And Then...

Pink Floyd had a song called "Time" with these lyrics:

"And then one day you find ten years have got behind you...."

And THIS, my friend, is where I find myself today in the blogging world! I have been absent for 10 years, more or less...and Oh! what a journey it has been.

I will not lie. From the mountain top... to the pit. In the pit, pulling debris on top op me, repeating past mistakes, using past "fixes" which amounted to nothing but debris which covered me up and weighed me down even further in the pit.

Yes, me...the one who writes of "joy" and "victory" and having the Enemy "under my feet." That one, that Me.

What happened?

My story isn't important (but I will share if requested). What IS important is that I found myself defining myself by 2 Samuel 1:27 "How the mighty have fallen. And the weapons of war perished!"

Yep....that was me.....

Notice, that above I said "I defined myself." because therein lyes a very important key. How we define ourselves, is how we will live. "Our actions will always reflect what we believe to be true about ourselves, even if what we believe is a lie." (Mark Winslett). I wallowed in a pit because I saw myself as "fallen." I didn't think I knew how to get up again....

But guess what? I know what Father says about me. So many things....I was born again of "incorruptible seed."....I am the righteousness of God in Christ....I am a child of the Most High God....No weapon formed against me will prosper...I have the Holy Spirit living in me and the same power that raised Jesus from the dead! (I can provide scripture for all of this).

I COULD NOT remain in the pit. I was not created for the pit. The DNA that came with the incorruptible seed is comparable to "pit-living."

I climbed out. And friends, I am here to tell you that it was a long, hard climb. It has taken me nearly 10 years to climb out. (Actually 7 years, but it felt like 10!!!)

You know, Joseph found himself in a pit (Genesis 37). His brothers put him there...hmmm...can family put family in a PIT? Oh, absolutely. My family did not put me in my pit, but I dug that pit by putting the cares and difficulties of family "drama" first, instead of...GOD FIRST....

Family matters, physical pain and POOR CHOICES...disobedience....that dug my pit. (well, I dug. my pit, but those things provided the digging tools). Again....it's not the details of my pit that are important.

What is of MAJOR IMPORTANCE is that no matter how deep we find ourselves in a hole, or how far we have fallen, God's arm is not shortened and He always, always, always hears our cries of distress. And no matter how much shame we have reaped upon our heads, or how many times we chose a "Thou shalt not" over the will of Father - He STILL wants to put the ring on our finger and the robe on our shoulders!!!!!

Can you shout that to the heavens? Can you? I can, because my Father extended His hand and I took it and climbed out of the pit!!! 

Joy is flooding my soul as I write this because it is my new reality...it is how I now define myself....daughter of the King and possessor of the KINGDOM. That is the reality in which I choose to define my life today. And if I believe this to be TRUE (and it is), then my life will reflect what I believe!

Are you in a pit? Darlin' don't stay there....you don't have to live there anymore...

Come back home. Jesus just wants his kids to come home! (borrowed those last words from my "Rabbi" Mark Winslett.

COME ON HOME!!!!!

All the "Bad Stuff" in our lives.....stop giving credit to Satan....you rule over him....read on.......

Why do we “blame” God for sickness, (“It must be God’s will…”)?

 Why do we give the devil credit for sickness (“It is an attack by Satan”)?

The truth is before us, where we always find truth: The Bible.

Gen 2:16-17 "And the LORD God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.'"

Sickness originated in the Garden, by the choice of man. “You will surely die.” The very first indication of sickness in His Word. Adam and Eve ushered in sickness by buying in to the deception of the enemy (read the story).

Our enemy is NOT a CREATOR. He cannot bring anything into our lives that wasn’t invited there from the disobedience of our very first earthly “father” – Adam.

And this is not about blaming Adam.

This is about – STOP GIVING THE DEVIL CREDIT. Stop building up his portfolio.

As a child of God, we have the power to diminish the “press” that feeds the ego of our enemy.

And it’s not just sickness we give him credit for: We give him credit when we have financial issues. I don’t know about you, but he has NEVER written any checks on my bank account. They are all signed by ME.

We give him credit when the car breaks down. We give him credit when the utility bill is high. We give him credit when we have a wayward child. We give him credit when addiction takes over, or takes out, a life. We give him credit for everything that is unpleasant in our lives.

Wow.

All he really deserves credit for is being a great deceiver. And the father of lies. And one of those lies is that he is responsible for all our discomfort. He doesn’t care what kind of press he gets, as long as he gets it.

And this is all he’s getting from me today: He ain’t nothin’.

I counter the negative thoughts with this truth:

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17

If it’s good, it’s God. If it’s not good…it originated with Adam’s disobedience and is either a product of that, or a result of a careless decision on my part.

Here’s what I know: I am a Kingdom dweller. The enemy does not live in my Kingdom. Move in here, and he stands on the outside with his tongue hanging out wishing he were one of US.

Come on guys, stop feeding his ego….Instead of “blaming” the enemy, or resigning to “it must be God’s will”….Start finding out what God’s will really is (look up the promises in the Bible), and make the devil a bad memory.

How many times a day do you examine what is on the bottom of your shoes? When you walk down the street do you think about what is under your feet? Well, he (enemy) deserves no more thought than the dust that gathers on the bottom of my flip-flops. He is under our feet (look it up). He is so far beneath a Kingdom dweller that he doesn’t even know what color the soles of my shoes are (no, that’s not in the Bible – just putting him in his place).

Death, sickness, bad stuff….Not God’s fault…not God’s intention and not within the devil’s power in a believer’s life.

Take charge of your life. Put him in the trash where he belongs. Put God on the throne where HE belongs….and begin to thrive….Amen.

SomeTimes I HaVe to SpeaK OuT...

I could write an essay on this...but I am going to try to stick to a paragraph....
I have lived almost 6 (count 'em) decades and I have seen many presidential elections...Some of them, I was actually old enough to remember..
Without fail, in each election, the word "Anti-Christ" was brought out in public rhetoric...This becomes more prevalent "as we see the day approach."

Granted...many politicians ARE "anti" Christ...(and, by the way, so are many Religious leaders)....But none have been THE Anti-Christ (despite predictions).
Can I tell you something? The devil is a deceiver. As are many in politics. When that Anti-Christ comes, you know, the one the Bible tells us about...most of us - even the theological, ecclesiastical born-again US...are not going to recognize him....Don't deceive YOURSELF...(He ((Satan)) owns the patent on that - let him keep it) ....The man (or men) you are accusing of being this infamous character - is (in all probability) not him...I mean, HITLER wasn't even "him"... You haven't seen him yet...you probably won't recognize him when you see him...in fact, he may embody the very political platform that you support...that, after all, is what DECEIT is all about....
If you don't like the man in office, that's your privilege...but don't try to make him THE anti-Christ. This finger-pointing, spotlighting, political witch-hunt needs to stop in our country...it is so very unbecoming and it is so much of a determent to the cause for Christ....
If anyone had to described the "Christian" political soap-box "preachers"....I seriously doubt that the word "LOVE" (which, by the way is what GOD is)...would even be considered.
Give it a rest....
We do better to set our minds on things above....
And now...I have spoken out....
Godspeed!

The Blank Page....

I have written hundred of essays and discussions...some by demand and others by direction (from above)...one of the hardest things I have had to learn (on inspirational writing) is that just because there are days when your page is blank, doesn't mean God has left the building....it simply means...rest...relax..and wait...don't force it till it flows...So today my page is blank, but my life is full....Godspeed to you all! VSW

The "3's" in Peter's Life

Peter’s denial of Christ is something all believers are familiar with. Jesus spoke it, and it happened(which is fodder for another time – The spoken Word) three times.

And then what?

I’m sure Peter was consumed by guilt.

Probably every step he took afterwards in the company of the Lord was plagued by condemning thoughts. ‘What was I thinking??’, ‘How could I???’, ‘I blew it.’, etc. (Somehow I think we’ve all been there.

But the threes in Peter’s life do not stop there. Take a look:

In the Gospel of John, Peter and Jesus were walking along having some male bonding time while fishing. I don’t know about you, but I think Peter was a bit uncomfortable on the heels of the 3 denials. I think he was especially uncomfortable when Jesus asked, “So…Peter, do you love me?”

I think he probably physically flinched when asked that question. Ouch!

Three times, the Lord asked. Three times Peter said yes, and three times Jesus said, “feed my sheep.”

Sometime later, Peter was seeking the Lord in prayer on a rooftop. He was given a vision that became the prompting for Peter’s life song. Three times.

Yep, three times the sheet came down, the animals walked around on it and Jesus told Peter, “Nothing I have created it unclean.”

Immediately following this, three men came to Peter to take him the house where he was to truly begin his life purpose: Declaring salvation for all men – because no one God created is exempt (unclean) from the transforming power of the gospel.

My point: There were lots of threes in Peter’s life. The denial first, of course, and from there it appears that Peter needed to hear some things three times. Why?

Our more legalistic brethren and sisteren (a word made up by a friend of mine) might say that this was God’s way of reminding Peter of the denial so that he (Peter) would not “think more highly of himself than he ought.

I don’t think so.

I am a grace loving, mercy giving child of The Most High God and I submit to you that the threes in Peter’s life were never to remind him of what he had done, but confirmation and affirmation of where God was taking him. A reminder of God’s love. An affirmation and confirmation of God’s purpose in Peter’s life. A way of saying, “You, Peter, yes you, are worthy.”

Jesus spoke very clearly when He said that He did not come to condemn the world, but to save the world. The nagging voice in your head that speaks to you of your past failure, is never the voice of God. It is the ENEMY of God that tries to lay the “guilt trip” trap. Don’t fall for that. Don’t ever think that you, as His child, are anything less than 100% righteous, and 100% worthy.

Sometime later in life, In his 2^nd book, the 3 chapter (another 3), Peter  said this: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (vs 9). This was Peters reflection of his own ministry, and his encouragement to others who have “denied.”

Remember: Guilt trips are never from God’s travel agency. They come straight from the “other side.” And lest the legalist yell, “CONVICTION! God convicts us!”  you can be sure that “conviction” is never GUILT.

I thank Him today and evermore for His grace, love and mercy. I thank Him for the freedom that comes with knowing that He created nothing ‘common or unclean’. I thank Him for the three’s in Peters life that mapped out Peter’s lifesong.

Grace, not guilt. That is HIS way.

Amen.

Refreshing....Renewal.....

I can remember in younger years thinking that it would be so great to take a respite in a spa somewhere in Hot Springs, AK..or the like....A place where you could pamper yourself physically and simply relax your mind....

HOW AWESOME that my Father has provided a constant, daily - even hourly renewal and refreshing of body, soul and spirit...and it doesn't cost me a dime, and I don't have to travel cross-country to get this...it is delivered (free shipping) to my door upon request.....

Ephesians 4:23-24 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

(What does the picture have to do with this? Absolutely nothing - I just like it)

Amazing Grace

As I "Googled" certain ministers of the Gospel who preach GRACE rather than legalism, I found exactly what I thought I'd find: Criticism and Name Calling (False Prophets).

This makes me a bit sad.

Grace is not a popular message. People would much rather be given a set of rules to follow - a standard to measure against. And if we accept the Gospel of Grace, it takes away our "scales" on which we measure another believer's "credibility." (God forbid that we should relax our stone throwing arms!). And if the believer cannot stand (in our sight) then the poor unbeliever has no chance at all.....

We are a people/society that has been birthed (physically) and nurtured on the "do's and don'ts" of society and the 10 commandments. Rules and regulations, we love them. It is foreign to us to even try to undertand that a person could be driven/compelled to do what is right unless we first point out to them what is WRONG.....

Grace doesn't work that way. The new covenant of Christ doesn't work that way. 

Do you realize that Jesus was beaten to the point that his internal organs were exposed so that we would NOT have to be bound by rules and regulations? Good works count for nothing.

Now, no doubt some will be "rising up" right now and thinking that I am endorsing "license" to sin....No, my friend, not at all....hear what the Apostle Paul says, and I agree

"For the love of Christ compels (to be "compelled" is to be driven/directed/guided) us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh (We cannot make an assumption about any person based on what we SEE). Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation;old things have passed away  (we are compelled to do NEW things...things that follow after the teachings of Christ and the Scriptures); behold, all things have become new.  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,  that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.  For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. "      2 Cor 5:14-21 - (words in italics are MINE and meant to be emphatic - not adding to).

Grace. Not works. Lest we brag (or condemn).

LOVE compells us to follow Christ, and love alone. GRACE is how we obtain that love. Grace alone.

No, Grace preaching is not popular. And although that makes me a bit sad, I know that God is in control...His Word will accomplish what He sent it to do (The WORD became Flesh)...through Grace.....regardless of the critics....Amen, and Amen.

(the picture may appear to have nothing to do with the writing, but when I painted this last year I entitled it,  "We are His Masterpiece - He applies the Blood"...hope that makes sense.)