Ground Zero

We all have emotions. I hope. Ok maybe the terminator doesn't or assassins or high rolling gamblers, maybe they don't but in actuality they do. Maybe some judge dread types have a mostly cool head. Then the other end of the spectrum is the hot heads the maniac's, artists, eccentric's.
The seat of the emotions is said to be either the heart or the bowels basically the organs and hormone system rather than the brain. Perhaps it could be more accurately described as the effect of these systems on the thinking of the logic centre, that being unmistakably the brain.

God in whose image we are made is said to be Love ( Charity). Which is obviously the king of emotions. The question I have and this is open to discuss is. Love is not a feeling. Love is not lead by emotions. It absolutely needs emotions though, everything must be in balance.

Thinking, Logic Reason Cool headedness these must rule but also must submit to right emotional censorship.

Trinity abounds in christian doctrine.
God is Father, Son, Holy Spirit.                         He has created a tribune image in man
Mind, Body and Spirit.
Knowledge, Wisdom and Understanding.

The Fullness of God dwelt in Christ Jesus bodily. Jesus is the perfect image of God he lacks nothing to be complete.
because He is sinless he does't need a wife helper companion to complete Himself.
And to a certain few God has granted the ability to live as eunuchs ( within a church body most likely) but the vast majority of us require an other in order to completely reflect the fullness of God's Love as well as the other fruits of the spirit. As God said "It is not good for man to be alone."

In Love: Justice and Mercy have kissed.

I see husband as the head of the wife as the scripture says but I also now know that Christ is to be the head of everything be it a home, church, golf club, hospital, parliament, etc.

Men are called to be the ones who deal in the city gate. They are stronger to carry out the Justice and be feared as God the Father and Great judge is feared, Also to take dominion as God instructed, Men better represent the Law of God than do women.

Does this mean women are less than in any way? Most assuredly not. They represent the wonderful Mercy of God, the beauty of the Lord they overwhelm the law with its unachievable requirements.
They are the glory of their husbands. Just as Gods grace and mercy is His own Glory when it totally conquered sin and death.

Wonderful God and His wonderful ways.

In whose name?

Revelation 3:12

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.

Deuteronomy 12New King James Version (NKJV)

10 But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, 11 then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord.12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

I was about thirty when I was shown what the mark of the beast is. About the same time I attended a PK rally. Promises Keepers is a men only annual day conference ministry that was big then. I resisted going for a few years   because I thought it was weird , maybe I was to feminized, anyway I went and it was mostly good however after I paid my $60 entry fee I was given a logo emblazened plastic wrist band to wear which is quite a common practice at such public events I would think. The only trouble is I hadn't even been inside to hear the message and they wanted to own me at the door. Well I was probably the only person have a problem with this that day or since but at the time I wouldn't wear it, I put it in my pocket and had to pull it out to show security every time we had to re-enter the event. If you had more money at your disposal than I had at the time it was possible to by the tee shirts coffee mugs and even PK bibles.  Some of the men from my church bought some of this merchandise and they would wear the tee shirts to church on Sunday's and encourage every man to attend the conferences. I really went on the strength of the recommendation of a particular man that  I looked up to. But I never went again. 

I worked on dairy farm at the time and I enjoyed  and learned a lot from working with the cows. I quickly realized though that the factory farming of the modern age is a long way from the cute little farms that I loved reading about in children's books. At an interview for a previous job the owners of the farm impressed strongly upon me that it theirs was business not a lifestyle.. The cows are property from the moment they are conceived and if you take your breeding seriously you ear mark the newborn females as soon as possible after birth so as to correctly identify the the mother with the right calf. I did my best to regard the lives of the animals but the fact remains that they are essentially milk slaves.

Well Christ set me free from slavery and I knew I now belonged to Him so I didn't want to be the property of anyone else or wear their mark.
Coming to an understanding of these things I went on a crusade at least as far as me an my house  to get rid of all brands. It was a legalistic pursuit  but I couldn't get rid of the idea of how perfect it would be to live in this world without a single brand in my house or person, so I removed the brand off my car and cut the tags out of my clothes and unpicked embroidered logos and if I could remove them I would color over them with a red  permanent marker so they would be under the blood. I only managed to keep it up for a short while before I ran out of energy mean while my wife and everyone else thought I was mad. Maybe they were right. 

The thing I have taken out of it though is that it is for freedom that Christ set us free and we ought to let no man or woman take us captive. I know who my Master is and I am happy to wear His mark . They fall into a trap who make merchandise of Christ because they have stolen the intellectual property that they are selling and they are selling it under another name. Nobody from promise keepers died for me to release me from the power of sin and death, therefore there remains only one name to be lifted up as Moses lifted up to brass serpent in the wilderness. As Jesus said if I be lifted up I will draw all men to myself.

The elephant in the room

I wanted take my wife out to eat the other night for our aniversary. We were going to go to the Thai restaurant. We like the food and have a discount voucher so everything should have been fine but alas I had some misgivings. I have been inside the restaurant to get takeaway so I know they have a massive in your face shrine in there the becomes the focus of the room. I was sort of planning how I could raise the issue of the Idol with the owners sensitively more with a purpose of finding out if they offer the food served to this false god than evangelizing them. This may have been selfish but I dont like making non christians feel ackward. Anyway as we where parking outside I noticed that they now have a image of their god outside as part of their advertising, well that was to much for me we got back in the car and went to an establishment that has invisible idols so we didnt have to be put off our dinner.
As WASP we mostly like to keep our idols to the invisible kind because its harder for anyone to level a charge of idolatry against us having not witnessed us bowing down to any actual statue. All the more so when very few people are willing to do this important work of calling a spade a spade.
I believe we all have personal  idols still though we may put them in the cupboard when we ask Jesus into our hearts but some times if we feel Jesus isnt doing enough to satisfy us we can go back to the idols to complain about Him. Santificaton is to me the process where we progessively open every secret corner and hideway of our selves to the Holy Spirit and smash every hidden idol we find with the hammer of Gods truth. This can be painful because we can have strong attachment to some of these idols.
Thats personal idols. That is difficult enough.

 When large groups of people get together and all bow down to the same idol and call it Christ it is even harder for anyone to point out the true nature of elephant in the room.

I wise man once said "I don't generally believe we should or can christianize a pagan holy day."

The same goes for any idea invention or system. If it came from pagan origins it will lead to a pagan desitinaton no matter how many Jesus stickers we try to stick on it along the way.l
As Christians we all have pagan origin but myst be totally transformed by rebirth and Santificaton to enter eternal life.
Education is not a pagan idea it was started by christians to reach out to children who were either without believing parents or whos parents were neglecting their duty to raise their children in the knowledge of God. This is just obedience to the great commission this is done in the authority of Jesus.
Somewhere along the line though education has been hajacked by secular humanists the state has assumed control of it by controlling the funding and teachers qualifications and the curriculum etc.
The authority to do all this has been usurped by the states it has not been given to them by God and christian teachers now walk a very fine line in terms of legitimate authority being empowered by a state which has stolen its authority.

If we want God to empower our ministry which we certainly do we must do it in His authority without requiring an unequal yolking with secular powers. Jesus is king all by Himself and won't share His glory with another. He doesn't need the government's help or money to make disciples.
If the good work we are doing turns out to be wood hay and stubble I pray that we are not so heavily invested in it that we can't step away when the consuming fire tests its worth.

Junk mail

Isn't wanted. After going to great lengths to try and reunite a misdelivered Crisco catalog with its rightful but apathetic owner. I paused to consider why this might be. After all the sender had taken the trouble to develop a product, print a catalog and send at their own cost a presentation of their offerings personally addressed. Why arent these sacrifices they have made valued?

Because ultimately the sender of junk mail doesn't know you or care about your life. They are really seeking to convert you into a unit of their own support either by honest trading or tricky and deceit. 

Many people in our world treat Gods message the same as junk mail.

Believers know its value but for outsiders their response to the Gospel is often the same as to any other unsolicited promotional material. They throw it in the trash and move on with their life.
God wants His people to deliver the Gospel to witness it in such a way as to convince those outside Christ that the Sender of this message does know them intimately and care about their life enough to sacrifice His most precious son. 

If course God openly wants to convert each new disiple into a glory bringer for Himself but in this humility lies our greatest forfillment. The common human failure to acknowledge first of all the existance but more the Greatness of God is the reason that the psalmist wrote.

Psalm 14King James Version (KJV)

14 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

Proverbs 9:10New International Version (NIV)

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
    and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Even Jesus humbled Himself in this way..

John 14:28New International Version (NIV)

28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father,for the Father is greater than I.

Coming to a right perspective of who we are and who God is in comparison is the birth of wisdom for any soul. We are small and sinful and God is Great and Holy, anyone who seeks wisdom must allow themselves to be humbled by these truths. Its this neccesity for humility that makes the Gospel a stumbling stone for many. And we  can witness the Gospel in no better way than to practice it always.  

The message of the Gospel is one of Love and restored relationship offered to those who can humble themselves and give glory to God. The benefits of uptaking this offer are out of this world and unreachable outside of Christ since every reedemed believer owes Him our lives twice for which we couldn't pay once. It is very far away from junk mail. May we live to make them see this.

Four Seasons

"Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious by this summer sun of York"

                                                                                 William Shakespeare; Richard III

I was thinking of ;

Earlier this week and also new creation and rebirth these all have something to do with seasons.

The harvest is ready and white in the heat of summer, so farmers are busy in the summer anxious to gather in their hard earned rewards to the safety of the silo.

The verse here speaks of this season of reaping, it must be summer, spiritual summer. 

If there be a summer then there must be other seasons spring is the rebirth of the earth, awakening from the 'death' of winter. Summer is the season of prime,the peak of the suns radiance and autumn must be a season of waning, the leaves 'fall' and fertilize the soil with there nutrients gained 

John 4:34-36

King James Version (KJV)

34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

35 Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.

Occupy your God given place.

Prov 16:9 We make our own plans, but the Lord decides where we will go.

I used to think it was queer saying things like 'God lead me to come here', because I was stuck in the first half of this verse. I was good at making wonderful plans in my head with me at the center of ever grander schemes to gain wealth and prosperity and the acknowledgement of my fellow men.

I was locked into a single minded pursuit of my goals all of which required some assistance from others but I increasing found that others had goals of their own which didn't often coincide with mine.

I was in the habit of putting these discoveries down to a minor set backs waiting only for a creative way around to be found. They lacked the vision I thought. If  only others would recognize the gift of vision God had given me then we could all work together diligently at 100% effort to accomplish 'God's will'.

As new believers we take our first baby steps towards making God the Lord of our lives, well actually that is more of a quantum leap but in the context here it is only the beginning of a long journey. Growing up in a christian family you get used to hearing often repeated words about the sovreignity of God and you know that he is in control of all things,

                                                    'Hes got the whole world in His Hands'.

The understanding of which sometimes passes us by until by and by Gods switches on the light and we can see the truth layed out before us.

When we finally see the reality of the situation and begin to understand who God really is and how powerful and wonderful are His ways we are simultaneously made aware of how silly it to 'play god' and attempt to rule our own lives. When we see how strong God is we also realize how weak we are and turly dependent on Him in all things.

Fruit

Nearly a year since my last post. Sorry to all my loyal readers. As to where have I been? In a barren empty place, otherwise known as the wilderness.

 Not much grows out there its a good place to to go when your fasting,

Anyhow I guess I've turned a corner cause I'm back in the cultivated lands again thinking about fruit.

During the hiatus I have obviously been keeping myself alive, existing at least in the flesh.

My flesh is alive because I have been feeding it, with various foods, spiritually I have been staving.

The purpose of a tree is to produce fruit. A lack of fruit is a lack of purpose. Empty branches leave a farmer wondering why He wasted his time tending to it. Fruit is the substance of the life of the plant, the real stuff, the pay off, and the climax.

I am hungry for this, the whole earth is madly seeking it. We need it and we've got to, got to, have it.

If we cant find it we try to replace it with the product of this world. 

The problem with fake fruit is though, it has no substance, its hollow. It does not and can not satisfy.

A spirit to must have food to live, we find and eat this fruit then we are able to produce our own, and provide a harvest for others who have not.

Plants have their stages of early life and getting established but with maturity should come fruitfulness.  

Joy is like the Sun (It vanishes in the night seasons) it rises in the morning and warms our souls, Its the light of life, It energizes and motivates. When we are given joy to eat it fills us and radiates from us. To produce it we must eat it, so where do we find this rare fruit?

In the garden of our father.

Joy comes from the restored relationship we can have with our Father though Jesus. Joy is found only in the presence of God, and his indwelling Spirit. 

Adam lost his joy when he sinned and broke his relationship with the Father, He hid from His presence in a dark place, not able to bear the Light of His countenance. He was sent away from that beautiful place but he had already left in his heart, He could never be at home there with God until that sin was atoned for on the cross and He could be reconciled.

 Because of Jesus we (the sons of Adam) are able to re-enter into the Garden of our lord and eat of its heavenly fruits again, including the tree of life. Joy comes down from above and cannot be manufactured from earthly materials. When we are made right with our Father again and can approach His presence again, when the shame of sin is taken from us and His Spirit fills us. Then we can become a outlet of Heaven on earth, re-producing the food of Heaven. 

Others will see this fruit in our lives and desire it. As I said before all men desperately seek it. (the infamous 'God shaped hole')

Such treasures need to be shared with other hungry souls.

"Do you love me? Feed my sheep."