"I love my life" (Thank You God!)

Theres something about the month of May, it’s kind of the not summer yet but not used to it being spring month…normally here we go from winter to summer but this year WOW! we’ve probably had 30” of rain! It’s like Spring on steroids…I took these pictures today, I did a small logging job on this rather large farm (over 4000 acres) where there are HUGE tree’s. We were mainly just cleaning up some trees that had fallen over a fence and some that had been washed out by the flood.

whattaya think of this bridge? well, luckily we did’nt have to cross it loaded!

most of these are white oak’s, which are sometimes used to make “staves” or slats for barrels that they age whiskey in. If you smell white oak when it’s being cut it reminds you of where the “flavor” comes from!

This photo did’nt come out very well, the horse was camers shy! but LOOK at that hay field back behind him, A sea of grass, waist high, a windy day… mesmerizing to watch its undulations and flow. This is the part where I get all philosophical and talk about how life is like that too, and how we can’t really “see” the wind, but we see the effects of it…which is also an answer I give to people who say “I’ve never seen God, so how do I know that he exists”? (slick huh?) LOL…

And lastly, this photo of a cow trying to do the “limbo” under the electric fence…

well, good luck with that one! and to you as well, God Loves You!

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People…

People who need, People…are the luckiest people…in, the world!

Why is that? I thought that as people our happiness was somehow tied to our sense of independence and self sufficiency.  Certainly it’s true that we all must take responsibility for ourselves and our families, but at what point do we throw up a wall between us and the world full of people we pretend to not need everyday?

At what point do we subconsciously tell ourselves, I’m just afraid to let anyone know how much I need them, I’m afraid that they won’t need me back! I’m afraid they’ll take advantage of my feelings, afraid that somehow it will make me “less of a man” if they know how much I care, afraid that I’ll look like a fool, afraid of what other people might say about me and my inability to explain why I “need” people…and thats a whole lot of fear! who could be behind that? who profit’s from it? maybe it’s the “other” people in the world… They’re quite smug and self assured as they look upon the rest of us who in an attempt to get a need met (love) will sometimes crawl down a few dead end streets.

Is there anything worse than pity? being “pitiful”…perhaps believing that you’re pitiful is! I believe that it takes a whole lot more courage to crawl down a dead end street because the truth is you NEED something you believe is at the end than it does to sit on the sidelines and pity the people who are or perhaps could be wrong about it. I don’t mean pity them for being mistaken about whats at the end of that street,I mean pity them for trying…for having the courage to overcome the fear and crawl if they have to instead of living your life pretending that you’ve “got it covered” when you definitly don’t!

Our enemy the devil is a liar, he’s also a fear monger, he would do the unspeakable things he does to achieve his goal of preventing you from knowing love, which we know as God. Who came to this world as Jesus, who showed his love for us by carrying his cross down a street of people who jeered at him and taunted him, spat on him and cursed him, eventually dying on a tree of shame.

So, why are we the “luckiest people?”

Because we have needs that can only be met thru seeking the need, and thru accepting the gift of our Fathers Love…and luckily, Jesus is waiting at the end of our road, also we’re lucky because he sent the Holy Spirit here to counsel and comfort us as we walk or crawl whichever the case may be.

I need people, because I love people, because my Father loves people, because I love the Father,because he first loved me…I think that makes us all pretty “lucky”…or at least it should, have you accepted “the love”?

Wilt Thou be made whole?

You mean, will you heal me? No, I mean will you “accept” the healing work that has already been done for you…

In John’s Gospel ( 5:6 ) Jesus has an encounter with a man at the healing waters of Bethesda. I suppose that on the surface it might seem to be an odd question to ask of a man who had been “seeking” healing for 38 years, I believe that Jesus was wondering if the man really wanted to be healed or if he was content with the wages that pity paid him.

Our acceptance of Christs death on the cross as being on our behalf is our redemption in the eyes of God.It gives us the right to be called son’s of God and restores our right relationship with God, Who, after He originally created the world and man saw it and said that it was good!

Not sick, not crippled, or anything short of perfect!

Who so loved the world,(His creation) that he gave His only Son that none should perish but have everlasting life! He said “everlasting” life, because he conquered death,and sin, and sickness. (which is itenerent death) How strange then that people would beg and plead for God to heal them, and not receive it…It just makes no sense! Unless we see it as our own satan sponsored fear and negativity that we’ve given control of our thought life,telling us the lies that prevent us from receiving Gods love and healing…essentially, we’re standing in our own way, God is willing but are we “able” to get over ourselves? Thats why so much emphasis is placed on our thoughts…it’s “the battleground” of the soul!

Throughout most of our lives we’ve been conditioned to accept attention in place of love. By our repeated exposure to our own shortcomings we come to realize our “flawedness.” One of two things typically happens to us, we over compensate by becoming “ego-maniacs” and spend our whole lives terrified that someone will see us for who we really are,or we decide that our best advantage is to be “the victim” and collect the dividends of sympathy and pity other people will hand out to us. Both options are bad,and whats worse is that they both lead to DEATH! spiritual,physical,eternal, death. This surely is’nt Gods plan for any of us, “Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?” or will you believe the deceiver who comes to kill steal and destroy? will you be satisfied with the crumbs from the table of life? or would you prefer the blessings of the Father which are health and life and joy, not just for today but into eternity? Is there some way,that for just one moment you might comprehend just how much satan has already STOLEN from you? If that does’nt cause something to well up inside you then I’m not sure what will! I pray that it might em-bolden you to walk with clenched fists right up to the door marked FEAR and with one thunderous kick come thru it into what is your real life, joy, love,and relationship,with the one and only true God!

As I have loved you…

Lately I’ve been trying to figure out weather we’re supposed to love ourselves. I mean, on the one hand it says in Gods word that we should “love others as ourselves”…but then it comes back and talks about how men (in the last days) would be “lovers of themselves” like it’s a bad thing! How is it that we’re this “wretch” that only the grace of God could save,but we should still love ourselves? It seems to me that if I could “love myself” I’d have a really hard time seeing my need of a savior or understanding my own “brokenness.”

Our current school of psychology is all about telling us to “love ourselves” and other variations on that idea as it relates to our “self esteem.” From my perspective, I can’t see what it is we have to be so “self esteemed” about, can you? “Well, I’m a pretty good person” or maybe “I can do this or that better than most people”, perhaps “I’m so beautiful to look at” are some of the things we base our self esteem on. In the Bible it say’s that mans righteousness is “as filthy rags” and that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”

So then, what is the meaning of it all? How do we “love ourselves” without becoming conceited? How can we love ourselves when our sins have left a scarlet stain on our lives leaving us broken and “un-lovable?” What is it that we as Christians can say to a questioning world when asked if we “love ourselves?” I think the answer goes something like this…We can apply the idea of “love the sinner, hate the sin” in our lives, learning to see ourselves as God see’s us, (with compassion). Of beginning to recognize and love what there is IN us that is Christ! It’s in the reality that our only real basis for self esteem lies in the love that our heavenly Father has for each of us! I mean, talk about your “redeeming quality’s” …”well, I may be a this or a that but HEY, GOD LOVES ME! and I think that you might had oughta too! (lol) He loved me so much in fact that he sent his only begotten son to die in my place so that we could be redeemed and restored to a full relationship with Him!

I guess my biggest problem is the idea of there being any real love which does’nt originate with God…after all, GOD IS LOVE, he’s the source of all love, the idea that man can “make love” is a lie thats designed to encourage us to see ourselves as our own gods…it also leads people on a prideful goose chase forever trying to nail down just what it is we’re supposed to be so proud of…(pssst, the emperor has no clothes on!)

The Blessed Atonement

No Christian should deny that through the Holy Spirit we are empowered to live holy lives or that we are given the victory over sin and death based on the atoning blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. If healing was not meant to be practiced today just as it was in the early church why doesn’t it say so in Gods word? In the book of Isaiah chapter 53:5 it says “That by his stripes we are healed” That seems present tense to me. We claim that Jesus is our redeemer and yet place different conditions upon His willingness to heal our sicknesses and diseases.

We profess our faith in Him and place our eternal souls in His care, shouldn’t it also make sense to trust him right now? We have a tendency to place our own limitations on God for various reasons. We ask Gods forgiveness and receive it through our faith and acceptance of Christ’s sacrificial work on our behalf. We must also come before Him in the same faith seeking providence for any need in our lives especially our healing. God is just as willing to heal us as he is to forgive us. We have no question or reluctance to praise God for His gift of “divine health” which is freely given to us. When we see our “divine healing” as being unavailable or somehow dependent on a new or distinct choice by God we disqualify ourselves from it.

Our acceptance of the gift of healing is just as much based in our faith as is our salvation. There is no salvation without repentance and no true repentance without “re-birth” or change in our hearts. Accepting Christ as our savior means we acknowledge our need of redemption and that we have forsaken any other means than Christ to accomplish it.

Do we trust too much when we say “You Jesus Christ are my only savior and I will have no other than you” Why should trusting in God for our healing be any different? Proverbs 3:5-8 says “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart;and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes;fear the Lord,and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel,and marrow to thy bones.” I think it’s critical to understand from this verse what it means by “directing our paths.” We have no basis for limiting how God see’s fit to provide our needs, sometimes that can mean hearing Him tell us to go see a doctor.

I earnestly desire that the world would catch sight of the greatness of our Lord! In order for that to be accomplished we must first sink so that He might rise, sit down before he can stand up! We are utterly dependent on His grace which enables us to be justified to cry out to Him”Abba Father” and know that he hears. Knowing also that He is the perfect father who is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

That in seeking first the kingdom of heaven we will find that all good things are added unto us. Not only does He provide for our daily needs, he provides us with divine healing,health and life! With the faith of a little child and a simple promise “I will never leave you,nor forsake you” all of our walls fall down. We are the bottleneck preventing God from blessing our lives through His Spirit. If we find ourselves in the position of attempting to explain why our ministries aren’t accompanied by “signs and wonders” Let us not be so insolent toward God as to attribute it to His will…but to our shortcomings

What are these “shortcomings” that prevent us from experiencing the blessings of God?

Pride: It’s very difficult for God to bless us if we think we “are” God, or if we try to put ourselves in his place in our lives. Believing that we are in control or that we can handle “the world” doesn’t work. Pride is often a cover up for our insecurities which are based in our awareness of the “poor effect” of our worldly remedies. We have great difficulty defending our continued reliance on them or in putting them aside in favor of Gods ways.

We should never let our “spiritual pride” limit the way’s that God can “love on us.” Money isn’t evil,but the love of it is! Medicine’s aren’t evil either,but the love of them is just as evil. There’s a balance to be struck and a legalistic attitude to be avoided. God truly can use any circumstances to bless us, it’s amazing to me that God would provide our redemption through Christ and include in that atonement our healing. But also love us so much that He would be willing to use medicine’s and give doctors wisdom to heal us as well. It’s difficult to understand the love that is represented by Jesus’ coming to earth from glory to lay down His life for us. Even more difficult for me is to hold onto my pride knowing it.

Unforgiveness: In Matthews gospel it gives us the example of how our unforgiveness compels God to anger. “And his master was angry,and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due him.” Who or what are our torturers? Sickness and disease? Anxiety and worry? Depression and condemnation? addictions? These are but a few of our “demons.” Holding unforgiveness in our hearts prevents Gods spirit from moving when we ask.

We need to be motivated by our desire to know God, asking God to change us and being compelled to forgive everyone in our lives who has wronged us. Mark 6:12-13 says “So they went out and preached that people should repent, and they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.”

Fear: The primary tool our enemy uses to keep us in bondage. It’s closely related to mis-trust often rising out of our relationship with our earthly father. Each of us will face thousands of decisions in our lives, it’s the choice of where we invest our trust that will determine who is the “sponsor” of our thought’s.

Our hearts and minds are a battlefield, Christ understood this perfectly. Thats why He made such a point of stressing that we should sanctify our hearts and gaurd our thought’s, and most importantly…Fear not!

unbelief: Jesus encountered unbelief when He came to Nazereth. There was an atmosphere of unbelief based in the familiarity they had with who they thought Jesus was, we have the same problem today. We believe in our power and control, we see ourselves as our own gods in many ways. In our hearts we know the definite limits of our facade and in our mis-understanding of God we project those limits onto Him.