Posted on 12/22/2009 4:46:13 AM PST by Quix
DEAR PRECIOUS GRACEFUL,
I think shame is an interesting thing.
Have certainly wrestled with plenty of it in my life. Not sure it's all over, either.
There was a church member or pastor . . . speaking, I forget which . . . recently . . . a sermon, I think . . . probably Pastor Christie . . . how Christ . . . Cast down shame on The Cross. Not just took it upon Himself but conquered it, and cast it down. Banished it from having any effect or influence on Him.
I think there was some root word studies involved or some such--it was Quite Biblical, as I recall.
Anyway, it resonated in my spirit as quite true.
Certainly shame is something satan inflicted on mankind in the Garden.
Yet what is it?
It's not something we grow in our gardens--at least not literally.
It's not something we manufacture.
It's not even, really, literal horse biscuits someone gets by the shovel full and dumps on us. Not REALLY--at least not usually.
It's not REALLY something we craft with our hands.
It's not REALLY some hole in the road we fall in and can't crawl out of.
It's not REALLY some mob of compatriots flinging their boogers and spit all over us.
It's not REALLY that we parade around in our birthday suits with our fat and blemishes accosting other people's eyes 24/7.
#################
Actually, I think . . . apart from the demonic aspect involved . . . I think that shame is essentially
a mental construct.
It's all in our heads . . .
and there from in our hearts and spirits.
Shame is essentially fear of loss. Or traumatic fussing over perceived loss or perceived potential loss.
We fear loss of
1. someone's or some group's approval
.
2. someone's or some group's support
.
3. someone's or some group's understanding
.
4. someone's or some group's grace, patience, permission--to do; or to be however we see fit to do or be
.
5. someone's or some group's help, aid, work in our behalf or with us
.
6. someone's or some group's applause, acclaim, praise, reward, award
.
7. someone's or some group's positive label(s), affirmation(s)
.
8. someone's or some group's resources, money, food, friendship, encouragement(s)
.
For what?
for being or perceived to be . . .
1. for being less than perfect
.
2. for being less than expected
.
3. for being sinful
.
4. for being dumb, stupid
.
5. for being incompetent
.
6. for being less something (beautiful, smart, rich, thin, . . .) than average
.
7. for being less than the best
.
8. for being clumsy
.
9. for being fat
.
10. for being short
.
11. for being inadequate
.
12. for being uncool
.
13. for being poor
.
14. for being shabbily or klunkily dressed, or out of style
.
15. for being sick, ill, tired, sleepy, . . .
.
16. for performing poorly
.
17. for being unskilled
.
18. for dancing too slowly, &/or too poorly
.
19. for tripping, falling, stumbling
.
20. for being lazy
.
21. for having no job
.
22. for being a poor cook, bottle washer, janitor, maid, gardener, . . .
.
23. for being a poor driver, a deadly drunk driver,
.
24. for being a poor money manager
25. for being a poor conversationalist
.
26. for speaking poorly in public
.
27. for writing poorly
.
28. for being dumb about computers, cars, furnaces, toasters, vacuum cleaners or snow blowers
.
29. for taking poor care of our bodies
.
30. for having few friends
.
31. for being less than ideal Christians
.
32. for drooling (in our sleep or otherwise)
.
33. for having a small vocabulary
.
34. for having no children
.
35. for having bad children
.
36. for making a big mistake
.
37. for sinning; sinning big
.
38. for not having all the answers
.
39. for not knowing the right questions
.
40. for lying, whimpering in the fetal position longer than fitting
.
############
Yet, REALLY . . . we are more or less
THE SAME PERSON
AFTER feeling shame for whatever reason(s)
that we were before we felt the shame or increased shame.
Certainly GOD IS STILL IN HIS HEAVEN.
CERTAINLY CHRIST'S BLOOD IS STILL JUST AS EFFECTIVE IN COVERING REPENTANT, CONFESSED UP, PRAYED UP HEARTS.
CERTAINLY GOD'S LOVE HAS NOT LESSENED.
AND IF GOD OF ALL CREATION STILL LOVES US TO THE UTTERMOST, WHAT PLACE HAS SHAME COMPARED TO THAT?
But even in the natural . . . shame is just a mental construct--again--apart from the demonic element.
It's all in our heads or all in our heads AND the heads of onlookers.
Shame in and of itself DOES NOT AND CANNOT FORCE US TO ACTIVELY OR INACTIVELY DO ANYTHING BAD OR GOOD.
SHAME IS JUST . . . AN IDEA.
And it is virtually always an idea from hell meant to bind us to hell.
GIVEN THAT CHRIST TOOK SHAME ON THE CROSS . . . HOW IS IT THAT WE HAVE TO WILLINGLY ENSLAVE OURSELVES TO THE
IDEA
OF SHAME . . . KIND OF LIKE THE SURFACE PEOPLE COMPLIANTLY GOING DOWN INTO THE MORELOCH'S DUNGEONS TO BE EATEN IN H.G. WELL'S TIME MACHINE.
As Christians washed in Christ's Blood, we CERTAINLY DO NOT HAVE to passively put on and wear 24/7 the cloak of shame.
We can take it off and leave it off most any time--certainly by Christ's Blood and Spirit.
It's just an idea.
Even if a mob of people are literally spitting at us and throwing their boogers on us and even literally pissing on us,
real actions,
IT IS STILL JUST AN IDEA that such actions have to matter to us in any eternal, lasting significance sort of way.
We have the power to reject that idea.
Even in that situation, we can say to ourselves, "They are demonized idiots. It is THEIR problem. I don't need to make it MY problem. When I can, I'll wash up and they'll be gone. God still loves me and is still with me and will take me to be eternally WITH HIM. They are of no consequence."
We do NOT HAVE
to GIVE anyone or any group
power to shame us
REGARDLESS OF WHAT THEY THINK OR WHAT THEY DO.
Yes, sometimes, it may mean we may ask them to apologize or to stop doing some !!!!CONTROLLING!!!! THING over us.
But regardless of the reality of others' behaviors, actions or statements to and about us . . .
WE DO NOT HAVE
to INVEST in whatever they do or say
ANY SHAME WHATSOEVER
REGARDLESS OF HOW THEY INTENDED IT OR DID NOT INTEND IT.
We can let it be their problem. We do NOT have to receive it as our problem, as shame.
Yes, one could say that Mummy infected you with a decades bad case of shame tied up and gagged in the coal bin. And, as a little girl, you had little to no resources against it.
However, you do, NOW.
You can say "NO!" to the demonic, to the psychodynamic, to the memories, to the fears, to the fantasies . . . of shame.
You can send them packing as rabid rats with no right to you at all.
EITHER CHRIST'S BLOOD MATTERS
OR IT DOESN'T.
IF CHRIST'S BLOOD REALLY MATTERS, SHAME HAS NO PLACE, IN US, WITH US, ANY LONGER.
If we act as though Christ's Blood doesn't matter or is ineffectual against shame,
THEN WE SHAME CHRIST'S BLOOD!
HE DIED THAT WE MIGHT STAND TALL--NOT IN CARNAL, FLESHLY PRIDE--BUT STAND TALL, PARADOXICALLY, IN HUMILITY--IN HIM.
We know keenly of the clay whereof we were dug. HUMILITY IS ESSENTIAL.
Yet, humility is NOT SHAME.
Humiliation is shame.
And we are great at humiliating ourselves with satan's help.
Humility is awareness of our utter JUSTIFIABLY SHAME-FILLED destitute state apart from God WHILE THANKFULL THAT WE WERE LOVED ENOUGH BY GOD ALMIGHTY, FOR GOD TO DIE FOR US--AND TO COVER OUR SHAME, ERADICATE IT--WITH HIS BLOOD.
So, we have a choice . . . shame or humility.
There is no other choice related to shame. We WILL HAVE SHAME
OR
we will have humility.
Christ bore our shame on The Cross. Yet, we must accept His Blood covering and daily shoulder our cross in humble submission to His Lordship over our lives
or we have shame rewnewed on us, in us, about us, again.
Denial doesn't deal with shame. It only intensifies it underground. It grows puss pockets of corruption under our surface persona. Eventually, they erupt in an ugly smell when we can least afford it . . . producing more shame.
Whatever reality there is about our flaws, sins, imperfections, we must boldly take them to The Cross and Blood of Jesus. He alone can insure their drowning in the sea of forgetfulness.
When that spiritual REALITY more real than the soil beneath our feet, has been transacted,
THEN
shame need have no hold on us, no influence over us.
THEN the mental construct, the idea of shame is a hollow threat from hell.
IF we deny and shuck and jive and slip and slide . . .
THEN WE invest reality into the idea of shame. And satan is quite able and happy to cash that reality in for great dividends of MORE SHAME.
OR
WE CAN ABIDE IN CHRIST . . . MOMENT BY MOMENT INSURING CONFESSION, REPENTANCE, FORGIVENESS, OVERCOMING BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB AND THE WORD OF OUR TESTIMONY. WE CAN STAND PERFECTED LEGALLY IN HIM.
THEN shame has no place in us.
Standing tall in humility clothed in Christ's Righteousness is the only way to live and certainly the only way to live eternally.
There is no other choice.
Satan's flinging ideas of shame at us--founded or unfounded--are great opportunities to practice
practice
standing tall in humility in CHRIST'S RIGHTEOUSNESS--the only way to live--now AND eternally.
(C) 2009 Bo Xian
It is a Scripture as you may know . . .
The Blood of The Lamb is the legal, spiritual, REAL fact of Christ's overcoming POWER IN THE BLOOD (as the hymn goes) spiritual and tangible potency to overcome the world the flesh and the devil because of Christ's shed blood and Resurrection.
We can verbally "claim" The Blood over us as we go about our day. We can pray The Blood over our mind as we lay down to sleep. We can declare and spiritually put The Blood between us and evil and evil doers as a shield.
I like to think of THE WORD OF OUR TESTIMONY as confession verbally, boldly of SCRIPTURE--CERTAINLY SCRIPTURAL TRUTHS ABOUT WHO WE ARE IN JESUS (REMEMBER THAT LIST?) AND WHO JESUS IS IN US as we go about our day. THOSE ARE THE SUPREME REALITIES--NOT satan's lies about us and about life.
The Word of our testimony is also about what God HAS DONE AND IS DOING IN OUR LIVES OF A VICTORIOUS, OVERCOMING NATURE.
May God draw you ever closer to Himself; grant you His safety; Provision and Peace,
May you each have a Blessed CHRISTmas filled with warmly emotionally intimate dialogues with God and with those you Love.
May MarySecretary be thoroughly healed with a fully functioning kidney. May Rifqa Bary triumph over her enemies. May all ill FREEPERS be healed and made whole by The Lord Jesus. May all fractured FREEPER FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS be healed, matured, whole, kind, mutually nurturing and supportive; thoughtful, compassionate and cherishing this CHRISTmas and in the New Year.
May all FREEPERS who Love God have His Provision, Safety, Peace, Wholeness, Health, Wisdom, Guidance, Spirit, Forgiveness, Understanding, Overcoming Power and Protection This CHRISTmas and in the New Year.
Shameless END TIMES PING LIST PING.
Plus some other Bros & Sis who wouldn’t be caught dead on an END TIMES ping list! LOL.
Excellent. Thanks Quix.
And thanks to Jesus. His Kingdom come, His will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven.
SMALL STRAWS IN A SOFT WIND by Marsha Burns — Dec. 22, 2009:
Beloved, I have already brought warnings to you to guard your heart with all diligence. Be aware that the enemy is roaring around, looking for those who will get in his most dangerous territory through allowing their emotions to run wild.
Guard your thoughts and emotions, and refuse to allow the devil to bring discouragement, disappointment and depression.
Rise up and embrace My joy, says the Lord, and be strengthened in your inner man. Draw near to me, and place your hope in My love for you.
Resist the devil, for there is no temptation too great for you to overcome.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Faith Tabernacle
Bill and Marsha Burns
111 North Fourth Street
P. O. Box 1148
Kremmling, CO 80459 USA
SMALL STRAWS IN A SOFT WIND by Marsha Burns — Dec. 23, 2009:
Pay attention, and you will see that I am with you to direct and bless you in all things, but particularly in the things that seem to be insignificant. If you look, you will see My handiwork in every phase of your existence; even in things that you have dreaded having to face. Actually, you may find yourself being pleasantly surprised in various ways. Take these opportunities to bolster your hope and faith in the fact that I am your very present help, says the Lord.
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
http://runningfrombabylon.blogspot.com/2010/05/death-comes-for-fish-of-macondo.html
Latest, Charmaine Eggers.
Excerpt
It appears to me that this prophetic word could be strongly linked to the catastrophic oil spill currently going on in the Gulf. Many of us here in America, Christian and non-Christian alike, are concerned about the impact this oil and the dispersants being used on the oil will have on ocean life. It will have to be tremendous, and the frightening sense that many of us have is that we (meaning the average citizens of America) are not being told the truth about the vast impact this oil spill is having.
The Obama administration gets angry when questioned about this spill, especially if comparisons are made between him and former President Bush and this being another Katrina. I think it is time to move on beyond calling this oil spill Obama’s Katrina and let’s just call it Obama’s Chernobyl.
The water may not be radioactive, but with large amounts of toxins (especially Benzene) and whatever may be in COREXIT 9500, the dispersant being used, the waters of the Gulf are rapidly becoming deadly.
It is important to note the words coming out of Obama’s mouth in regards to Israel. One of those words has been the word CORE in the context of “core issues.” As Daniel Eggers at Prayersforthepeople dot com noted to me in a conversation, the word CORE is part of the toxic dispersant now being used.
End of excerpt.
THX THX.
http://www.worldforjesus.org/articles-teaching.php?ID=181
very encouraging
excerpt of The Reigning Ones Part 3
... time in the Word and prayer because it takes wisdom to seek and desire God. If you don’t have a healthy prayer and Word life, as well as a hunger for God, you are lacking wisdom. It takes wisdom to hunger for God.
It is the beauty of wisdom which leads us into a hunger and a quest for God. Furthermore, it leads us on the journey to God; it is something we absolutely need. Without it, we are almost completely useless to the kingdom of God; with it, we can be of great value to the kingdom.
Proverbs 8:1-11
1Does not skillful and godly Wisdom cry out, and understanding raise her voice [in contrast to the loose woman]? 2On the top of the heights beside the way, where the paths meet, stands Wisdom [skillful and godly]; 3At the gates at the entrance of the town, at the coming in at the doors, she cries out: 4To you, O men, I call, and my voice is directed to the sons of men. 5O you simple and thoughtless ones, understand prudence; you [self-confident] fools, be of an understanding heart. 6Hear, for I will speak excellent and princely things; and the opening of my lips shall be for right things. 7For my mouth shall utter truth, and wrongdoing is detestable and loathsome to my lips. 8All the words of my mouth are righteous (upright and in right standing with God); there is nothing contrary to truth or crooked in them. 9They are all plain to him who understands [and opens his heart], and right to those who find knowledge [and live by it]. 10Receive my instruction in preference to [striving for] silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold,11For skillful and godly Wisdom is better than rubies or pearls, and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
People desire a home, cars, clothes, position, respect, and ministry, none of which can be compared to wisdom. You can go through your life’s list of passions, desires and wants and place these on one side of a balance scale; put on the other side wisdom, and it will outweigh all else.
You can put the world itself, the very globe upon which we stand, walk and live and it cannot be compared to the gift of wisdom. So great is this wisdom, that no amount of diamonds, gold, silver or gems of any kind can be measured against it. Nothing in this life can be compared to the gift of wisdom.
These are not my words; the Bible says that wisdom is to be desired above all things. Only by wisdom are you led into God. Without wisdom you do not know how to find God. Even if He were standing right in front of you, you would not recognize His ways, much less be able to walk with Him.
The only way to enter into the heart of God is to understand Him and you can never do that without wisdom. It is the most treasured and precious gift, because without it, you are forever held away from the One you desire the most.
With it, you can search the inner chambers of God and learn and discover all things.
Proverbs 8:12-14
12I, Wisdom [from God], make prudence my dwelling, and I find out knowledge and discretion. 13The reverent fear and worshipful awe of the Lord [includes] the hatred of evil; pride, arrogance, the evil way, and perverted and twisted speech I hate. 14I have counsel and sound knowledge, I have understanding, I have might and power.
This is all about wisdom; did you ever think that wisdom had might and power?
Proverbs 8:15-21
15By me kings reign and rulers decree justice.16By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges and governors of the earth.17I love those who love me, and those who seek me early and diligently shall find me.18Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness (uprightness in every area and relation, and right standing with God).19My fruit is better than gold, yes, than refined gold, and my increase than choice silver.20I [Wisdom] walk in the way of righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation), in the midst of the paths of justice,21That I may cause those who love me to inherit [true] riches and that I may fill their treasuries.
... You could be a genius and work a whole lifetime in finance and economics, and at the end of your life what you have would not even come close to the riches that wisdom can bestow. You could leave this world a multi-billionaire and not have the riches — the true wealth — that wisdom will give you.
Proverbs 8:22-30
22The Lord formed and brought me [Wisdom] forth at the beginning of His way, before His acts of old. 23I [Wisdom] was inaugurated and ordained from everlasting, from the beginning, before ever the earth existed. 24When there were no deeps, I was brought forth, when there were no fountains laden with water. 25Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth, 26While as yet He had not made the land or the fields or the first of the dust of the earth. 27When He prepared the heavens, I [Wisdom] was there; when He drew a circle upon the face of the deep and stretched out the firmament over it, 28When He made firm the skies above, when He established the fountains of the deep, 29When He gave to the sea its limit and His decree that the waters should not transgress [across the boundaries set by] His command, when He appointed the foundations of the earth — 30Then I [Wisdom] was beside Him as a master and director of the work; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing before Him always.
To provoke the delight of the Lord, get wisdom. To please Jesus, be wise.
Proverbs 8:31-34:
31Rejoicing in His inhabited earth and delighting in the sons of men. 32Now therefore listen to me, O you sons; for blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are those who keep my ways. 33Hear instruction and be wise, and do not refuse or neglect it. 34Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
Listen to this invitation! In the days of old, the Jewish Sages would wait at the gates of the city and there they would hold their conversations morning, noon and night. They would discuss the affairs of the city and of the Word. There, at the city gates, they waited in their day.
Today, we wait at the gates of wisdom. This is where the sages, the wise men of Israel, waited, and it is also where the wise man must wait today: at the gates of wisdom. We wait to hear the words of wisdom. She says, “I call out in the city streets.” Wisdom calls with a silent voice, heard only by the spirit of man. She cries out into the city streets and the wise hear her, because they are waiting at the city gates for her words. Those who are not wise do not hear her and wouldn’t recognize her if they did hear her.
Forgive me, but a fool cannot understand wisdom.
The words can be laid open before them, laid out and clearly articulated in black and white.
But a fool cannot understand; they will fight, contest and war against it because they simply cannot comprehend it.
The one who does not wait by the city gate and does not have the grace and understanding that this city gate is an important place to sit is not going to hear the Word when it is released into the city streets because they are too busy.
Their ears are too full of spiritual static to be able to hear the words of wisdom coming from the Spirit of Grace.
There is too much static because there is too much soul.
Wisdom is something to be embraced by the spirit of man, something to be desired by a spiritual man/woman.
The more spiritual you become, the wiser you become, and as a result, the more you want wisdom. The more you want wisdom, the more spiritual you become.
Wisdom is full of love and all good fruits. All of these create the life of the Spirit within. “For whoever finds me [Wisdom] finds life and draws forth and obtains favor from the Lord” (Prov 8:35).
You want favor from God? You want favor from man? Be wise.
You want favor from God concerning the things He has called and created you to do? Obtain wisdom.
You want favor from man? Then seek wisdom diligently every day.
Wisdom through the Word
Earlier on in the book of Proverbs it talks about digging for wisdom as for hidden treasures, like a miner going deep into the earth and banging at the walls with his chisel trying to chip away at the jewels buried within the walls, digging as for hidden treasures under the earth.
Now, we are not talking about sitting with your cup of coffee, relaxed and reading the Word casually.
We are talking about getting the chisel of the Word and Spirit, desiring and searching deeply into the Word, praying and meditating on the word, seeking and fasting, praying that God, will give you the wisdom of His Word!
I cannot tell you how many years I have spent doing that very thing: fasting, praying, pleading, begging God, “Give me the wisdom of Your Word, help me understand your truth, make me worthy of your truth.”
You have to be worthy of it, you cannot come by the deep Wisdom of God if you have not prepared your soul for it.
Wisdom never leads you deeper into the world. God may give you the gift to make money but He doesn’t want your soul following after and lusting after wealth.
Do not touch it, but use it for God and His Kingdom!
Wisdom will never take you deeper into the world, because it is diametrically opposed to everything that the world stands for. Wisdom takes you into God, not the world. The man who has wisdom will never go into the world, but he will seek the face of God all his days.
If you have favor from God you will also have favor from man to accomplish whatever He has created you to accomplish. Beyond that, you do not need favor from man; you only need enough to get the job done.
Wisdom says, “But he who misses me or sins against me, wrongs and injures himself. All who hate me love and court death.”
Wisdom is an awesome gift from God. When the people of Israel heard the Lord Jesus speak, they said He spoke with such grace and such wisdom; He spoke princely things that were so high and holy. He talked as one who had lived with God. He made the Father so real because He walked closely with God. He hated all things in the world and loved all things in God, so when he spoke of God, the love of God poured forth from every cell of His being. He spoke as one who had given his whole life to the quest to walk with God. Who could ever know the depths of all He spoke in His earthly life?
His words were so high and noble because they spoke of the highest kingdom of all, the Kingdom of Heaven. They spoke of the highest One in all the earth, the Sovereign Ruler and Creator, the Father of all mankind. His words were more to be desired than fine gold, than all the fame and fortune that any man or woman could ever want or have.
Saul of Tarsus came to understand this truth. Born in a wealthy city to wealthy parents, the world was his oyster. The man lacked nothing he could possibly ever want; everything was accessible to him, but he threw it all away the day he heard the voice of the Word because he had wisdom to understand the preciousness of the words of the Almighty.
God is my Shepherd, He is the Shepherd to the one who knows His voice and how to follow Him. “My sheep know my voice,” is what He said.
How can they know His voice except that they understand wisdom? Every word that comes forth out of the mouth of Jesus Christ is Wisdom and it will bring life, even the fullness of life, abundant life.
No words of man can ever do that, no thoughts or works of man could ever do that.
They will spend billions of dollars to pave the way for you to come to the finest enjoyments of the world. The foolish at heart will spend their money and their time to go to these places, yet when they are finished with the temporal enjoyment, they leave as dead as when they came. Billions of dollars and untold numbers of lives have been spent building them, but they add nothing to life.
But just one word from the mouth of God is life eternal. One word from Him is worth more than all that was spent on those attractions.
The Bible — the Word of God — is the life of your soul. The wise at heart know it and they love this book. But their aim isn’t just to study it, because to study it and then turn around and walk in a way that opposes the Word of God makes you a greater fool yet, because you are walking in self-deception.
It does not matter if you can quote 10,000 Scriptures. If you cannot live the life that this book is calling you to, what have you gained?
Wisdom will lead the way. Wisdom will show you how to live the life you’re reading about. When you don’t have wisdom, you can study it and study it, quote it and quote it, and you will not understand how to apply it. You need wisdom.
The Bible says to love your enemies. If you don’t have wisdom you will hate your enemies and feel quite justified in doing so. Every time you think of that guy or gal, you will remember how they looked at you, spoke to you, and thought about you in a wrong manner and you will justify your anger because you have no wisdom.
When you have wisdom, you will learn love because wisdom carries you into the bosom of God who is love.
When you have it, you have humility; when you do not, you are proud.
When you have wisdom, you forgive. When you do not have wisdom, you hold bitterness.
All of the works of every Christian are made known to man by whether they walk in wisdom or not; they become evident immediately.
God is calling the Church to prepare and adorn herself with glory, but it takes wisdom to accomplish this. Wisdom speaks princely and excellent things that fill the hungry soul and that will make you whole.
I can remember that in my early years after first being saved I was so fractured and broken because of my childhood and the destructive words that had been spoken over and to me.
Some well-meaning people would advise me, “Why don’t you go get counseling?”
“Counseling?” I would respond. “Why would I want to do that? If the Word can’t heal me, why would I entrust my whole life to it? The Word can heal me, and it will heal me if I obey it. If it can’t do that, how am I going to walk on it and set my whole life on it, if I can’t even believe that it can reform my soul and change my mind and heart? How in the world could I put my whole life on it? I’m being called to the ministry and into a life of faith! If I can’t trust God to take care of the inside of me, how can I trust Him to take care of all the things I do?”
I meant that with all my heart, so I studied this Bible and begged Him to heal me and tell me what to do to get out of the brokenness and get into wholeness. I cried out, “Heal me! I know You can do it and I know Your Word can do it!”
How could I have ever known back then? I was so young in the Lord, and yet what I was actually asking Him to do was to carry me into the life of the Spirit where all things are made new.
If you follow the Bible, it will take you there.
If you do not, you will be a soulish Christian all your days.
Isn’t it wonderful that wisdom gives us all this? I love this scripture:
Proverbs 8: 7For my mouth shall utter truth, and wrongdoing is detestable and loathsome to my lips.
What recreates the soul in Christ? It is the Spirit of truth; wherever truth reigns, Jesus reigns, as do light and wholeness. Where truth does not reign, darkness, deception, confusion, destruction, and death reign. “And my mouth shall utter truth.” Who’s mouth? Wisdom’s. How do you get truth and righteousness, how do you find God and faith, love and the truths of the Kingdom? Go to wisdom. In the lap of wisdom lay all good things. Outside of this bosom will be futility, strife, disappointment and discouragement.
Today, the Lord is calling us to walk higher. Those who are wise recognize it and they are going to heed the call. Those who are not wise are not going to be ready when darkness assails.
Isn’t God good? He is so wonderful, so great, intelligent, wise, kind and awesome. He is the most awesome Counselor because He reveals to us the ways of wisdom, and He does it because He wants us to draw near to Him.
He is like a father who calls out to his son who is hidden in a very dark place, “I’m here! I’m here, son! Can’t you hear me?” The son is groping around, saying, “Where? Where? I can hear you but I can’t see you!”
But God is a wise father. He says, “Here I am! I am going to sprinkle the light of wisdom and create a path for you to find Me; just follow the light.” And if you follow it, you will return to the arms of your Father; if you don’t, you will stay lost.
He’s a kind, good, generous, gracious God, to be highly desired and sought-after for His goodness.
I want to encourage you. One of the seven Spirits of God is wisdom. You must be developed in divine wisdom to be given that higher gift, because your soul has to be prepared for it, but anyone can have it.
If God is going to give a gift, why would He give anything less than the best? Anyone can have it, but you have to be willing to pay the price. Now, if you don’t have the Spirit of wisdom, you can still have great wisdom, but you have to learn to live by the Word and what the Word says. We do not study it just to have head knowledge, but to learn how to live it in our everyday lives.
In Him,
Nita LaFond Johnson
Don’t know when I’ll get to it. But thanks.
Link to story of Charity Gibson, lady who jumped from trunk of hijacked car ...
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4295981&page=1
A 26-year-old woman forced into the trunk of her car at gunpoint escaped by jumping from the moving vehicle.
(ABC News)Charity Gibson remembered the emergency latch in her trunk and jumped when the carjacker slowed down, telling herself she had to get out before he got on the highway. Miraculously, she escaped with only a small scratch.
“God really took care of me,” Gibson told “Good Morning America” today, standing in front of the car she escaped from. She said she remembered the latch because when she first bought the car she had read the entire manual.
Gibson was parking her car in Dayonta Beach, Fla., on Feb. 12 at about 5:30 p.m. when she saw a man in a hood and sunglasses, who looked nervous, approaching.
“As I saw him walking up, I knew that I couldn’t back up. There was a wall in front of me. I couldn’t go anywhere … there was just not enough time so I got out. Then I saw a gun pointed directly at me and my hands just immediately went up,” she said.
The man began yelling and grabbing her purse and keys, she said. The next thing she knew he forced her into the trunk of the car and drove out of the garage.
Gibson was stuck in the trunk for what she says seemed like an eternity. While inside she said, “I was praying and was thinking, ‘God, You’re the one that’s going to help me.’ And he did.”
She waited for the car to slow down to what she guessed was 15 miles per hour or less and yanked the trunk’s glow-in-the-dark emergency latch, which she recalled from reading the car’s manual. “After I bought the car, I determined to know as much about the car as I could … I was just looking through my car, looking through the manual, and I noticed it [the latch],” Gibson said.
...
Once safely at her friend’s house Gibson called 911.
(ABC News) She says she wants other people to know their cars, know where emergency latches are and that “prayer works.”
...
EXCELLENT. THX THX.
Another one that blessed me:
= = =
How Do I know God’s Will For Me?
By Gina Burgess |
Posted 1:05 pm on October 04, 2010
...
A long time ago and in another galaxy... Maybe not galaxy, but certainly a different lifetime I had a message board along with two other Christian friends. We called it Christian Living and the above question was raised. How can I possibly know for sure I am in God’s Will?
There is something inside my soul that tells me this. When I wanted to quit my job because I was so angry at my boss for whatever reason, I cleaned off my desk piled it all on his desk, grabbed my purse and literally stomped out the door.
Emotion was fueling my actions like I had never experienced before. I was right and he was wrong. I was right to quit and leave that awful place. It was in a bad part of town anyway. I hadn’t gotten more than three blocks down the street before I had this gut-wrenching feeling that warned me in no uncertain terms that I must turn around, eat crow and get my job back.
It was the best thing I ever did. My boss took me back and forgave me that incredible outburst. I truly didn’t deserve that, but I do believe God was at work in a great way on that day.
So when someone asked that question, I thought about that day long ago and came up with a few reasons how I knew what I did was not in God’s will and how I knew what I did next was in God’s will. Comparing what I said and what Charles Stanley sayid in his In Touch devotional, it is amazing how close we are.
Science discoveries such as how vast the universe is and DNA, prove God’s well ordered plan for the physical world. The Bible outlines very carefully God’s perfect plan for our salvation and reconciliation to Himself. We know then, that God has a plan for each of us. So how do we know we are within that plan?
Let me share what Charles Stanley says. There are a few questions we can ask ourselves:
1. Is it consistent with the Bible?
2. Is this a wise decision?
3. Can I honestly ask God to enable me to achieve this?
4. Do I have genuine peace about this?
5. Does this fit who I am as a follower of Jesus?
6. Does this fit God’s overall plan for my life?
7. Will this decision honor God?
As soon as I turned my car around and headed back to the office, that gut-wrenching feeling of impending doom left me immediately. Even though I had to eat humble pie, the peace I felt was a living presence. This was not the first time this kind of Holy Spirit guidance happened to me, nor was it the last...far from it.
The peace passes understanding. The turmoil in my soul was an excellent warning that I wasn’t within God’s will ....
End of excerpt, here’s the link
http://www.everydaychristian.com/blogs/post/8556/
THX THX.
Off topic,
Infographic: Should Young Americans Learn Chinese?
Asia Society’s Orville Schell recently cautioned that the United States is not adapting to a new China. Americans traditionally approached foreign relations from a position of greater power, but as China rises, it’s clear a bi-lateral and equal partnership must develop.
Here’s a look at how American and Chinese schools are preparing for such a future. China’s population is four times greater than that of the United States, but English is still the most used language in the world and on the internet. Are Americans possibly facing a linguistic disadvantage in the future?
http://asiasociety.org/blog/reasia/infographic-should-young-americans-learn-chinese
= = =
Found also at shanghaiist
http://shanghaiist.com/2011/04/25/infographic_why_should_americans_le.php
Infographic: Why should Americans learn Chinese?
A graphic which shows contrast of Americans learning Mandarin vs. Chinese learning English.
INDEED.
And learning Chinese chess—the half game . . . could be beneficial, too.
Here’s the full graphic:
http://asiasociety.org/blog/reasia/infographic-should-young-americans-learn-chinese
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