The Greatest Miracle in the World!

This is by far the greatest miracle that I have ever seen accomplished in this world and in my life. I know that Jesus raised the dead, and walked on water, and healed blind people, etc. etc., .... and even in my own life I have seen people healed on the spot, and seen God come through for people, myself included. And I've read the Bible, and know all about how He parted the Red Sea, and made Manna fall from heaven, and turned water into wine, etc., etc., etc.. But I have seen a miracle greater than them all. A miracle of such beauty and wonder that all the others pale in comparison with it.

I have seen my heart come to believe that God loves me.

Believe it, or not.

Yes folks, it has taken nigh on twenty years of constant hammering on the door of my heart on God's part, but it has happened. I am convinced that God really truly loves me. And, as if that weren't enough, I have also come to believe that He loves everybody else as well. And if you had seen inside of my heart twenty years ago, you would know why these two accomplishments are such astonishing miracles. And if you could also see the struggle, the astonishingly difficult struggle that we (me and Him) have had to go through over the past twenty years to get here, then you would be even more astonished at the fact that this has taken place.

This may sound trite, or insignificant, or even silly to some, but it's not. To change a human heart, knowing now what I know about them, is by far a greater work than healing the lame or opening the eyes of the blind, or parting the sea. To me, who has to live with me, and who knows what it has taken to get here, it truly is, without sarcasm or exaggeration, the greatest miracle I have ever seen happen. And I mean it.

Thank you, and good night!

Easy vs. Hard

I would like to compare and contrast two things and show how easy it is for us as human beings to do the one and how difficult it is for us as human beings to do the other.

It is extremely easy for us to receive fear, anger, abuse, hurt, judgment, shame, guilt, insults, etc., and it is very easy for us to respond to these things. Why? Because that is what we are used to, so we know how to do it without even thinking about it. That is what we have received in life, and so we know how to respond to those things. We are very adept at these "skills".

When it becomes difficult for us as human beings, is when someone tries to love us. When people or God, try to love us, we don't know how to respond, and we don't know how to receive it. This is a skill that we are not very adept at.

How do I know this is true? Because I have seen it in my own life. I have noticed that it is soooooo easy for me to respond to fearful input and to go with it. Whenever anybody puts fear on me, or guilt, or shame, or pressure, it is the most natural thing in the world for me to accept it. It is very easy, and I am natural at it. It is very very easy for me to receive fear, believe fear, and act out of that fear. It is because that is what I have learned in this world.So it is what I am good at. What I am not good at is receiving love. Because almost every time God loves me, (which is all He can do), I watch myself get nervous, anxious, and not know how to respond. I literally get insecure and start wondering what to do, and usually try to respond in some way that I think I am supposed to. In other words, I do not know how to be loved.

The point is, this world doesn't operate on love, so it doesn't know how to love, or be loved. People learn what happens to them. People learn what happens to them over and over and over and over again. And in this world, people learn pride, fear, anger, guilt, shame, pain, abuse, manipulation, irresponsibility, etc, etc, etc. So people know how to receive and live all of that stuff. Because that is what has happened to them over and over and over again. So because love is so foreign to us, we don't know how to receive it. (Not to mention give it!)

The most important skill in life is knowing how to receive love. It is the most crucial skill necessary to being a human being, and it is the one thing that we seem to be the worst at.

There is a book out there called "The Velveteen Rabbit". This is one of the greatest books in the world, because it teaches this principle. And it is right!

The Belief of Lies

Ok wow. I think that the belief of lies is the single most destructive tool used by the enemy against humanity. I believe that a very large portion of the problems in the world, in every level of human relationships, is caused by the belief of lies about the other guy.

If you believe something about someone else, something bad, then that will cause you to look at them in a judgmental way. This will right away separate you from them. Then you will lose the ability to trust them in any way. This will further separate you from them. Then, if not seen and let go of, the lie(s) you have believed about them might make you not like them. Then it may cause you to not love them (treat them correctly). Which then does damage to them. So now they are hurt. And, because of your separation from them, you are missing out on the point of life, which is love, and knowing people. So you are suffering, even if you feel good in your judgment and consequential actions against them. In the big picture, you are suffering lack.

I believe this happens in every level of human relationships. From big to small. In between husband and wife, parents and children, friends, neighbors, coworkers, sections of town, political groups, clubs, races, cultures, religions, nations... we are believing lies about each other and therefore are living in separation from people. And this causes division, strife, hatred, disunity, separation, killing, etc.

This is why God has to tell us to love each other. Because if we didn't know that we were supposed to love each other, we might never do it! Fortunately, with that command in mind, we can at least begin to do the opposite; try to treat each other good.

Broken Record

I'm going to say it again simply because it needs to be said. The absolute most important thing that people need is to be loved. Human beings need love more than anything else. We need to be loved. I know I say it a lot, but every day I become more and more convinced of it. Human beings need to be loved. It's what we need more than anything else. It just is.

More than anything else in your life, you need to be loved. I'm just saying it like it is. I don't care if people don't believe me, or don't think I'm enough of an authority to listen to, or it doesn't jive with your theology or what you believe about life... you still need to be loved. I am absolutely convinced that every single person on the face of this planet needs to be loved, and they need it more than they know and they need it worse than they know.

We are like children in this world, and we need direction, encouragement, comfort, correction, etc. Without it we are like children trying to make their way through life without any help from their parents. Could you imagine your five year old trying to provide him/herself with a place to live, or food, or direction on where to go and what to do in their life? Can you imagine if they tried to do that on their own?? With no help from their mom or dad whatsoever?? This is what human beings are like trying t live in this world without direction from their Father. We have no idea, and the fact that so many are sure that they do, without Him, just makes it all the scarier!

I offer as evidence the world we live in. Need I say more? Trying to tell me that human beings don't need the love and guidance of their Creator and looking at the present state of the world is like watching a building that is being engulfed in flames and swearing up and down that there's no need for any water or firemen. It's just absolutely ludicrous. To me it's like deliberate ignorance. Besides being illogical.

You need to be loved. The world needs to be loved. I wish I could communicate this to everybody on the entire planet. You need it more than you need your religious beliefs. You need it more than you need anything else.

Love and Work

People, human beings, need love just as much as they need work (or any number of other good things). However, there seems to be an over-emphasis on the work part. Why is this? I think it is because we don't REALLY know who God is and what He's like. If we would really get to know him, we would see (and life itself speaks of this) that we need love, and we need work, and we need rest, and we need struggle, and we need a balance of many things.

Why there is so much emphasis placed on the work part is beyond me.

Bridge of sighs?

Was thinking about why so many people have skewed views of God. And this post is going to deal directly with the name of my blog, giving God back his good name. I believe it is because of this.

People, human beings, have in them an innate sense of and desire for God. We come from him, so this only makes sense. So people look up, throughout their lives, to see Him, and to find Him. It is a natural thing for human beings to do. But this is where it starts to get messed up. There is, at the present time, a spiritual reality other than God's hanging around over and throughout our world. This is talked about all throughout the Bible, see Ephesians 6:12, Matthew 4:8-9, etc. This spiritual climate is 180 degrees the polar opposite of God's reality. So people, naturally longing for God, look up to find Him and see Him, and see this other reality, and therefore attribute it to Him.
This has the unfortunate effect of giving God a bad name. Because people think God is unforgiving, angry, harsh... all of the things that are the polar opposite of how He really is.

I was thinking about this this morning as I was singing that song by Robin Trower, Bridge of Sighs. In it he is looking up, feeling and experiencing the spiritual climate of unforgiveness, anger, and coldness, and asking why. The Gods look down in anger, etc. Robin Trower is doing just what I explained. Having an innate sense of God, and looking for Him, and seeing something cold, angry, and unforgiving... and putting the two together.

So why doesn't God do something about this? Well, he has, and is, but there is also this. Because God is so good, and kind, and loving and gentle, and respectful and courteous, he won't act in a lot of the ways that the other side will act. The enemy has no moral boundaries to stay inside of, and so, in the space created by God's respect for humankind's freedom and autononomy, a space created out of love and respect, the enemy moves in , and without any love, or respect, or courtesy, for anybody, dumps a bunch of crap into that space. In other words, the enemy takes full advantage of and exploits the goodness and kindness and respect and courtesy and gentlemanliness of God, and uses it to his advantage. All this has the unfortunate effect of causing humans, people to think that God is a jerk. Which he's not. He is actually the exact opposite.

Once I asked God if I could go to heaven. His answer was to give me a glimpse of it. I saw it, and the best way that I can describe it was this: pure unconditional love, that had absolutely nothing to do with what I have done, good or bad, and they wanted me there really badly. This is the exact opposite of "why so unforgiving, and why so cold?"

All this leads to me to this conclusion, which I have been becoming more and more convinced of the longer I live. Which is this: God really, really, really loves us. A whole lot. A really, really, really lot. And it's only this opressive matrix like spiritual climate that has been pushed onto the world by a lot of evil forces that is keeping us from knowing it.

The big principle

Disclaimer... I am not absolutely convinced of the truth of this post like I am of so many of my other posts... yet. This one is still in the trial stage.

Let's try to explain why things happen the way they do. Tall order, I know, but let's take a stab at it. I mean especially in our faith. Why is it that sometimes things seem to work like they are supposed to and sometimes they don't? Why do some people get healed and some people don't? Why does God seem to bless some people who do all the right things and not bless some other people who also do all the right things? Why do great men and women of the faith, who know God, and have served Him faithfully all of their lives, get Alzheimer's when they get old? And other such seeming contradictions? In other words, why don't things, or why doesn't God, work like He's supposed to? Like the Bible says He's supposed to?????

Well, I think it is because of this. If you read the entire Bible, and read it from God's perspective, then you will see that there is one seriously predominant and overarching principle that seems to govern every other principle in there. And this principle is love.

Love overrides everything else. Whenever there is a conflict between love and some other lesser principle, then the lesser principle will submit to the greater principle. So if you are acting on some principle of God's kingdom, and it is not going to be conducive to you knowing or understanding love, then it will probably be subjected and (in my opinion) held off til later. It will work for you, but there is something else much more important that you must learn first. God is not constrained by the limits of time and space.

Also, God himself is a free, autonomous, loving being. He does not want to be put in a box, just like you and I don't want to be put in a box. And I honestly think (opinion) that He places less value on things that are less valuable so that we will learn to place more value on the things that are of more value... namely, love. In other words, He wants to have a relationship with us, as love and friendship are His highest priorities, and so will bend all the laws of the universe in order to get us to that place with Him.

The minute I get more info on this one, I will let you know. Thank you, and good night.

Why people are afraid of the Bible

I think that people are afraid of the Bible because they are so unused to being loved that they can't see that the Bible is really all about love. In other words, people view the world through a lens given to them through their upbringing in this world. If they were given a lens of fear, then that is how they are going to see the Bible (and everything else). If they were given a lens of love, then they would see the Bible (and everything else) through that lens.

Because so much of the world is not used to being loved, and so can't recognize it when it happens to them or is happening to them, they interpret love as anything else besides love, mainly, through whatever lens they have been given.

So people view love, from God, or from people, as whatever lens that they were given dictates things to be for them. Specifically, when people read the Bible, it will appear to be something that it is not. I know, because this happened to me for years. It wasn't until after years and years and years of God's relentless assault on my fears that I began to believe that He really did love me. And now, after all that time, and all his relentless pounding upon my paradigms, I read the Bible, even the parts that used to scare me so much, and they are magically transforming before my eyes. When I read them now, they affirm God's love astonishingly. Which causes me to fall more and more in love with Him. God's love is feeding itself exponentially in my life. The more I learn about His love, and become convinced of it, the more all other things in life begin to do the same, and these feed the first ones, and vice versa, and they all create more and more of a lens of love through which I am learning to see the world! My lens is being drastically changed, at an exponential pace! I am in a serious upward spiral!

The matrix revisited?

I don't know about the rest of you, but it seems to me that so many thoughts and feelings that I deal with all seem to be geared toward convincing me that God does not really love me. And its all very subtle. Works off of the very real circumstances of my life. Almost seems like some sort of conspiracy!

The narrow path revisited

Must remind everyone (all three of you) that the narrow path that Jesus spoke about in the book of Matthew is being loved... something not a whole lot of humanity seems to know how to do! Some people are good at being strong; some people are good at being kind; some people are good at persevering; some people are good at working hard; some people are good at math; but who is good at being loved??

God will not...

...ever condone what is not of love. I have said this before, but I am becoming absolutely convinced of it. If you are doing any sort of religious activity, (i.e. fasting, praying, studying, etc.), and it is not conducive to love, His love for you and love for others, He's not going to bless it! Why? Because He is love and He cannot violate His law of Himself!! So you are better off stopping the religious activity than trying to push your way through it!

Pain

Was wondering why things can hurt so bad in life. Instead of just hurting a little bit, why do so many things hurt so much?

I think this is why. It is because God made everything so good, that when it is all messed with, and used improperly (anything in creation), it hurts to an equal and opposite degree that it was intended to make us feel good. As good as it was originally, is precisely the degree of how bad it is going to make us feel when we experience it incorrectly.

Now I don't know about you, but this gives me an awful lot of hope. Because this tells me more about the nature of God, and makes me trust Him more, and believe the lies of the matrix less. This tells me that the nature of God is incredibly cool, because if things that He created hurt this bad when handled incorrectly, then He originally made them so they they would make us feel incredibly good when handled correctly!

The best we can hope for (sort of)

Because this is a fallen world, and we are all (to some degree) fallen beings, then the best we can hope for in our relationships is people who have adopted repentance (the willingness to change) as a permanent lifestyle. The humility to admit when we are wrong and be willing to change.

This, in the present age, is kind of the best we can hope for. Because this is the most fruitful and productive m.o. considering the world and the reality that we live in. If someone has this, then all of the correct ways of living are available to them! If someone does not have this, then they will be stuck in their incorrect ways of living.

In a marriage, if you and your spouse are both humble and open to correction, and to repentance (change), then there is hope for your marriage. In your friendships, if both you and your friend are open to being wrong, being rebuked, being challenged, being corrected, and changing, then there is great hope for that friendship. Because this humility opens the door to all of the correct ways of living.

And I say that it is the best we can hope for because to expect perfection, in any relationship, is totally unrealistic. So if you have a marriage wherein you and your wife are experiencing this, and hashing it out together... rejoice! And if you have a friendship, or more than one, in which you and your friend(s) honestly try to admit when you're wrong and be open to change... rejoice! Those friendships (marriages) will have the benefit of allowing the proper ways of relating and living into them, and you will both enjoy them! In other words, if you have these struggles inside of your relationships, rejoice, for this is the path to life! And if you don't... watch out! Because you are probably living in the darkness and it will probably bite you at some point!!

Don't throw away or regard as bad any relationship wherein you are struggling for the right reasons! Rejoice in them, because it is the path to life!!

God using you?

Ask any of your friends if they would use you. If they answer yes, tell them that it is wrong to use people. If they answer no, then this means they already know that using people is wrong.

Then, (if they answered no,) ask them where they got that standard from. Then, when you have gone through the ensuing philosophical discussion, if they haven't gotten the point yet, point out to them that this standard comes from God, and that God can't use people, otherwise He would be violating His own standards.

God doesn't use people. God loves people. And love (God) always values people over what it wants, over beliefs, over things, and over circumstances.

Good soil

Was reading about the parable of the sower and the seed that Jesus gave, and was wondering what constituted "good soil" such as the kind that He said was necessary to produce good fruit. Well, here it is. Good soil is a heart and a mind that have been loved, and know how to receive love. Because it is be able to recognize the good (the word of God) that is trying to be given to it, and receive it.

See how important love is? It underpins absolutely everything in God's economy.

The wrath of God

Well, here is another completely misunderstood concept. Maybe I can clear it up.

God only gets mad at the things that are worth getting mad at! Injustice, slavery, oppression, etc. All the things that make you so mad when you see them.

The wrath of God is only against the things that deserve it, and nothing else. Probably one of the worst abuses in the world is someone invoking "the wrath of God" onto someone or something who doesn't deserve it. And I bet you can guess how that makes God feel!

What we're believing

I have noticed that a person can be so stuck in a lie, and believe it to such a degree that they don't even know they're living in it. And, they try to figure out the issue instead of just ceasing to believe the lie.

For example, a lie could be that he or she had to figure out the absolute best way to tie his shoes. He could believe that he just had to figure that out. So he could spend all of his time, or at least an inordinate amount of his time, each day, trying and retrying to tie his shoes the absolute best way. He could tie and untie, and retie them a thousand times a day, trying to figure out the best way. But because he doesn't know that the thing to do is just tie them in a way that works and move on to bigger and better things, things of much more importance, he wastes a lot of his precious, irretrievable, God-given time, time which could be spent on loving people and changing the world for good, working on a problem that doesn't need to be solved.

The real, actual solution, is to abandon the thought process that has come about by believing the lie. In other words, just STOP BELIEVING THE ORIGINAL LIE. Abandon the thought that he needs to figure out the best way to tie his shoes. And move on to whatever life is beckoning for him to do.

Now, I know that this is of course somewhat of a silly example, but I use it to make the point. I believe that there are millions of people out there doing this exact thing, but with lies that seem important or true, but are not. They are either truly unimportant or just simply untrue.

I believe that this is what a lot of the world is doing. And that is the plan. That is the intent of the one who is lying to the entire world and keeping it in deception. Life here on this planet and during this time is just like (in principle) the movie "The Matrix". I believe that vast numbers of people are living in lies fomented and propagated by the enemy of our souls, in order to keep them in the dark, away from love, away from happiness, away from freedom, etc. And even those who have come out of it to any degree, still usually struggle to stay out.

So much of the world is just believing the lies. They spend all of their time within those lies, trying to sort them out, when they really don't need to. They have believed that it is something which needs to be figured out, when it's not. The real solution is to exit the lie entirely!

I am convinced that the world exists in a matrix like state, and once it is finally and fully torn away, everyone will stand back in absolute horror and disbelief at what we were believing and the ways we were living, as a race, as a result of those beliefs.

The four most powerful words in the world

The four most powerful words in the world, and in spiritual warfare, and in your spiritual life, and in your day to day struggles, are, as follows... I RECEIVE YOUR LOVE. Place any of the following Names before this statement; Jesus, Father, God, Creator, Yaweh, Jehovah, Yeshua (Hebrew name for Jesus), Holy Spirit, Great Redeemer, Prince of Peace, Counselor, etc. etc.

And when you struggle, repeat this phrase, over and over, and over, about one or two hundred, or two thousand, times.

And then you will get whatever you need. If you need correction, you will get it, because correction is a part of love. If you need comfort, you will get it, because comfort is a part of love. If you need provision, you will get it, because provision is a part of love. Whatever you need, you will get, from God, because love always does what's best for you. Whatever you need, at that point in time, you will get, because that's what love does.

Love tears down every lie. Love defeats fear, guilt, shame, confusion, anger, etc. etc. Love is the cure and the antidote to every weapon that the enemy can throw at you. The Bible says at at least two different places (Proverbs and First Peter) that love covers a multitude of sins, and this is how it does it!

Whatever you're dealing with, that is hurting you, love is the answer. Love contains in it everything necessary to tear down any lie and meet any need. God is love. God has everything you need.

And here is the key to receiving it. You need to receive it just like you would receive anything here in this world. When someone here on earth gives you something, you will not receive it unless you reach out your hand and take it. This is so simple, but we have lost it in the haze of religious (and non-religious) lies that we've believed. It is the same as receiving anything here in the physical world. You must reach out your hands and take it. If someone gives me a glass of water, I will not be able to drink that water if I do not reach out and physically take that glass of water from the person who is handing it to me. As it is in the physical, so it always is in the spiritual. When you receive something from God, you have to reach out and take it. When you ask for something, and you know it's something He wants to give you , i.e., peace, grace, love, truth, help, correction, wisdom, provision, food, money, his Spirit, etc., don't just ask.. receive! How? BY YOUR WORDS. Say, literally, "Thank you Father for the ________ (insert whatever you need here), I RECEIVE IT FROM YOU." Then thank Him that you have it!!

And if this is hard for you to grasp right now, then just do this, over and over and over--Say, out loud, over and over and over and over and over again, "God... I receive your love!" If you don't know what else to do, then just literally do that for as long as you need to do it!!

Hours, days, weeks months...... years....! (:

The Key

Is Love. It is the key that makes everything else work. That makes prayer work, that makes reading your Bible work, that makes your works of service work, that makes your life work. If things are not working for you in your life, then there must not be enough love flowing into you. You don't need to work harder. You need more love. Open up and allow God to love you.

You need to be loved. It's critical. I know I've written about it a zillion times, but it's that important. You need love. It's the glue of life. It's the stuff. That holds it all together. There was a band that used to preach that in one of their songs, that love was (is) what is holding it all together, and they were right!

I am coming to believe that at a subatomic level, the stuff that is holding it all together, the atoms and the electrons and the quarks and the neutrons of the cells of your body and the cells making up the wooden table in your living room, is, literally, the love of God.

Love is the key.

Love (again)

Since trust leads to love, then logically speaking, that stuff we feel at the beginning of our relationships with those of the opposite sex must not be love. Because there has been no trust established yet.

Love is what happens over a long, long period of time... years and years and years, as trust is established. That emotional excitement and attraction at the beginning of a relationship is God's way of getting us into a position where we can learn what love is, and experience it. It is the initial catalyst, to motivate and prompt us into getting into a relationship so that we can eventually discover love. My grandparents, who were married for fifty plus years, and had learned to trust each other... THEY were in love!!

Stick that in your pipe and smoke on it.

The biggest deception in the world

That god is not love. And that being a Christian, or any other religion, for that matter, is about anything else other than love. Namely, MAKING YOUR LIFE WHAT WE THINK THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO BE, instead of falling in love.

One more why

Why is it that so much teaching from religious sources sounds good and right but lacks real power or oomph to change you or grab you? I believe it is because of this. It is focused on quality of life, rather than on love, which comes inside of a relationship.

I believe that most of the world is living for the wrong goal, which is quality of life. This is a very secondary goal. The first should be relationship, with God and with your brothers and sisters.

Therefore, when the second goal of life is placed ahead of the first, it is literally like trying to put the cart before the horse. Because nothing will work correctly without love, since we are beings created for love. We are, literally, spiritual love machines. Love is what makes us work. Nothing else. And lack of love is like trying to run a car on kerosene. It may go, but it's not going to go right.

So, all of these teachings are telling you truths... so you know that they are correct. That is why they sound so correct, because they are. But they are also missing the one key vital ingredient that makes everything else work.

Therefore, I say, to anyone who will listen... Go for Love!! with God!! And with people!! It is the most worthwhile goal!!

How to repent for real

Romans something states that "it is the kindness of God that leads men to repentance."

This is true. You cannot properly repent unless you know how kind and good and loving God is. Otherwise your "repentance" will be full of all kinds of other sin anyway, like fear, and mistrust, which can lead to insincerity, and dishonesty.

David knew how to repent so well because he was so in love with God, the one whom he was repenting to.

Repentance, like everything else of God, works only through love.

The Greatest Weapon In The World.

What is the most powerful weapon in the world? The greatest thing you can possibly do for yourself, for anyone else, and for the world? What is the one thing that does the greatest amount of damage to the forces of darkness in this world, and tears down the most lies, and brings in the most truth, and heals human beings the most, and brings them together, and causes hope to spring up, and joins people together in unity and purpose, and brings peace, and does all of the other things that everyone knows that the world needs, but prove to be so elusive? What would heal all of the people in institutions, and convince (motivate) people to change? What would stop wars? What would convince bad people to stop what they are doing, and be good??

What would do all of this?? And more??

Being loved.

Love cures all problems. Love has the ability to cure all people. Love has the ability and the potential to cure you. And when love cures you, you begin to love others, which in turn cures them... and they cure others... and they cure even more...

Love never leaves you, never forsakes you, never forgets you, never quits on you, never uses you. Love ALWAYS does what's best for you. Love ALWAYS benefits you at its own expense.

Love cures your hangups. It ends your confusion. It sets you free. Love is the answer to your life!

More on my favorite verse out of Romans

I love this verse. Romans 1:20 "what can be known about God can be seen in what is made." Every time I see a neat little quirk of human nature, (that is the same to us all), I smile as I see another aspect of God's beautiful nature. For instance, was talking to a friend today, and we were discussing how you can't force people to do anything, and that whenever you try, they respond by pushing back just as hard. It's just natural. The more you try to force people to do anything, the more they are going to push back just as hard to say no. Which tells us something about God. Namely, that He is just like that. Free, and never willing to give up His freedom! Which, of course flies in the face of religion, which tells you that you must give up your freedom when you come to God. :) :} :]

Fire

Everything physical is a picture of something spiritual. Fire, in the natural, is a picture of fire in the spiritual.

Fires burn every year in nature. Usually at the end of the growing season, late summer and fall. These fires are designed to burn off any dead, unhealthy or unnecessary branches or foliage. This is how nature keeps the earth clean.

When fires are not allowed to burn, or extinguished before they can do their work of cleaning the forest, or the desert, then dead, rotten, unhealthy and unnecessary branches (foliage) clog and choke the environments. This makes for unhealthy forests/deserts etc. They are filled with dead, useless, in the way branches, leaves, foliage, etc. Environments in this state are not as pleasant to be in as healthy ones.

And then, when a fire does find its way to these clogged ecosystems, because their is an overabundance of things that need burning, the fire burns so hot that it kills everything. And if you've ever seen an area where this has happened, it is occupied mostly by weeds, as the absence of healthy, natural plants makes room for them.

As it is in the natural, so it is in the spiritual. God's correction (part of His love) is often referred to as fire. This is for a very good reason. It is so we can understand it. It burns away all that is dead, unhealthy, or useless in our lives, spiritually speaking in our souls. It is for our good, to keep us healthy. We are supposed to let Him do this for us on a regular basis (notice that it only happens once a year in nature... God is not out to spend any more time than is necessary on this process in our lives). We need to let Him examine us and burn away all that is dead and unhealthy on a regular basis. And this will greatly help us to stay healthy.

And, as it is in the natural, so it is in the spiritual. When we extinguish His fire, we let all of that dead stuff build up until there is an overabundance of it, and our lives become unhealthy. And, then, when His fire finally does reach us (as it will reach everyone eventually), it hurts much more than it's supposed to! Not because He's angry or vengeful, but just because of the logic of the situation.


So, my point, as is my point with everything else I say, is to let Him love you. Go to Him and let Him do this for you. It is for your own good.

Why fear (and guilt, and shame, and condeming, etc.) doesn't work

Here is why fear, shame, guilt, condemnation, etc., won't work when trying to get people to change. It's because fear, guilt, shame, condemnation, etc., is what caused them to be the way they are in the first place. And when you feed a sickness with the very thing that caused the sickness in the first place, the sick will only get sicker.

See, nobody ever sinned except that they were never loved properly. "Sin" is what takes love's place. When you are not loved properly, from the moment you enter the planet, like we were designed to be... something still has to occupy that space...spiritually speaking. Pride is only a substitute for love. When you are not loved, but are meant to be, pride, (the false love) takes its place.

You operate best when you are loved. When you are not loved, you are forced to manufacture your own, for yourself. This is what pride really is, at its core. It is a self manufactured substitute for the love you missed out on. And you don't even have to think about doing it. You just do it by default setting.

And pride, of course, stems from fear. Because when there is no love for you, you naturally, logically, fear. And then you must DO something to counter the fear--which is the birth of pride.

All of this is to say that you cannot condemn people, scare people, motivate people (that only feeds pride), guilt people, or shame people into becoming better people. It will never work. Because condemnation, fear, guilt, shame, etc. etc., are what caused them to be bad in the first place. The only thing that will ever get people to change, anywhere, ever, is love.

The Many Sides of God

It's funny how you can see an aspect of God, of His personality, and think that only that aspect is how He is.

As I get older, and grow more in Him, I see many many different sides of Him. His gentle side, His passionate side, His wild side, His funny and fun side. I see His sad side, His compassionate side, and His side that stands up to what is wrong with strength and power. I see His angry side, and I see His merciful and infinitely forgiving side. I see His caring and almost broken hearted side. i see that He is, (like us, since we are made in his image,) a person of many many different feelings, emotions, and expressions of life. Wow. Love 'im.

The Power of Disbelief

We always hear about how we've got to believe, how important it is, over and over and over. It's like one of the most basic of tenets of being people of faith. It is extremely important.
However, it is also just as powerful and effective to NOT believe...that is alll the lies.

That's right!! You can choose not to believe them any time, and all the time. It's so simple!! Disbelieving, the stuff from the wrong side, is just as important as believing the stuff from the right side!!!

Innocence Is All That Lasts

Your guilt will die,
your fear will die,
and your shame will die.
Your innocence is all that will last.

Your confusion will end,
your corruption will end,
and your sinfulness will end...
But your innocence will last.

Pride will die,
lust will go,
and bitterness and hurt,
But innocence will live on and on.

innocence will last. in the grand scheme of things, innocence is the only thing that will last. Your innocence. You will be innocent, and you will be innocent --- FOREVER!

A little poetry, perhaps??

Poetry is cool, like this one here, all the things I want to stay, falling on your ear.

You don't know just where it comes from, and you can't remember exactly when it got here, but all you know is, all of a sudden, you're extremely happy!

Happy happy happy, happy happy happy!

Happiness is cool, and happiness is fun, I feel mighty happy, when I'm lying in the sun. And it's warm. And I like it a lot.

just like my dog, who's as content as can be, snoozing in the sunshine. Drinking some old wine.

ok dogs don't drink wine, but you get the point. Back to the poem.

Happiness is great, and happiness is swell, I know that somewhere a proverbial tree went down in the forest, and i heard it when it fell.

now I know thee answer, to all life's mysteries, cuz for I know that a tree makes sound, when falling fast and freee. In the forest. On a rainy day in September. In the morning.

So all you know is that you're happy, and you're just not sure why... All that you can figure, is that someone met you in the sky.

Respect

Interesting thing about the Bible, and how God talks to us. Most of the time everything He tells us leaves us with a choice. This tells me that he respects us. He never forces anything on us. Love always sets you free. Beautiful. I think God is cooler than we all think.

On Being Loved

Well, here we go with some more about being loved. Just love this stuff. You guys can choose to believe my radical beliefs about the intense, deep love that God has for us or not. I know it's true.

So today I'm working for this friend of mine who has a dog. This dog is a great dog, a real, pure bred Great Pyrenees. Huge. Gi-flipping-gantic. Shaggy, white, big dog. Who doesn't know how to be loved.

This dog was apparently abused in its past life, with its previous owners, because he walks around on egg shells. This gigantic, fluffy, furry creation of God, made to love people and be loved by them --because he was abused, and taught fear instead of love-- does not know what to do. He looks out at you with a look of wondering... wondering whether or not he can trust you, and what you are going to do to him. It's the saddest freaking thing in the world.

He's afraid to move. He doesn't know where to go or what to do, because he doesn't know how we, people, his authority figures, are going to react to Him. He is afraid. Of us. Of his owner. Of the very people who brought him to ourselves in the first place, adopted him from the hurtful situations he used to live in, adopted him to be our own, out of love. But because He's been so conditioned to think incorrectly, he responds to our acts of love with fear.

And I believe that the greatest tragedy and mistake that religion in this world makes is to teach fear instead of love. Because fear is not of God. It never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, has been. I don't care what you read in the Bible, or what you see in your life, or what you mistakenly think about Him. He is love. Period. And the greatest tragedy on this earth is the lies that get put on His name. All the fear that gets put on people in his name. There is no greater tragedy in this world, and no greater disservice that religion can do.

I say to all you people out there who are in positions of religious leadership, it must be about love. It all must come back to love. If I have not love I am nothing. nothing. I am nothing without love. When it's all gone, and this whole flipping world is rolled up into a ball and tossed into the recycle bin, and we're all standing there, naked and ashamed, yet perfectly loved, for the first time in our long lives, there is going to be one thing left over. One thing that encompasses all other things, that qualifies all other things, and that judges all other things. And that is going to be love.

So back to this dog. This great big, lovable, huggable ball of fur that you look at and just want to hug, trembles whenever you walk by him. He looks up at you like you are going to hurt him. This is what we look like to God. He created us, just like we are, so He could love us, but because we've been conditioned so long, outside of the church and inside of it, to fear, HE'S NOT ABLE TO LOVE US. Because we don't know how to let Him. This is a tragedy! There are a lot of tragedys in the world, but this is the greatest one of them all. A God who is just dying to saturate us with His love, but who can't because we don't know how to let Him.

Because we don't see it as love! I try to talk soothingly to the dog, and he doesn't know what to make of it. Because he's been conditioned. I know that my only motive in my heart is to love on him, and hug him, and squeeze him and call him George, but he doesn't know it and therefore can't see it, and therefore can't receive it!! God says stuff to us, and because of our conditioning, we think we need to be afraid of Him and so tell others. We pass our fear around. I try to discipline the dog, for his own good, AND HE IS AFRAID. WHEN WHAT HE REALLY NEEDS IS TO TRUST ME SO HE DOESN'T GET HURT. And you can't trust someone that you are afraid of. Fear and trust are like oil and water. They CANNOT mix! So because he (the dog) can't see it, because of his bad training, he doesn't listen -- and so gets hurt.

My heart is breaking writing this blog. I'm a human. How do you think God feels about us, about the people in the church, about the people outside of the church, about the whole world, all of the time?? I've had to learn this through experience. I'm candidate number one for this message. But it's a message we ALL desperately need to hear.

God loves you. I don't care who you are. Jesus, yes, Jesus Christ loves you.

Is anybody getting this? You need to be loved. More than anything else in the world, more than any amount of work you can do, more than any amount of service you can perform for Him, more than any amount of self degradation... you need to be loved!

What already is.

Figured it out today--The old way of trying to make it happen is outdated. Your christianity, that is. That is coming from a standpoint of, "It's not here, or happening, so I have to make it happen, and bring it here." This is what we have been taught for a long time. This comes from a lack, have not, starting point. Which is simply not true. We need to come from the OTHER standpoint, the TRUE one, which is that we have everything. Seeing that His divne love has granted us all things pertaining to life and Godliness. When you learn to do this, you will wake up in the morning and be at total ease and rest, and just flow through your day in Him. in who you really are. There will be none of this trying to get in touch with Him stuff. None of this trying to get in the spirit. You ARE in the spirit, and not in the flesh. You ARE a new creation in Christ. All things HAVE BEEN made new in you. In Him you HAVE BEEN made complete. You ARE His workmanship, created in Christ jesus for good works. All things ARE working together for your good. I could go on and on. It is a FINISHED work.

Stop trying to make it work. When you do this, you automatically start out from the wrong standpoint because you agree that these things are not, and so you try to make them so. The key is to KNOW that they are, and trust it!

As my friend Troy says-- It's all about trust. And it really is!

Trust is the key. But don't get so caught up in "trying to trust". Even that can be turned into too much work. Just Trust!

The reality is that it is already here, it is already complete, it is already fully finished, done, in place, and working in your life. The only thing to do is believe it and walk in it.

I mean everything in your christianity. The whole shabang. It's a done deal. You don't have to make it work, cause He already made it work. All it takes in this new way is trust. Trust is the new way, the kind of faith where you try to make it work every day is the old way. It is a finished work. The truer way of living it is just to live it.

This is not laziness, this is true spiritual work. The work of God is to believe.

Those who did their jobs

Was thinking today about how much I suffer, living where I do, in both the physical and the spiritual environments I live in. And it's really not much, relatively speaking, compared to the rest of the world. And I had to think about why this is. And I figured it out. It's because somebody did their job, spiritually speaking. In fact, a lot of somebodies did their jobs. The fact that we are not living in an entirely chaos ridden environment, both spiritually and physically speaking, attests to that fact.

To Be Or Not To Be--That Is The Question.

Heard this great piece of advice from a very wise guy today. He was talking about the difference between fighting against evil or doing good. You can fight against evil all you want, but that's not the most effective thing. The most effective thing is to do good. Focus on the solution, not the problem. Be good. Don't try to stop the bad. You stop the bad not by stopping the bad, but by being the good. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Stop trying not to do bad things, and DO good things! It is the way!!

In other words, don't try to get the bad "not to be"--"be" the good!!

See, you don't have to, nor should you, spend your life fighting the devil. He's already defeated. We are told only to resist Him, firm in the faith. Resisting him does not consist of hand to hand combat. You've no business engaging the enemy. Jesus already engaged the enemy for you, and won. What we are told to do, over and over, is good things. Tons of them. The whole Bible is filled with suggestions to do good, in a million different ways. The way to beat the enemy is not by hand to hand combat, but simply by ignoring him. I did not say living in ignorance of him. You may be aware of him, but you just don't listen to him, don't agree with him, and don't believe him. And you continue to listen to God, to believe God, and to agree with God. Then the things of God will come out of your mouth, and your life will be constructed His way, and the devil will have no power over you whatsoever. And you will live in the "be" and not in the "not to be".

The best defense is always a good offense. You run a good offense all of the time and it automatically puts your opponent on defense all the time. So you don't have to worry about defense. Plus, you build up enough momentum, and it will be near imposible to stop you.


Living on the defensive all of the time is the enemy's plan. It suggests that he's constantly attacking and you're constantly having to defend against him. This is a waste of time, and it will wear you out. You do not need to live that way. It is a deception. It requires only a shift of your thinking to see things differently and to live differently. You are already victorious, so live like it. Do good. Do all that God has designed you to do. Teach, love, sing, befriend, hike, camp, build, study, learn, help, enjoy, laugh, play, act, draw, write, create, invent, color, compose, work, carve, dance, photograph, lead, serve, encourage, cook, raise kids, show mercy, make peace, forgive, trust God, be in love, sculpt, run, swim, bike, etc. etc. etc. Etc.

Live in the positive, not the negative. Be. Do not "not be". Any bad habit must be replaced with a good one. You cannot just stop doing something. Otherwise there would be a void in the continuum of your existence. Something must fill that slot! Don't try to not do things!! The more you try to not do things, the more you will do them! You must do something different to fill the void. Something will occupy that space in your plane of existence. Want to stop sinning? Find something productive and do that. YOU WILL NOT HAVE THE TIME TO SIN. There is only so much space in your plane of existence, and it must be filled with something!! BE!!! Be a writer, a singer, a jet pilot, a painter, a leader, an architect, a mathemetician, an inventor, an actor, a pastor, a director, a novelist, a drywaller, a carpenter, a plumber, a mom, a dad, a husband, a lover, a wife, a friend. You spend all your time trying to not be and you will not be!! Anything!!

The overemphasis of obedience

It is dangerous to overemphasize obedience. Just as it is dangerous to overemphasize anything. All things must be done in balance. Balance is a key to life.

That said, I believe the church in America is out of balance when it comes to obedience. It's as if obedience is the only thing necessary for a healthy Christian walk. Just be obedient and everything will be fine.

Well, obedience is fine, and necessary, but it is not all that is fine, and necessary. There are many other things that are necessary as well. Love is necessary, trust is necessary, discipline is necessary, healing is necessary, deliverance is necessary, rest is necessary, fun is necessary, etc. etc. etc., you get the picture. Without all of these things, our walk, and lives, get out of balance.

Not to mention, that there are dangers to the overemphasis of obedience. Say you think that all that is necessary for you to live the victorious Christian life is obedience, and so you make that your highest aim. Then something besides God comes along and whispers in your ear, and since your highest aim is obedience, instead of a healthy, balanced , relationship, one in which you also can discern what is His voice and what is not, you do whatever is suggested, and BOOM! Problems. And then you are pissed off at Him, alienated from the people you hurt, and even more confused, because you can't figure out why, since you were being obedient, things went so wrong. This all happened because you made obedience your highest goal, when your highest aim should be, to love Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. Out of which you will learn to obey. (Matthew 22:38, Exodus 20:1.)

We see fom this illustration that not only do you need to obey Him, but you also need to learn how to know what is His voice and what is not, in order to Obey Him. 1 Peter 5:9 says that we are to resist the devil, so it is pretty important to be able to tell what is the devil and what is God. Something that can be easily missed if your first priority is obedience. On the other hand, if your first priority is love, then you will end up developing a relationship with Him, in which you will learn what His voice sounds like, so you will know it, which will make your obedience all that much easier and effective.

Now of course there are those who, because they are so out of balance still, will say to me, "Yes, but John says that if you love Him, you will obey Him." This is of course true, but notice that the love comes first. Obedience without love is called servitude, and often fosters resentment. Obedience out of love is voluntary, full of joy, and bears much fruit. Paul, in his letter to one of the churches somewhere, refers to himself as a loveslave. Slave to love--almost an oxymoron, but you get the point.

We must have a relationship with Him. It is of the utmost importance.

The Triangle of Love

Have seen a new way to live. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

Live in this perspective. God is love. He knows about everybody and knows everybody, and cares about everybody. We, as the body of Christ, are His hands to the world. So, live in the perspective that He is loving everybody, in some way or another. Understand that as you interact with everybody you interact with all the time. And look for the love. Pay attention to how He is loving them at that moment. Pay attention to how He is loving you in that interaction as well. And pay attention to how you can participate in that love toward them. But not only how you can participate in His love for them, but how you can participate in His love toward you in that moment. See, we can live in love all the time. His love for them, His love for you, His love from Him through you toward them, His love from Him through them toward you, your love toward them, their love toward you, and both of you back toward Him!! You can live in place of permanent love if you look at life this way!!! You can wake up every morning and go, "Gee. I think I'm going to live in the Triangle of Love today. " And the results will astound you!!! Just be paying attention all the time to how He is loving anyone you come into contact with, and you can live in the constant Triangle of Love!

Go Deep

It is worthless to live in a shallow religion. The only place worth living, in the entire universe is deep in a relationship. And I mean really deep. Shallow religion will get you nowhere.

In Hosea, it talks about how Israel had turned away from Him, and how He was missing them. And it says this. Chapter 2, verse 16-- "And it will come about in that day" declares the Lord, "that you will call me Ishi, and will no longer call me Baali."

Do we have any idea what this means? Well, the word "Ishi" means "husband", and the word "Baali" means master.

This is God talking to us. I've been trying to say this in my posts from day one on this blog, and I am even more convinced of it right now after hearing my friend read this verse today. So what does it mean?

It means that all of our shallow, irresponsible, fear laden, religious activities, and ways of approaching Him and our Christianity have to stop, because God loves us. It means this--GOD HIMSELF WANTS YOU TO STOP REFERRING TO HIM AS LORD, OR GOD, OR MASTER, and begin referring to Him as somebody that you love...and who loves you.

God never intended to have a bunch of workers. He never intended to have employees. The intent of His heart, from day one, has always been love. He has always, always, always been looking for someone to love. Just like you and me. Why not volunteer for that today? Instead of waking up and saying our prayers, for however much time we have set for ourselves to pray, why not ask Him what He's doing? Why not ask Him how He's feeling? Maybe just try to be with Him.

I present for you, the following evidence, that I think I've posted somewhere in this blog before, but if not, here goes. You and I are created in His image. (Genesis 1:26) It says so right there in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. I'm not making this up. So following that logic we can learn a tremendous amount of information about God simply by observing ourselves. And what is it that you and I want more than anything else on the face of this planet we live on? Haven't guessed yet? Well I'll tell you. It's love. You and I want love more than we want anything else on earth. We want it more than we want cars, more than we want money, more than we want houses, more than we want vacations, more than we want fame, or notoriety, or any other of a million zillion things we desire, He wants it more than He wants obedience, more than He wants hard work, more than He wants good behavior, more than He wants all of those other things that He wants.

At the end of the day, when all of your work is done, what is it that you, and I, and every other human being on the face of this planet is after? We want to go hang out and be with the people that we love. That's it!! It's that simple. What do we live for? Our time at work, or our time with our families and friends? Do we look forward to spending time with our employees and/or bosses, or with our wives, husbands, and children?? In case you don't know, I'll clue you in. We want to be with our families. What do we do when we are done with our work for the day? We go to hang out with our friends.

God is no different. Yes, there is for sure a lot of work to be done here. Yes, we need to learn to obey His voice. Yes we need to discipline ourselves, blah blah blah, etc. etc. etc. BUT WHY?? IT'S BECAUSE THE RESULT OF ALL OF THESE THINGS IS LOVE. The goal of our instruction is love out of a pure heart!!(1Timothy 1: 5-7)...from which some have swerved, and turned aside to vain discourse, willing to be teachers of the law, but not understanding the things they say or assert! This is where we are going to with all of our obedience, with all of our work, and with all of our discipline. It's all for ONE reason. Love!! That's it!! And my initial statement at the beginning of this post, to abandon shallow religion, was not a call to rebellion against Him, IT WAS A CALL TO GROW. WE CAN'T REMAIN IN SHALLOW RELIGION FOREVER. THAT'S NOT WHERE WE ARE GOING TO LIVE FOR ETERNITY. I quote First Corinthians 13 as proof. Where there are tongues, they shall cease. Where there are prophecies, they shall cease. Where there are all these things that we have been doing for so long, without knowing why, THEY SHALL CEASE. WHY? BECAUSE WHEN THE PERFECT COMES, THE IMPERFECT SHALL BE DONE AWAY WITH.

If with the tongues of men and of angels I speak, but have not love, I have become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And if I have prophecy, and know all the secrets, and all the knowledge, and if I have all the faith, so as to remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And if I give all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give up my body to be burned, and have not love, I am profited nothing.

Go for love. It is the meaning of life. Whatever it takes. When you wake up in the morning, stop thinking about how you are going to discipline yoursef, and think about asking Him how He is. Or what He's up to. The answers may really astound you and delight you! Maybe focus less on what you are going to do for Him today, and more on just spending some time with Him. Think less about how much time you are going to spend praying, and think more about how much time you are going to sit with Him and let Him love you. Why not, when you see the beautiful sunrise, tell Him how beautiful He looks??

Want to light a fire? Would you like to light the world up?? Want to change it?? Want to do all those things your pastor is constantly talking about doing? Here's a clue. People are attracted to love. The world is looking for love. Do we wonder why we can't convert anybody?? It's because we're not in love. We're trying to make more employees. He's not after employees. How do I know?? Because He says so. Because He says that one day YOU and I, will stop calling Him Baali, and start calling Him Ishi...your husband... your lover... your friend.