The Wedding Gifts

*I love weddings. Every aspect of a wedding has a spiritual impact on me. Actually, everything in life has a spiritual impact on me. I see God's hand in all creation and all technology and all science and all medicine and all people. ><>
*The Bride. She's beautiful. There is just some thing about a woman's wedding day that lights up her whole face and causes every one she meets to comment on her glow. It must be love. The love she has for her groom and their new life together.

*Like the Bride of Christ: Love in her heart radiates from her face, too, like a lighthouse. It is the Love of God which was planted in her heart by a single seed: the seed of faith. Faith in God's Promises. She shines this love into all the world and speaks it to all she meets. None leave her presence without taking some thing back with them.

*The majority of weddings taking place have guests bringing gifts to the new couple for their new life together. But this Bride and Groom have chosen to give gifts to the guests. Before the wedding.

*One of these gifts is a New Life. The Groom not only speaks of this new life, He IS this new life. He made it possible. The Bride speaks of this New Life and shines the Light of His Love into all the world by her voice and her actions. John 3:3; John 3:16, 17; Acts 2:38, 39;Romans 10:9, 10 are just a few places in The Holy Bible which speak of this New Life gift.

*Another gift given to the guests is the baptism of The Holy Spirit. A gift truly needed in today's world arena. Politicians want your vote. Bankers want your money. Your boss wants your time. Your family wants your attention. God wants all of these and more. But He is the only One not making any demands on you. God ASKS you to consider Him. To REASON with Him. God wants to CHAT with us; with you and with me. Even before Christ made Himself known in The New Testament section of The Holy Bible, God sought our hearts, that we might turn towards Him, like in Isaiah 2:18 where He says, “Come now, let us REASON together, saith The Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

*We need this second gift to be able to walk in power and have the light and love of Christ in us to penetrate the darkness around us. As Christians, which is what we are now after we have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives and souls, we need to be able to live the life which God has prepared for us. And we can't do it on our own; we need a Helper. And this Helper's name is Holy Spirit. It is the voice of wisdom and discerning.

*Isn't it nice to go to a wedding and receive such lovely gifts? Who would not want to do this? And before the wedding, too! Revelation 22:17 “The Spirit and The Bride say 'Come'. And let him that hears say, Come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” You and I are the “whosoever will.” And when I accepted what I had heard, and when I had tasted this living water, I became a member of the Bride, as you will, also. I say, Come. Today is the day of your salvation. Tomorrow is not promised. Come. Now is the time to worship. Come. Now.

 

The Cost of Integrity. Part 1

You can't preach Christ crucified, if you are first not willing to live it.
 

What does it mean to have integrity? Yes, God does know what is in our hearts. But we do not know what is in each other's hearts until we see their action and hear their words. One can say they are a Christian; but if their actions do not back up their words, doubt makes itself known in our heart. And, yet, Christ Himself reminds us not to judge another until we have first searched our hearts and removed that which is the same in ourselves before we confront the one we doubt.

So, we ask ourselves, “Am I living in integrity? Am I practicing what I preach? Am I walking the talk?” My spirit says 'Yes.' My body says 'No'. Probably because having a life-changing chronic illness, with which I am at peace with now, continues to affect decisions I make regarding my life.

My faith has been questioned by people who 'mean well'. This phrase is totally oxymoronic. Usually people who mean well, don't. Sometimes people say really stupid things to me. One of these phrases is “if you push yourself you will get better.” When I push myself, not only do I not get better, I seldom make it out of bed. Thank God we have a dog who can't let herself out; or in. And I have to get out of bed and meet her needs. But then a hot shower massage and I'm almost alive again.

 

 

Some people tell me that if I eat right or stop eating different foods or change my diet in some unsatisfactory way, that I will get better. You have no idea how my dietary habits have changed. When I worked, I ate. I needed to eat to keep up with the amount of energy my body was expending. We had a snack drawer at work. I helped stock it. When I was able to exercise, I ran. That was fun. Now, I can barely walk. Don't tell me to eat right and I will be okay. I seldom eat. It is not a spiritual fast; it is a 'I am not hungry' fast. I feel full all the time. And sometimes, lately, eating makes me nauseous.

Don't question my faith. Don't criticize me for lacking faith to be healed. I have faith that God will heal me in His time. And just because His time is not your time does not mean I will not be healed. Nor that I am lacking in the 'faith in God' department. God I trust. You? You in general I don't trust. People must prove themselves to each other that trust might be manifested in their relationships with each other.

 

Though there were times when I doubted my abilities to function at all, now I know that God is m Strength and in Him I can do all the things which He calls me to do. It is not my abilities that are called on, it is my willingness and obedience to serve Him as He sees fit that are important. When God wants me to do something, I do it. Now. Times past, before I knew God as I know Him now, I did not walk the talk. Now, I do. And, while God is my Judge, He is also my Friend. Now. And I am not lonely any more. Nor am I alone.

Do I have enough integrity-based actions in my life to question yours? Hm. I don't know. But I do know that on this part of this journey I travel in the life in which God has placed me, God will reveal to me where I lack. Maybe through you I will learn a lesson. Or not. Maybe you will learn a lesson through me.

 

Don't tell me “it's all in your head”. You want me to tell you that the next time you fall down or can't get organized? Being this sick is not “all in my head”. It does however originate in my brain. My brain is broken. It does not function the way it is supposed to. And while it is only in the last few years that I personally have noticed the tremors in my hands and my mouth, I have been made to understand that signs of this showed up in my childhood; just not this obvious.

It took God a long time to make me. It may take a while to fix me. But until then, I will continue to seek Him out in His Word and speak with Him in my silences, that He may show me and reveal to me what He wants me to do. Like this newsletter of my studies.

I questioned someone's integrity recently and The Holy Spirit confronted me and asked if I was living a life of integrity. Can I preach Christ crucified, if I am sick or unable to do the things I wish I could do? Yes. I am. I can. And, now, I am tired again. And thirsty. I am usually more thirsty than hungry. No, I do not have diabetes; I have been tested and cleared on that account.

I have been tested for MS, Lupus, ALS and Parkinson's: all cleared. I do have FM )Fibromyalgia, OsteoArthritis and an un-named polymyositis illness, which is causing the tremors, muscle spasms, speech and motor skills to deteriorate. This link at the Mayo Clinic will help you to understand what I go through and why I cannot push myself to get better. I have faith and I live a life of integrity the best I can. I am reliable to a point. When I just cannot do it, I will tell you so. And when I get angry, it will be because The Spirit is grieved and come against in me. So, while this may seem to be an unusual Bible Study, God's Word will be accomplished in it. For He is working on me even as we speak. 

 

I have severe Osteoporosis and now have been placed on Boniva indefinitely. The infusion which may have helped me has been denied by our insurance company. It costs a couple thousand $$, so I can see why they would turn it down. Maybe after I been on this new one and there is no change, maybe they will pay for it. No faith in the insurance company either.

And, while my knees wobble, my faith in God does not. God knows my heart and God knows your heart. So, I am sorry for questioning your integrity. You can work it out with God. You're okay in my book.

 

 I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me. Though this verse is found in Philippians 4:13, I encourage you to read the whole chapter. It is not lengthy, but it does apply here. :)

I am overcoming the attack on my body by the illness and by well-meaning individuals. Don't wonder if you are one of them. It doesn't matter any more. What does matter is: are you right with Christ in your heart? Do you want to live a life of integrity and know that God is pleased with you? You could start here, by repeating this simple prayer and reading it aloud, as I did while I wrote it. Why did I read it aloud as I wrote it? To reaffirm my faith in Christ and to bless you:

 

"Oh Lord, although I feel unworthy of Your love for me, I acknowledge that I am a sinner. I repent and turn away from those things which dishonor and displease You. Come, live in my heart; I give You control of my life. Help me to be more like You. Help me to grow in Your Word and in Your Way for I know that I need You now more than ever before. Make me to know Your wills for my life. Teach me, Lord, for I am hungry for You and thirsty for

Your Love. Thank You Lord Jesus, for saving me; for dying for me; for rising from the dead and showing me that, I too, can overcome death through You.

Lord God, be my God. Be my glory. Be my Strength. Be my Hope. Direct my steps in Your paths of Righteousness for Your Name's sake. Guide me in Your Word that I may become the person You see in me. Father, thank You for calling me, for calling my name. In Jesus' Name. Amen. "

It is that easy to become a child of God. And if you meant it when you said it, now you, too, are a part of God's family. Welcome Home.

 

 

The "Me" in Me and My House

 

 

In the beginning of this scratching post where I bring my thoughts and bare my soul for the world to see, I said that  "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord." But who is in my house? Where is my house? As a matter of fact, those questions are secondary. The first part of that Bible verse says "as for me". Before the rest of my family, the rest of my house can serve God faithfully, I have to serve God faithfully. Me.
But, I haven't served God faithfully. I haven't always been faithful in reading God's Word, hearing God's Word, doing what God says to do. I have broken every commandment, as given in Exodus 20:1-17. Commandment #1: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Broke it. Haven't always put God first in my life. Commandment #2: Thou shalt not make any graven image or bow down to them and serve them. Broke it. No, I have not bowed a knee to any statue or worshipped at the altars of Buddha or Mohammed. I have however served the god Bacchus by getting drunk on a regular basis. I have bowed a knee to the porcelain throne and worshipped at every bar I ever hung out at. I wasn't putting God first then.
Commandment #3: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Swearing made me cool. Commandment #4: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Sunday mornings were for recovering from Saturday nights. And sitting on a pew wasn't near as comfortable as my bed. Commandment #5: Honor thy father and thy mother. Nope, broke that one, too. If I had honored my parents, I would have lived a life pleasing to God from the get go. I would have lived a respectable life and not lived a life that made my mother cry.
Commandment #6: Thou shalt not kill. Jesus says that if I even think about hurting someone or gossip about them, I have killed them in my heart, with my tongue and my words. Hmm. Yep, broke that one too. Commandment #7: Thou shalt not commit adultery. Adultery. Sex outside the marriage bed. Well, since I wasn't married I didn't think that applied to single people, only married people. But having sex outside the guidelines which God had set in place is adultery. Against God. Broke #7, too. I had a few relationships like that. One resulted in having a child out of wedlock and raising him on my own. That adulterous affair also gave me an STD. And it made me afraid to love. One resulted in getting pregnant and marrying my adulterous partner. Flirting is adultery of the heart. Booty glances is adultery of the mind. It is not okay to ogle that guy's butt or glance at that girl's breasts or her legs and imagine. Commandment #8: Thou shalt not steal. Five-finger discount is stealing. Even if you only did it once on a dare. Tasting the produce before you buy it at the grocer's is stealing. Not tithing is stealing from God, not the church.
Commandment #9: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. There is no such thing as a white lie or a little lie. Crossing your fingers behind your back does not validate a lie. Twisting the truth, exaggeration, whoppers; all lies. False witness is to accuse someone of doing or not doing an action. Sad to say, I have broken that commandment, too. Listening to gossip is the same as spreading it.
Commandment #10: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's anything. Not the house, not the spouse, not the people who work for him, not his vehicles of transportation, not his job. Anything that belongs to someone else does not belong to you. Or me. Keeping up with the Joneses is breaking this commandment. To covet is to greatly desire, to obsess, to dwell on, to think about all the time. Yep, broke that one too. Wanting what someone else has keeps me from being satisfied with what I have. It is possible to be ambitious in life and still not sin against God. But that message is for another time. The following link is an awesome message on this subject written in PDF and easily understood by anyone, regardless of your age. And, yes, I did read the whole thing.

Breaking the 10 Commandments

Well now. As for me. I am in my house. I have not been faithful. I have not loved God with all my heart, all my soul and all my mind. In the past. There was a day when I brought the broken commandments to the foot of the cross. I was more than sorry. I did not lip-sync my way to grace. I repented of my sins and asked God to forgive me. I asked Jesus Christ to wash me clean, to make me whiter than snow. And He did.

 As a public confession of my faith, I was water baptized. But I knew I needed more of Him and more His grace in order to live  the life He had planned for me to live. I needed the baptism of The Holy Spirit. I asked. I begged. I pleaded. I waited. I received. It's the waiting that pleases God, I think, the most. He waits for ever for us to repent and be saved. He waits for us to ask. He doesn't just bombshell us with every good and perfect gift He has in His storehouse for us: He waits for us to ask for them. As in Acts 1 and 2, they waited but they still did God's business. We need to be about God's business while we wait for His perfect gifts which He has for us to arrive.

 Everyday of my life now, I surrender my body a living sacrifice, as ordained in Romans 12:1. I choose to put God first in everything I do now. It is a sacrifice of self. I do not have to take my life into my own hands anymore. Everytime that happened I screwed up. With God in control, for I have given Him control, of my life whatever happens to me, happens because God allows it.
However, the sin that I sowed into my life will still reap consequences. Satan still reminds me of my past. But, the Holy Spirit reminds me of my present and my future. So, again I say, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. "I will" has become "I do". Now, we need to get "my house" in order.