Simple Yet Effective

Christians may have a great understanding of the bible and what it says. God may even be able to help us build on that understanding giving us greater understanding but sometimes greater understanding- however GREAT is not always effective in those quick, spare of the moment decisions.

We must live in the Spirit of God.

Where does the mind go in conflict, struggle, persecution, oppression, sadness, frustration, anxiety and so on....?

The mind seems to have no speed limit at times and if not watchful and alert will give us disastrous results.

We know what sin does to our lives. We know where our hope and confidence should be. We know how we should love and where our focus should be.

We know God is love and what can be built and not built from His love -which is foundational.

But sometimes all this understanding, however very helpful, needs to be simplified for that split second where the mind needs to go from human understanding to spiritual understanding.

When we are in a stressful or high tension moment- our mind sometimes moves way too fast and before we know we have either said or did the first something that came to mind or we feel like "we" have to gather all these pieces of Godly wisdom together before we speak or move and before we know it the moment is here and gone and we have not spoken anything of God's love or truth "into" the situation.

No I am not saying we do not need to be prepared by reading the bible and going to church and spending time with the Lord. Rather I am saying be prepared by also putting your mind on the starting line where you can receive what God wants you to say and/or do in that split moment.

John 6:63 "It is the Spirit who gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing. And the very words I have spoken to give you are spirit and life."

Romans: 12:2 "Don't copy the behavior and customs of the this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is."

Exercise your mind for a moment. Think of a situation that is a challenge to you. Now without saying it as something hokey but in truth- say to yourself: "God is love and God loves me."

What just happened to your mind when you did this? If you believed that God is love and he loves you then your mind restructured its thinking to Holy Spirit thinking.

From this point peace "can" rule and this peace helps align your thoughts to where it should be and how it should act.

Jeremiah 17:7 "But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence."

Psalm 147:11 "Rather, the LORD's delight is in those who honor him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love."

Simple yet effective... God is love and God loves me.

Depression

Depression can be very enabling emotion for anyone. It seems to quickly work from the mind to the rest of the body. It can cause blood flow to slow down, headaches, back pain, muscle aches, joint pain, chest pain, digestive problems, exhaustion, fatigue, sleeping problems, change in appetite and weight and no doubt dizziness or lightheadedness.

Emotionally it can cause difficulty in concentrating, remembering details, making decisions, feeling hopeless and/or pessimistic. An individual can feel guilt, worthless, helpless, irritable, restless, sad, anxious, suicidal and having that “empty” feeling.

Depression has also been well documented in the bible and by Christian writers and figures.

Depression is a spiritual battle. It starts in the mind -in our thought process. And just like fighting the thoughts of condemnation, pride, lust, hate, revenge, jealousy, etc, we have to make a strong effort to redirect our thinking when it comes to depression. We have to realize our joy, peace and love does not come from others or ourselves but from God. God is our source of our strength to battle depression.

Psalm 42:5 “Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again- my Savior and my God!”

Isaiah 50:10 “ Who among you fears the LORD and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the LORD and rely on your God. But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon lie down in great torment.”

In depression we warm ourselves in destructive ways and thoughts. And if you don’t think so -think about where our heart goes when we are depressed? What are we choosing to treasure when we are depressed? Where are our eyes?

When my step dad passed away this last summer I suffered from a bout of depression when I returned home. The Lord helped me take care of my dying step-dad in his home and take care of things that needed to be done after his passing but after I returned home, images and certain smells bothered me... and as I began to process everything that had happened during those previous weeks I began to consider everything as meaningless and no point. Waves of sadness would come and go and then I would feel “empty” void of all emotion. The Lord had shown me some great things during those previous weeks but I had been so overwhelmed by depression that I had momentary forgotten those things.

I had allowed depression to take a seat and blur my focus and I had to make a choice to allow depression to be welcomed or not. I had a choice to remember all the good things about my step-dad’s life or the holocaustic condition his body was ravaged in… and how stiff his tent became after the angel grabbed him by the armpits and took his soul to heaven.

Focus is where it “all” starts. The scientific word is “cognitive restructuring which leads to a behavioral change. God knew this and shared this with Paul who wrote:

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he had done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Jesus Christ. And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:6-9

This positive peaceful focus will not just motive us in Godly ways but change our physical habits as well.

We will want to participate in more pleasurable experiences such as working with others in a building project, volunteering, enjoying the wonderful outdoors on foot or bike, playing sports, creating something, traveling, and spending more quality time with loved ones.

Remember focus is where it “all” starts.

Making Voting Easier for US Voters

Voting. It can be a somewhat confusing and frustrating task. Here is a website that might help you find the government official that best represents your position.

It is a website called vote smart.
http://www.votesmart.org/voteeasy/

And below is a you-tube video on Project Vote Smart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkIxnsvSVOo&feature=player_embedded

The Door That Is Opened By A Tiny Measure Of Faith.

“For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And the door is opened to everyone who knocks.”(MATTHEW 7:8 NLT

10 years I saw it. I was in a dark space and in front of me was this door of light. This light is not white but had a yellowish warm tint to it. I have seen this light several times in different visions that that Lord has given to me.

When I gave my life to God, I instinctively knew this was the door that God had opened for me. It was a sign to show I was welcome. It was an invitation to join him.

I have reflected back on that door many times but it was today that I thought about why there is a door.

Obviously God controls the door of light but before we are saved we aren’t even aware that there is a door of light. We are missing this spiritual sight and hearing that the Holy Spirit gives us, to helps us to understand and mature in the things of God.

I believe we all know before we come to God that there is “something” that keeps us from seeing spiritual things of God. Someone may share the things of God but they don’t adhere to our understanding. We don't retain everything they say about God. In fact Jesus refers to this when he says, "And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. The old skins would burst from the pressure spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. That way both the wine and the wineskins are preserved." MATTHEW 9:17 NLT

Some of us are even unaware that sin separates us from God because we believe things like, “I haven’t murdered anyone” and “I know I am not as bad as that person” but God doesn’t care about human comparison because he looks at sin on the same perspective except for one particular sin.

“Those” sins- that God looks at on the same perspective, are all forgivable by the blood of Jesus Christ. We are forgiven of our sins only by our faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is not just, “I believe” in Jesus Christ because even the devil “believes” in Jesus Christ but by faith which is a change of heart that only comes when one gives their life to God and trusts in our beloved friend Jesus Christ. This change of heart is a transformation of our life (new wineskins) in which we no longer "practice sin" but grow and mature in the things God now is teaching us.

So if sin separates us from God and we are blind and deaf to the things of God what opens the door?

I believe the door is opened in this measure of knowledge that God puts in our hearts. (ROMANS 1:19). This measure of knowledge is as tiny a mustard seed. (MATTHEW 13:31) We instinctively know there is a God because this measure of knowledge he put in us when he created us. It maybe tiny but have God water it and see what happens. A person can’t make their faith any stronger or more sincere without God’s help. It is impossible. In fact if that is what a person does- all they have is a religion. A religion is ritual that is as ritualistic as washing the dishes every night. Faith is a relationship. You don't have a relationship with your dishes but with God.

You have to have a measure of knowledge of God to ask. You have to have a measure of knowledge of God to seek. You have to have a measure of knowledge of God to knock.

This instinctive measure of knowledge is what God uses to open the door to any heart but as always it a choice with God. God didn’t want us to just be some creature without a will but he wanted us to freely love and worship him and come to him to be freed from our spiritual blindness and deafness. He wanted us to come to him so we would be saved in his Son, Jesus Christ and grow mighty in the faith of Jesus Christ. He had a second birth in mind for us, to be born in the Spirit of God.

Are you asking? Are you seeking? Are you knocking?

God has left a trail of breadcrumbs in your life- some have been eaten by the birds of life and some stolen by the rodents that live in darkness but He made sure there would always be enough of a trail of breadcrumbs to find your way home to him.