

When we have an illness the doctors tell us to “rest” allowing our bodies to heal. It makes sense that resting is far more advantageous than exercise for the body to have immunity strength.

The people I have known and if you read about the lives of those who have lived to be 90 and beyond you find that they were the ones who did not vigorously work out every day.

There is a problem of wearing out our organs, bones, and muscles through continual abuse. Why would anyone think abusing our organs, muscles, and bones every day would cause them to grow better when with anything else we see the wear and tear of use that degrades everything else we use?

This idea of physical exercise as necessary is not scientific nor is it proven in statistics that one who exercises lives longer. Even the articles that claim a longer life because of exercising say one only gains from 3 to 8 more years than the one who does not exercise. I would suggest that those who live longer are not living longer because they exercised but lived longer because their body healed better from illnesses, but only for a short length of time.

It might be akin to saying a person was healthier because they walked every day when the truth might be that they walked every day because they were healthier in general not because the walking made them healthier but because they could walk because they were healthier. Cart before the horse!

1 Timothy 4:8

"8 for bodily training is just slightly beneficial, but godliness is beneficial for all things since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come."

It makes sense that walking to do a job is the means God gave us and is all we need. Anything more intense than walking is of little value, God said so and I believe Him.

The Documentary was Powerful!

My husband and I were watching a documentary about the terrible dust storms in the midwest in the 1920s and 1930s, the devastation and poverty of the people living in that area were beyond belief.

We are so spoiled in our country we complain over the smallest matters and feel no sense of shame over our ungratefulness.

I believe the lack of empathy, kindness, and entitlement mentality extends to everything in our lives. Our culture is Spiritually and emotionally bankrupt without the ability to be grateful. This is the reason we see so much silly drama about nothing important.

Feelings get hurt over the silliest and most ridiculous things as though they are of any importance. The absurdity of making feelings more important than facts has caused people to resist any discussion over problems to resolve them.

Since "feelings" have become sacred and rational reasonable discussion has become embarrassing and to be avoided, problems are not really problems except in the minds of those who have elevated their own feelings to the level l of a god, an idol in their own mind to be worshiped.

Since feelings take priority over reality we have many people who are messaging their feelings without regard to finding out the truth or understanding another person. These unseen gods of feelings can never be evaluated or inspected for truthfulness.

anyone who attempts to get to the bottom of a problem will be seen as mean-spirited, ignored and mocked because they dare to think rationally and reasonably.

1 Corinthians 2:16 l

“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Romans 12:2

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

When we think with the mind of Christ we will not be overly sensitive about criticism or correction, in fact it will serve us well as we grow in holiness.

Heaping Hot Coals of Kindness is a Work of God, Not our own Work

If we are being kind to someone to "heap hot coals of kindness" in an attempt to manipulate their feelings then we are sinning. When God said to heap hot coals of kindness He did not mean we should do it to make others feel sad and guilty.

God's meaning was that if we are loving and kind genuinely it could heap coals on someone's head. This does not mean we should deliberately "heap coals" to make others feel bad, this is the same as revenge and the one we do it to will know it is manipulation and not kindness but rather malicious self-serving prideful vindictiveness to inflict more pain, this is not love but hate.

So often I see superficial believers using the scripture to justify revenge while calling it something else. When anyone does this it is sin and God hates it.

Romans 12:9 "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good."

It is clearly hypocritical to exact revenge through phony kindness knowing your desire is to hurt another human being, whether it be through acting superior to them or just out and out demeaning through counterfeit Christianity posing as love.

It is evil and self-serving to do your own heaping coals of kindness. If the coals of kindness come it ought to be through the Holy Spirit as He works empathy and His kind of love in us in all that we do and to all whom we do it.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.

5 It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,

6 it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 it keeps every confidence, it 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 with; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away with."

Heaping hot coals for our own purposes is sin and a form of "humble boasting", as if to say; "look at me, I am better than you."

Let's not be phony, manipulative and mean-spirited through heaping our own coals of kindness, let's ask God to work genuine traits of love by the power of the Holy Spirit through the expression of His traits as listed in His Word.

Love and its Expressions

Love has a wide range of expressions. If it ever includes discipline then it ought to show a great deal of empathy toward those who need to be encouraged to stop their sin and return to the fold cleansed of their sin through confession and forgiveness.

Without confession, there can be no forgiveness. Confession and forgiveness are two sides to the same coin that leads to reconciliation. No one can be reconciled if one party refuses to confess or when they confess the other side will not forgive. Both are necessary for reconciliation.

There is a deep cleansing that occurs in someone who is willing to own their sins enough to confess. There can be no cleansing and no character reform without confession of sin.

It doesn't even matter for the one who confesses if they are forgiven, only that they own it. Those who are commanded to forgive when someone confesses will become bitter and are in sin by not forgiving.

In order for confession and forgiveness to occur God's way there must be a discussion of what happened. Without discussion of the problem confession and forgiveness do nothing, they are only words that hit the ceiling and fall to the ground.

We live in a culture that thinks and acts as though we are to "just let everything go without discussion. It is not possible to trust someone who has offended you when they will not have a discussion for the purpose of learning the hurt and heart of the other person.

Those who love others want to understand and they hate to do anything that is offensive. Prideful people justify themselves or outright deny the things they do. They will often blame the victim of their abuse for the problems in their relationships.

Let me be clear.....no one will change their character who refuses to own their own wrong attitudes and actions. They cannot be trusted if they cannot be honest about the details. They can also not be trusted if they justify bad behavior by blaming others.

If we are empathetic, kind and loving we will want to admit where we went wrong, people who do this will grow emotionally and spiritually.

Those who go to the end of their life remaining stubborn, refusing to admit their wrong attitudes and actions will not grow and will even regress, becoming more childish as they grow older.

Do not be a fool, self reflect often, admit often and keep comparing yourself with Christ and you will never have a high opinion of yourself or a low opinion of others.

Proverbs 26:1-12

"Similitudes and Instructions

26 Like snow in summer and like rain in harvest,

So honor is not fitting for a fool.

2 Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying,

So a curse without cause does not come to rest.

3 A whip is for the horse, a bridle for the donkey,

And a rod for the back of fools.

4 Do not answer a fool according to his foolishness,

Or you will also be like him.

5 Answer a fool as his foolishness deserves,

So that he will not be wise in his own eyes.

6 One who sends a message by the hand of a fool

Chops off his own feet and drinks violence.

7 Like useless legs to one who cannot walk,

So is a proverb in the mouths of fools.

8 Like one who binds a stone in a sling,

So is one who gives honor to a fool.

9 Like a thorn that sticks in the hand of a heavy drinker,

So is a proverb in the mouths of fools.

10 Like an archer who wounds everyone,

So is one who hires a fool or hires those who pass by.

11 Like a dog that returns to its vomit,

So is a fool who repeats his foolishness.

12 Do you see a person wise in his own eyes?

There is more hope for a fool than for him."

When a friend is content to pretend nothing is wrong when an offense has occurred, we know this person is not a friend. A true friend hates offending others, no matter who it is that became offended. We want to clear it up, if there is no desire to clear up an offense we know this person is not our friend.

If we don't care enough about a relationship to want to clear misunderstandings up or to confess a sin, then we are no-ones friend either.

Deuteronomy: Why It’s Hard to Love God