A Disturbing Question April 30

 

Is it God’s will for everything [ good, bad, indifferent] that happens. Are we just to submit and hold our peace? There is some truth to this that we do not understand.

But we flinch and ask what kind of God allows some child, some husband, some wife to die unjustly? What does this say about God’s character?

Then we remember: God made us as free persons, with wills of our own. When He did this, does that make him responsible for our failings? The amazing mystery, God absorbs any irresponsibility through his Son Jesus. The Cross/Resurrection experience pays for everything humans do as a result for misusing the freedom originally given.

 Faith, trust, and hope we receive in good measure. But we have to embrace and practice them as our own.

God’s willingness flows with eternal life, not death.

Holy Spirit Held Back [part three] April 29

 

Scripture John 7: 38-39 indicates the holding back of the Holy Spirit for some reason. Why? Why couldn’t the Holy Spirit be given fully until Jesus was glorified?

In this section, 3 reasons will follow to explain God’s seeming hesitation.

1)   The first reason seems to be because a transition by Jehovah Father was to allow that love/part of himself to become recognizable and available to everyone, not just the Hebrew people.

2)   The Holy Spirit needed to move through Jesus’s actions and the disciples to give a more complete picture of heavenly Father who does not force belief through manipulating power but displays humble absorption.

3)   The word says Jesus must become glorified. Part of Jesus becoming glorified means the Holy Spirit becomes universal for everyone and therefore, becomes ultimate love/power, more all comprehensive and covering any failure when confessed.

Holy Spirit Held Back [ part two] April 27

 

Scripture John 7: 38-39 indicates the holding back of the Holy Spirit for some reason. Why? Why couldn’t the Holy Spirit be given fully until Jesus was glorified?

In this section, 3 reasons will follow to explain God’s seeming hesitation.

1)   The first reason seems to be because a transition by Jehovah Father was to allow that love/part of himself to become recognizable and available to everyone, not just the Hebrew people.

2)   The Holy Spirit needed to move through Jesus’s actions and the disciples to give a more complete picture of heavenly Father who does not force belief through manipulating power but displays humble absorption of love for persuasion.

 

[Follow next day for point 3]

Was Holy Spirit Ever Held Back? April 26

 

Scripture John 7: 38-39 indicates the holding back of the Holy Spirit for some reason. Why? Why couldn’t the Holy Spirit be given fully until Jesus was glorified?

In this section, 3 reasons will follow to explain God’s seeming hesitation.

1)    The first reason seems to be because a transition by Jehovah Father was to allow that love/part of himself to become recognizable and available to everyone, not just the Hebrew people.

 

[Follow next day for point 2]

Jesus is still praying April 25

 

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word…” [John 17:20]

Can you believe it?

The son of God prayed for us then and established a permanent word for all who would come after. That is us!

Since you have eternity on your side, trust in the promise and do not give up. Yes, hurt when you love but also, love while you hurt.

Can Scripture read you? April 24

 

Slow down. Read scripture more slowly. Let the words read you.[Jo. 10:27]

We read the scripture. But when the scripture reads you, you may absorb each metaphor. You may enter every example of scripture with your own personal experiences.

No illustration means much until you can feel it and live it.

Remember, Christian people exist as representatives of heaven couched in a culture that actually ends in death.

What is the Kingdom of God? April 23

 

The Kingdom of God remains mysteriously buried with all the potential of the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom stays submerged in persons because it flows with Jesus Christ who is also embedded in persons.

What is the implication of knowing Jesus and the kingdom? The purpose establishes an interactive relationship of love that becomes a social bond among Christians. We are to follow a course of God’s love.

Although we may not all agree, we are to flow with the kind of love that not only tolerates mistakes, but lives to establish a heavenly path on earth.

Flow with the love.    

What about our failures? April 22

 

One of the writers of the New Testament gives us an amazing thought about our failings. He says that through the blood of Jesus Christ, God poured out his overflowing kindness by forgiving our failures, that He decided to reveal his mystery to us through wisdom and insight and He brought all this into our history and decided to do this even ahead of time. [Eph. 1:10-11]

Nothing is ahead of time. Nothing is ahead of existence yet God is the origin of existence.

What else can be said.

Thoughts for today April 19

 

Heavenly Father be our journey.

Son Jesus be our words.

Holy Spirit be our shield.

Some Thought on the Trinity April 18

 

The belief about the Trinity is that God is one God existing as three different beings: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The idea is not tritheism as in three gods working in some harmony. Harmony implies one or the other would have to give up some power for the other to operate.

The idea is not unipersonalism when sometimes God takes the form of one personality and at other times, the form of another.

Or Trinity is not some other designation [ not yet labeled] that would say God just takes on the form he chooses at different times, who can argue, after all he is God!

But true Trinity sees God in three persons who know, love, and receive each other as equal but may seem to perform differently yet sustaining permission of each. They have no contradiction operating as one, or to us what seems separately, because they can [ all three] operate as one, at the same instance without contradiction.

God is basically one as he is essentially three. He is essentially three as he is basically one.

        We think in literal time: this is to this, as that is to that, thinking.

God has ultra-literal, many lateral kinds of thought, another kind of time operating with perfect vibrations.

What is glory? April 17

    When we look at an eclipse, when we view a newborn babe, when we lose ourselves in the beauty of a flower, bird, or deer. . . we experience awe, wonder, a kind of magnificent glory. Sometimes the feeling is mystery, sometimes delight, sometimes sadness. The feelings run up and down the glory scale.

The most amazing thought though is when Jesus prayed for us to share in his glory, the kind he shares with heavenly father John 17:1-3.

What is it?

His glory is to be a part of everlasting magnificence, eternal existence that never fades, that the item itself, like a flower is not only bringing awe but exists as beauty in itself, just like the Son of God. He does not just bring glory; he is glory, and he shares.

 

What Promise? April 16

 

History changes. Culture changes. Science changes. Technology changes. Values change.  Complex life conditions change. On and on changes happen every day.  We get dazzled, confused, misled. What do we hold onto?

The scripture offers an astounding truth, based on the ultimate/reality truth that never changes.

“If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.” [John 14:14]

Whoa……. That is a big one! Based on what?

“So Jesus answered and said to them, assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt . . .” Mt 21:21

We take a deep breath and grasp the faith.

What to pray? April 15

We ask, we ask, we ask. But often we do not know how to pray. 

We are afraid God will not answer. At times, we think we want to know him better, but we are not sure what specifics he would require of us if he answered more clearly.

We start to feel alone, that no one really understands us. What are we to do?

The scripture serves us with truth again:

“Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” [ Ro. 8: 26-27]

We can groan for God.

Are we Listening? April 12

 

My Grandmother used to say,

“Son, you may be listening but you ain’t harkening?”

I think what she meant was that I might be listening, but did I put action to what I heard.

When we pray, are we harkening back? What are we supposed to do?

Throughout scripture much of action/behavior seems to be based on one’s generosity. God’s word is full of examples. Generosity comes out of love.

We just need to review the list in Mt. 25: 35-38.

Praying to the Father April 10

 

Many people pray to the Father and have no question about it. But someone asked what if you had a very bad relationship with your earthly father. It is hard to pray to a “father” who gave you mostly misery.

There is no easy answer, but one approach helps. Try to think of a father that should have been.

The heavenly Father is all that should have been, all that is, and all that will be. He cannot and will not let you down. This means you are born for a good reason. Finding it is the adventure.

Abba Father.

How to behave April 9

 

Since we have been given a truth that does not fail to remain true, how are we to live? One of the hardest ways has to be when people misunderstand you or even criticize.

The hurt that cuts deep from misunderstanding your good intentions seems to scar the soul like no other. How could they not hear you? How could they not know you better than that. Why didn’t they clear up the confusion? Don’t they really care?

“But even if you suffer for doing what God approves . . . defend your confidence in God. . . with gentleness and respect . . . then those who treat a good Christian life with contempt will feel ashamed that they have ridiculed you.” [1 Peter 3: 14-17]. GWT translation.

Sneaky dart of doubt, a first step to tear away any confidence of stable truth, waits in the shadow of respected reality.

But God reminds us to defend our confidence in Him.

Is Conscience talking or God? April 8

Since we are assured that heavenly Father remains divine truth that does not fool us, how do we know which voice speaks to us, especially with regard to behavior?

In Psalms 12: 6 we are reminded that God’s word, his scripture is pure. So, when we struggle with some decision, know the difference of who is talking.

When there is an argument going on inside about one of our behaviors, that is the subconscious working and motivated by the survival concern. When God speaks, he does not argue. His yes is yes, his no is no, his maybe is maybe. He does not argue because his word is pure.

Listen properly.

Is God’s truth flexible? April 6

What does it mean to possess the real truth?

When the modern person believes in ultimate reality, not just fleeting fact that gets changed by technology or culture, a person can realize truth without the wonder of being tricked.

“This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we will be reassured in his presence. Whenever our conscience condemns us, we will be reassured that God is greater than our conscience and knows everything.”  [1John 3:19-10, God’s Word Translation].

Trust is the word today.

What does God Do? April 5

                       

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” [ Psalm 34: 17-18, NIV]

“The righteous cry out and the Lord hears them and delivers them out of all their troubles.” [ Psalm 34, NKJ version]

Enough said. Believe.

How do we hear God speak? April 4

 

We often wait for a word from God. We wonder what did he say? We agonize to get a definitive, actual word from heaven. Is God even speaking anymore? We pray Psalm 119: 149, “Hear my voice according to your steadfast love…” Unashamedly, we expect an answer.

And then we remember: Psalm 147:15, “He sends out his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly…”

God speaks to us everyday if we pay attention. The trees and flowers burst forth the green of Spring. The Creator has given them rest through Fall and Winter. A new lizard looks up at you and says, “Oh, hello.” A breeze moves through your hair and says, “Let me sweep away the dust.” The fire crackles and keeps you warm until the time of change.

And while God is not literally in the specific nature, he created ways to speak all around us.

Thank you, Lord, for color, for new babies, for drinking water, for breathable air, for the messages you have created to send us a word all around us.

Help us pay attention.

Is Your prayer on the right track? April 3

 

Sometimes we pray and we are not certain we are even on the right subject. Of course, our self-serving prayers are always present. We, at least care for others.

But how do we know our prayers get heard? How do we know they are even answered?

 There are, at least, two ideas any prayer gets answered.

        1) When prayer gives total credit to Jesus. [This is God’s dominion]

2) We mean it when we say, “God’s will be done.”

Is Anything possible? April 2

As believers in Christ and followers of a divine arrangement, we have the unchanging word, “I am able to [can do] all things through Christ who strengthens me.” [ Phil.4:13 NKJV] 

Does this mean we can be like a superhero and leap tall buildings in a single bound? No, we have to invent an airplane to fly over them. We are much slower, but we get there because there is a part of us made in the Creator’s image. So, what does “can do all things” mean?

If we major on “Seek first the kingdom of God” [Mt.6:37], we maintain an opportunity, an ability to go beyond the now, join God’s transcendence, and become more than the sum of our parts.

At times do you feel defeated? Feel a failure too much? Feel stuck?

Absorb God’s transcendence, review 1 John 5: 4, you can overcome the world.

What gets Questioned? April 1

 

    We are bombarded today with all kinds of information. So much so that our innate filtering systems have almost disappeared. We used to have family, school, religion to promote good guidance values upon which we made decisions. Now we are slammed with electronic, commercial logic that we are supposed to take in as answers to every aspect of life, whether health, education, prosperity, or religion.

All this will not change as technology speeds up our lives. And so, we enter that huge category of DOUBT.

We hear an issue, is it right? Is that issue, right? Is he right? Is she correct?

As believers and Becomers, we must hold onto Mt. 8:26.

“Why are you fearful?”