by admin | Dec 12, 2008 | Jesus Talk, Kingdom Comments, Relationship Not Religion!
I know, I know……we aren’t supposed to be offended. But, I was! Why? Because a man accused me of ‘saying I was religious.’ To be exact he said, “You say you are religious and yet you won’t take me off your email list, and I don’t want any more of your emails.”
First of all, I didn’t know he wanted off. It is so easy….there is a link at the bottom of each message where anyone can unsubscribe. For some unknown reason that did not work. So he was ‘hot’! I got the job done as soon as I knew there was a problem. I don’t send those emails out from my office….they go through another company (a really good one) Automated Sales Machine. We only want those on line with us who are blessed by the messages.
The statement that I said I was religious….got me ‘hot’…..one thing I live by and try to impart is that following and believing in Jesus is relationship not religion. Religion is what man must do for God and Christianity is what God has done for man.
Well, I argued with myself (a little), “Why did that upset me?” Then I decided to look up religion and religious in my concordance to see what it actually means. That was a surprise, because it means to worship or worshiping. And, religion and religious are only used 7 times, all in the New Testament. I pulled up definition from Webster’s Dictionary: “concerned with sacred matters or religion or the church; “religious texts”; “a member of a religious order”; “lords temporal and spiritual … having or showing belief in and reverence for a deity; “a religious man”; “religious attitude”
I had thought it meant a form of doctrines or beliefs of any kind, like Buddhist, Mormon, Muslim, New Age, Satanism and those all have doctrines about ‘working’ or pleasing a god, or the ‘god within’. In Christianity we accept Jesus into our heart, believing He is the ‘Way, the Truth, and the Light’ and we have eternal relationship with God, by His mercy and grace, not works. Then because we love Him we do work and serve Him out of desire not obligation!
This did give me a little different perspective. However, I think the words have come to mean what I described for most people, i.e. Tom Cruise refers to Scientology as a religion.
I did do what I preach…..I forgave the man and prayed he would know Jesus personally, that he would be blessed and God would take all judgment out of my heart. Amazing how God does just that when we do our part. So now I guess I am truly religious and might even say that because I do worship Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I doubt that I would claim it very often because I would never want people to misconstrue my meaning. Jesus is great, I am not. I am blessed and important in the scheme of things as is everyone reading this Blog. I have great confidence in knowing who I am in Christ Jesus, (See Home Study page at the right, #4 for more on that.) and extremely thankful for all He does for me! But my self-worth is in Him not what I do.
P S I am sure this will not be the last time I am offended….and it does matter what we do with an offense. It is to the glory of man to overlook an offense (Prov 19:11) and certainly shows ‘class’…..I’m going to work on that!
Pressing in and pressing on….
by admin | Nov 12, 2008 | Jesus Talk, Kingdom Comments, Relationship Not Religion!
Why me? WOW….there is such a good reason you will love it.
Every-time we bless someone else, three things happen:
1. We have the thought of the blessing! (Good for your mind and soul. Phil 4:8)
2. We speak blessing through our mouth! (Words can bring life! John 6:63)
3. As we bless, we are blessed! (In words we are justified; declared righteous! Matt 12:37)
To bless means to:
- To consecrate or sanctify, or pronounce holy.
- To request of God, divine favor.
- To impart good of any kind.
- To commend as holy; glorify. (To bless God.)
- To protect or guard from evil.
Those are some of the definitions of the word bless. How wonderful that we can impart such awesome things in just ‘blessing’ a person or situation!
As we work in partnership with the Holy Spirit (He is the senior partner and we are junior partner), we use our mind, our mouth to speak, we are blessed, and the Holy Spirit does the rest, and He is soooo good at what He does! As it goes forth those who receive the blessing will be blessed, those who do not, the blessing will return to us! (Luke 10:6)
Whee…!!! What a blessing to give a blessing and be blessed! All because of Jesus, for Jesus and in His Name, we can rise up each day to over come evil with good! (Rom 12:21)
Blessing makes the heart sing!
by admin | Nov 7, 2008 | Jesus Talk, Kingdom Comments, Relationship Not Religion!
The simple answer is: “Because that is all He has!”
Jesus was without sin; Jesus said, “Only God is good.”; so where does that leave the rest of us?
The Lord spoke to my heart not long ago, that unless we realize we are imperfect and God loves us–we will not have the love we need to love others who are imperfect!
Why is it so easy to be critical? Be suspicious? Be full of fear? Blame others? Whoops! That would be the ‘fallen nature’ of man, right?
Why is joy so illusive and happiness take so much effort? Because they require good thoughts, a good attitude and if we don’t have them we can make a decision of our will (free will that is) to change our attitude, and let go of the pain. It may take some work on our part!
When we face our own imperfection we are able to be kinder, and more compassionate to others who annoy, offend or deceive us. Sometimes it takes effort, but sometimes it is just a change of attitude.
God really does love us, so much so, He gave His Son, to demonstrate that love! So know that you don’t have to be perfect. Don’t expect others to be perfect before you love them. It isn’t always easy….I am here to say….just very, very rewarding!
If the ‘fallen nature’ and some of what I said is a ‘mystery’ to you, I invite you to take advantage of our ‘Weekly Book Offer–Free to All’ listed on this page. We will share what we have learned and hopefully others will share with us.
Signed,
Carol Definitely imperfect, but mightily Loved of God!
by admin | Oct 7, 2008 | Family/Marriage, Kingdom Comments, Relationship Not Religion!
My mind tells me I am 50 and my body thinks it is 100, and I have to comprise and accept the truth….soon to be 75. Since I have been seeking and resting on my relationship with the Lord for so many years; and because of my love for my grandchildren they trust me not to judge them, and they look to me for insights to God.
So I won’t talk to them about economics, or money or budgets, but where do we stand with God in all of this chaos. Our natural inclination is to think of God as Santa Claus; willing and able to give us everything we want if we are good.
God is sovereign, meaning He can do anything. But in His sovereignty He has limited what He will and will not do. His ‘utility packages’ that run the Universe on a pre-set course are only changed when we pray in agreement with the desires of His Heart.
Just this once I want to talk about God as our friend. The Old Testament is full of stories of other people’s relationship with God, and two of my favorites are Abraham (a friend of God) and King David (a man after God’s heart). They are two good examples for us in this day of disappointment and loss.
Two men (and they could be women) with such great favor with God to be called His friend and a man after His heart, helps us to have some insight into our circumstances now. Both these men committed sins, which cost them while on this earth. Both men had great relationship with God but their lives were sprinkled not only with miracles but with wars, loss, anxiety, family betrayal, tests on their faith and trust in God, and disappointment. Yet, they always turned to God for solace and peace in their hearts. Their emotions went deep, but their spirit, their hearts were sold out to God.
Jesus says in John 15:14, 15 that His disciples (His followers) are His friends. To put this in perspective, our free will determines our destiny, and the free will of others will influence our decisions and our destiny. Depending on who is elected President will turn our Nation, and the world. We are each a small part–but an important part to ourselves, our family and friends and most of all to God.
As a Friend, God will give us favor (support) in the market place, with relationships, when we ask and depend on Him. As a Friend, there are many personal things God will do for us—spelled out in Scripture—give us peace, joy, victory over enemies, etc.
At this time it is more important to know as a Friend, what God will not do. He will not violate free will to give us our way. He will not answer prayer that violates His rules and commandments. The whole Kingdom of God, on earth within our hearts is based on faith, and faith filled prayer—that will move mountains.
Relationship with Jesus should not be built on what He can do for us, any more than we would make friends with someone just for what they could do for us. The ironic part of this is that Jesus wants us dependent upon Him and even goes so far as to say, “You can do nothing without Me.” Loving Him comes first, dependence then is easier.
The most important thing now or at any time is to have that friendship, that relationship, that dependence upon God so that we have a place to go, a place to turn, when we cannot control the circumstances. He is our friend, our eternal love, our first and last resort to all things, even when we don’t like or understand the circumstances.
We need Him as our friend when we are having fun, when things are going well, when we are enjoying sports, entertainment or whatever. God enjoys fun, He made us didn’t He? Jesus is the one who said, “I came to give life, and life abundantly.” Faith in God has made this country the most abundant in the world. Evil, greed and sin (things contrary to the goodness of God) are changing all of that.
While fighting a depilating disease, with pain and discomfort I learned a wonderful truth:
I could have peace and joy in my spirit when my body was ‘screaming’. Even though I felt abandon I was not. The Holy Spirit did not come and go as I felt good or bad, just my own emotions and physical being struggled.
I encourage all to fight, stand, and vote for what they believe. Pray—talk to God—pray, pray, pray!!! Most of all continue to build your relationship, your friendship with Jesus…the Holy Spirit….and our Heavenly Father. That is the only thing in this economy, in this world that is constant. He can give us peace in the middle of chaos, and courage in the middle of disaster. Life may be disappointing, but our spiritual life can always be victorious.
by admin | Sep 1, 2008 | Jesus Talk, Kingdom Comments, Relationship Not Religion!
In the ‘Christian community’ there has been a lot of talk, thousands of emails circulating about the revival meetings that were held over one hundred days in Lakeland, Florida. The meetings came out of a planned three day conference with a man named Todd Bentley.
The healings and miracles that came forth, the hundreds of salvations were of God, not Todd. Then it was revealed that Todd had some problems that required him to step down from the ministry for a time of healing and restoration. What the problems are makes no difference since competent men and women are working with the the Lord on Todd’s behalf, on the situation.
What is appalling is the attitude of the those who ‘are called by My Name’ condemning, complaining and declaring that much of what took place, or even all of what took place was not of God. I wonder if those who were healed and received salvation would like to give back those supernatural acts because Todd was less than perfect. We have only one perfect man, Christ Jesus. Jesus, the Holy Spirit, respond to those seeking and believing as well as the leaders. The character and nature of any leader is the responsibility of God, who is very good at what He does.
We must be accountable to God, in the same way Jesus responded to those of His day.
Jesus confronted the accusers of the woman caught in adultery, (which Todd was not, to my knowledge) recorded in the book of John, Chapter 8, verses one to eleven. Then Jesus released the woman with a gentle but convicting commandment to go and sin no more. Jesus sent her away without counseling or condemnation. “But, that was Jesus.” Yes, it was.
I had received an email on this that set my soul on fire, and into hours of prayer. I could not sleep, and as I forgave and repented for much and many, the Lord gave me a vision:
We, Jesus and I, were sitting by a creek high in the mountains in Colorado, one of my favorite places, especially with Him. Jesus told me to look at the water—it was beautiful, clear, with sparkles like small diamonds bouncing off of it. It was just pure joy to watch it and all that happened around it as it cascaded down stream. I was smiling…then Jesus said, “Look now.” There was a metal cup with a handle on it, floating down stream, it was fairly good size, it had no holes, but had dents in it and looked rather beat up. Then before I could look away the water turned an ugly grey. The sparkle was gone and dirt seemed to be flowing with the water making it very murky. What happened I asked. “The water is like a fresh renewal from a mountain stream. The cup, the damaged leader. The dirty murky water is full of despair, judgment and condemnation; just as the mountain streams are polluted by the careless in your society.”
I hung my head and breathed a heavy sigh, “Can we clean it, can we make it better?” “Those who drank of the fresh water will keep what they have. There is now a bitter taste in the stream. You will need a new stream out of the flesh of the mountain. You would do well to protect the cup from which you drink as it can be very easily dented. This is warfare, not play time. I do not pour out rivers of dirty water. Dominion is yours. However, so is despair, judgment and condemnation. The enemy will use the sin nature of man, that he helped to create, to poison the flow.”
I quickly remembered, “You have told me in the past, we are either warriors or prisoners of war, our choice.” “Yes, I did not give you the ability to bind and loose to be left in the pages of My Book. Forgiveness is the purifying tool for the cup, blessings and spiritual warfare; and you may use many cups in which to drink, but do not drink with your eyes closed. Watch for those (demonic evil forces) who want to steal the cup.”
I was back in my dark bedroom….I still could not sleep, not until I wrote this vision.
“What should I do with it now, Lord?” “Give it to the world, post it, the world needs My direction.” And all I could say was a quiet, ‘Amen’! I did sleep well after that.
by admin | Sep 1, 2008 | Jesus Talk, Kingdom Comments, Politics, Relationship Not Religion!
With the media so busy with politics, and my mind so full of the nominated candidates, I was surprised to receive the follow thoughts that I believe came from the Holy Spirit. A little off topic and yet is so clearly appropriate.
“The distortion of this country to the truth it represents and holds could destroy it. It is not great because of industry or commerce but because of the shed blood and the sacrifice of the people, who founded it. The blood shed to free the Indians from witch craft and superstition; the blood shed to free the slaves cries out to keep the freedom they died for. The gates were not opened to welcome all religions, to oppose the things of God, to worship anything they chose, but the freedom to worship Christ Jesus and God regardless of the circumstances. No matter who they are or where they come from, opportunity is available. This nation is a nation under God so that God is wworshipped.”
I began to think on this….Hundreds of Christians fled here for freedom of persecution. The Indians were lied to, and treated terribly–which is not God’s fault. His will would have been and is to bring them all to relationship with Jesus and the abundant life Jesus died to give all mankind. Slavery was abolished by the shed blood in the civil war, sometimes brother against brother. Yet, we still have prejudice and ugly politics between races. Is there some way that will be solved by taking God out of school, pledge of allegiance, court houses, Christmas plays and displays, and so on?
There are thousands more who have shed their blood for this country–in all the wars in which we have been involved. Those men and women were and are willing to lay down their lives for us, for the freedom we enjoy, and the freedom they believe others should have. I believe a poll of those serving would be interesting to find out if they (and their families) are not praying to the Christian God of American for protection and comfort.
I have thought for years Buddhists or a Muslims or whatever, should want Christians in office to keep the freedom they have to do as they please. We are so liberal with our freedom we could lose it. Their freedom should not come at the price of our Christian way of life. Because of our ancestors and the battles they fought for us, for God, He has made this Nation great with men and women with Biblical morals–blood, sweat, tears and prayer laid the foundation and is still the backbone of this country.
I am not as interested in who they were or what they said….but the independence they fought for to worship and establish ONE NATION UNDER GOD! It has been stamped, posted, sung about, on our stamps, our cars, our courts, our money…..what does it take to get the point across.
I have prayed for the Indians and apologized to them for what they have suffered, and I am part Indian. I have apologized to my black brothers and sisters for the terrible sins against them. My heart aches when I see news reports of the abuse. But, I had never thought of the other side. That the blood of our ancestors paid for our freedom–who is going to apologize to us? We don’t need apologies we need restoration to good morals, loving care for those who need it and appreciation for the true facts–life isn’t fair and boy do we need
God!
I received a letter this week and on the back was stamped ONE NATION UNDER GOD. I was impressed and touched. We all need to do that and stand and demand that this country remain in the hands of God while we can, ONE NATION UNDER GOD.
Move it on…….
