Faith is Similar To . . .

Have you had a recent “Faith is Like Moment?”

What is a “Faith is Like Moment?”

Hear a “Faith is Like” moment I had.

Faith is like walking a dog through the suburbs without a leash.

How is faith like walking a dog leashless?  Have you ever had a good Dad, or a good boss? When they have to chasten us they end up looking like a virulent and unloving leader, when in fact the good boss or dad is a fantastic and loving leader, who was just circumstantially made to look bad.   It seems that the unfaithful have a view of God that paints Him as being angry and abusive.  Truth is, He is… towards our bad qualities.

When I was walking my dog leash-less today, every time I got close to an intersection and my dog was not near to me I had to put on my “man voice” and sternly warn him to catch up so we could cross the intersection together instead of my dog crossing an intersection alone, chasing me, after tearing himself from whatever corner he was sniffing.

There was a person about half a block behind me, walking at my pace.  To the person following me I maybe sounded like an angry, aggressive and unloving dog owner.  He probably thought things like “He should have that pup on a leash”  and “Listen to the way he yells at his dog!”  and “That guy deserves to be tarred and feathered, he has no business in decent society.”  Ok, maybe those were not his exact thoughts, maybe I was being paranoid.

When my dog came near to me after I called him (he is extremely obedient) I would praise him, quietly.  Why quietly? My dog was was right there next to me.  No need to yell a praise.  The person pacing me did not ever hear that.

Yeshua is my owner and I am His leash-less dog.  I do not care that people see My Father as unloving, I know that He loves me.  I know that He loves them.  Because I experience both sides of a relationship with The Creator, I know this.  He keeps me on the right path using both chastening and praising.

 

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If you can tell us what your “Faith is Like Moment” is, describing it in a few sentences, that would be appreciated!  Thanks for visiting.

Be patient, you will have it and when it happens, post your “Faith is Like” moment in the comments on this article.  This post isn’t going anywhere and we cannot wait to hear about your “Faith is Like Moment!”  This article will be here and waiting for you.  Do not worry no one here is going to judge you, as a “Faith is Like Moment” is equivocal.

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Prairie Girl’s “Faith is Like Moment”

To me, faith is like watching a person performing an amazing derring-do, like walking a tightrope, only to have the camera pan out to see that they’re actually only a foot off the ground and were safe all along.

As I grow in learning what it means that God has covered all the things I thought it was my job to worry about, I find I can embark on hopes and dreams without the fears that use to hold me back. I’m safe to be me in the world, and it turns out I was always safe.

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 Belle Unruh

Faith is like knowing my husband will always come home to me every day. It never occurs to me that he won’t.

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 Wisdom Drops

To me, faith is like “knowing that something is going to happen or get done and l really do not know how it is going to happen; l am just waiting on it to happen any day, at any time; more less like take me by surprise because l know it is going to happen, but l just do not know when.”

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 Nancy Ruegg

Each of these faith analogies above offer insight into its mystic qualities. I cannot do better than Martin Luther King, Jr: “Faith is like taking the first step even if you don’t see the whole staircase.”

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 Jessica May Moore

Faith is like being blind all of your life. Suddenly the veil falls from your eyes and you are amazed at what you see.

Faith is like you were deaf all of your life and God opens your ears to His voice and you are amazed at all the things He has to say to you.

Faith is like you can not smell all of your life and suddenly you smell lilacs.

Faith is like you can’t feel a thing all of your life and suddenly He touches you and from that moment on you are never the same.

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 Deb

Faith is like jumping into a swimming pool for the first time each summer. I see others in there having fun. I stick my toe in the water and it feels too cold. Someone yells to me, “It’ll be fine once you jump in.” I always hesitate and struggle, then I just jump and it turns out to be great!

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These “Faith is like” moments were in the comments and were transferred into the post.  I encourage you to click on the links next to their pictures to visit their blogs and learn more about Him through them.

The Desert Pt. 1

Tags

Enslaved, Faith, Israelite wandering, Sinai, The Desert

When The Israelite forefathers were in slavery, under the Egyptian’s rule, Yaweh was looking to release them from bondage.  Success.  Through Moses, the Israelites were manutmitted.  The Israelits had spent a long time subject to the cultural influence of Pharaoh and his religious, occultic system of living.  The pagan ways were woven into them pretty severely. The Israelites still remembered their God, Yaweh, but because of the Egyptian captivity the Israelites were heavily influenced by paganism and occultic ways and worship.

Physically, our Israelite forefathers were no longer enslaved.  Mentally, emotionally and spiritually though, there was still a lot of work to be done to bring them out of bondage.  God shows us that the battle against their spiritual bondage wasonly just beginning after the red sea crossing by causing them to wander in a small desert for 40 years.  Getingt them from point A to point B would have taken all of a few weeks at the most if they had walked straight there.

Reading the saga of The Israelite movement from Egyptian captivity, to wandering in the desert, and then on to promised land, a believer will find a slew of events where God challenged the belief system the Israelites had held, gave the people a chance to repent once He showed the Israelites their fault, and then destroyed those refusing to be of faith.  That order took place more than once in the history of our spiritual ancestors The Israelites.

Some people think that God’s wrath is not as existent as it use to be, if at all.  You see, just like with our Israelite forefathers, God’s wrath still does exist today, but God does not come right out and tell us that it is His wrath unless we are really looking for Him.

<God, Who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke unto the fathers by the prophets, but in these last days has spoken unto us by His Son.>  You see Jesus, being The Heir of All Things and The Creator of The Worlds has the power to speak to us today in many ways.  His wrath is poured out on America everyday through various diseases, family feud’s, acts of terrorism, natural disasters and mental illness.  It is hard to accept that God’s wrath is the awful things that happen around us because it forces us to admit that God is punishing us.  Admitting God is punishing us is admitting fault, and admitting fault is the first step to living in freedom.  Satan does not want you to live in freedom.

Answer God’s call, give Him your life, and watch the wrath slowly begin to be replaced with peace, long suffering, joy and wisdom.  Don’t be fooled into thinking that an alter call or giving your life to a church is going to save you.  That won’t work.  Man up and actually whole heartedly give Him your life.  All of it.

This Is A Beautiful Example of How Faith Can Lead Us

When the Israelites wanted a king, God chose Saul. A people called the Philistines were constantly oppressing Israel. One day Israel and the Philista gathered to wage war. But Israel had no weapons yet. Only the king and his son had swords. His son’s name was Jonathan. I find Jonathan to be a wonderful example […]

via Jonathan: A Man of Faith. — Who is God?

So Many Religions Which One Is The Truth?

Tags

Figment of, God, imagination, jesus, Monotheistic, Polytheistic, Spiritual, Spirituality, Systems

 

Hey guys, thanks for tuning in.  I have not posted in a while.  This post is short and sweet, but worth reading. Why?  We all sometimes doubt God’s sovereignty, His power, His existence even. After He showed me what you are about to read, I was comforted in knowing that He truly is The All Mighty.

 

Why God over Ganesha, or Buddha, or Allah?  There are hundreds of gods to choose from.  What is it that makes Jesus so special?  One of the reasons is that He is the only God, as draconian as His ways may seem, who will suffer through the worst of all suffering.  Does Ganesha suffer?  No, Ganesha only gets worshiped;  Thus, gods like Ganesha are merely manifestations of man’s evil heart: I can take care of you, so worship me.  They are simply maelstrom’s of thought that have gained traction from one generation to another.

 

Now, Buddha and Muhammad’s Allah, are a little more complicated than that.  Buddha and Muhammad did sacrifice things in life in order to achieve greatness; However, one of these two openly admitted fault and pointed to Jesus before they died: Siddhartha Buddha, whereas Muhammad took a great deal of the Bible and added to it, twisted some of it and left a bit of it unadulterated: The Koran.  That pretty much covers all the religions: Monotheistic, polytheistic, and spiritual systems decent people toiled in to help people live.

Now, there are three planes of existence: Heaven, Earth, and The Lake of Fire. This is where we find that out of all gods, God truly is God.  Most figment gods (like Ganesha) live in heaven only (according to their followers).  The two described in the ladder paragraph are believed to be existing both in heaven and have existed on earth or through folks on earth.  Here is where Our God is different:  When Our God manifested Himself on earth it was not to be worshiped or to “figure out” how to live, it was to live by the ways He already gave us, and to serve us.

1. Jesus is the only God that exists or has existed in all 3 planes.
   1. <Now the saying, “He ascended” — what does it mean but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?>
   2. <He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, in which He also went and made proclamation to the spirits in prison…>
   3. <As for You,
      because of the blood of Your covenant,
      I will release Your prisoners
      from the waterless cistern.
      Return to a stronghold,
      you prisoners who have hope…> 
2. Jesus is the only God who has lived to serve us, not to be served.

The Word tells us that after death, and before resurrection, Jesus went to the center of the earth for three agonizing days.  He truly paid the full penalty for sin.

God is a good God, a fantastic leader, and because He is also acquainted with Hell, He knows how to keep us out of it.  Don’t put your life in the hands of anyone besides The Way.

Jesus The Savior. John The Baptist.

All of the prophets from Moses to Zachariah had a message that involved bits and pieces, fragments of information on The Human Form of God and the life He would live, the things He would do, the way He would be.  John The Baptist, in his ministry said that The One that all the scriptures were talking about is on the way.  These men (Yeshua and John) were family, and were intimately connected, working together to ensure God’s will happened.

Jesus’ ministry and John’s ministry are very closely related.  How beautiful it is that God orchestrated the life of John to fit Jesus’ agenda.

John was very confident in his ministry.  He boldly and authoritatively spoke to the masses with courage: telling people that (a) Jesus is coming so (b) now is the time to repent.  John spoke to the Sadducees and High Priests in a way that could have gotten him in a lot of trouble;  Yet, his honest words towards them were from a place of love, helping them also to recognize their need for A Savior.  If they were not acting in such a way that should have resulted in scolding, he wouldn’t have scolded them.

In contrast, John took his place as having no authority when Yeshua arrived.  John The Baptizer, who was just boldly scolding the most powerful Jews around, was now completely humble and submissive.

So many people had the faith to sacrifice their lives to save us.   They all served Him in that way and He is an incredible gift that every person should live for.

One Foot In The Hole One Foot Gettin’ Deeper

Tags

12, G-d, Giants, Hebrew, Help Me Jesus, Holy, jesus, Lord, Messainic, Nephalim, Numbers, Promised Land, Roots, Sabbath, scripture, Spies, What am I doing, yeshua

Today was interesting.  I usually do not write in the first person perspective, but I would like to share with you.  A thought crossed my mind today.  I was on a ladder.  You know, one of those straight, put em on the wall ‘cus they aren’t shaped like an “A” type ladders.  It was leaned against a wall, sitting about 15 feet up or so.  I was near the top, cutting a piece of rusty old pipe with a reciprocating saw.

So I’m up there, leaned over my work space (the rusty old pipe) and leaning hard into my work.  The saw would catch every once in a while and my whole body would shake, the ladder would shake, the pipes would jangle and wretch and whine and I would remember, hey, be careful, you are pretty high up and you don’t want to fall to a slow and painful crawl to the car, drive to the hospital, followed by months of rehab.  Thankfully, this thought crossed my mind the third or fourth time the saw caught and shook my little world all up.  I stopped, and thinking safely, I reasoned through what was going to happen when I finally got through the piece of pipe.

You see, the ladder represents the spiritual practices, relationships and food The Lord gives us that the world hates.  Conversely, those rusty old pipes, namely the one I was cutting down, is like the world that we tend to lean on, knowing if we are going to lead a somewhat comfortable life we unfortunately sometimes need to lean into what we know will pass away: The world and it’s practices, relationships and so on.

I reasoned,  and I thought, and I recognized finally that, hey buddy, you’re going to need to quit leaning on this rusty old pipe and put most all of your weight and trust on this ladder.  You see, I am pretty glad I put some of my weight on the ladder.  You know why?  Because once I got through that pipe, all 25 feet of it or so crashed down and if I had been leaning on it I would have fallen right along with it.  I was safely standing on the ladder, watching that old hunk of metal while it found it’s way to the ground.

You know what all this is a lot like?  It is a lot like the spies who went into the land promised to them in The Book of Numbers.  You see, the maelstrom of thought that day was “That land is awesome and has more than enough to sustain us.”  When Moses and the other faithful folk began “readying the troops”  those same fellas who were just parading around the riches of the land were all “Whoa guys, that’s a little crazy.  We forgot to tell you that the people living there now are giants.  literally GIANT HUMANS.  We don’t stand a chance.”

You see the idea of wandering around in the wilderness and complaining that God was not giving them enough was their rusty old pipe.  The promised land was their ladder.   I’m gonna spoil it and just come right out and say something here.  I am so incredibly thankful that I had this experience today because I know that I am one small piece to a greater community of courageous men and woman who also learned the same lesson in their own ways.

Here is the key though.  The Israelites were living in a day to day “natural miracle” state. Elohim wanted them to trust in a “hidden miracle” or “open miracle” (either or, it’s arguable).  The faithful men and women recognized that each and every day God performed the same ol’ miracles to keep them alive.  The other folks just saw it as nature.  The faithful folks saw that God would perform a different type of miracle in order to get them from wandering in the wilderness to promised land.  The other fellas saw the promised land as unreachable.

God speaks to us all wherever we are.  If we let Him talk to us while we are 15 feet in the air being jarred around by metal and crap during our daily work, we might be more likely to find ourselves thankful when we end up in the wilderness for a season.

How Wine from Water Teaches Us To Be Humble

Tags

Almight, Almighty, God Almighty, Heaven, Holy, Holy Spirit, humble, jesus, Jewish, john, Leadership, Lmighty, Lord, scripture, Skills, Spirituality, the truth, Truth, Water, wine, Yahshua, Yahweh

Take 15 minutes to read this article, watch the video, and learn how to apply these concepts to your life.  It will make things so much better in more ways than one.

 

5 things we can learn from the following verses:

1. A great way to show one another love and favor

2. Be honest with others about who you are from first meeting one another

3. If we do what Jesus commands we can perform miracles

4. Our subordinates help us to learn

5. Be humble

There is a quick video clip here for you to see, just a few scrolls down this page.

Let’s read the passage with these 5 things in mind.  If you have already read the passage skip down to where it says “Gleanings” in bold. The insight that this miracle affords just keeps blossoming.   You are gonna have fun with this knowledge for a while.  Each lesson leads to more.  It will help you to unfold your understanding of who Jesus is and how spirituality can be used to get closer to Him.  All praise and honor is Yours Almighty Father, we love You and thank You for loving us!

This is John 2;1-11 from the KJV

¹ And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:

² And both Jesus was called, and His disciples, to the marriage.

³ And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.

⁴ Jesus saith unto her, woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.

⁵ His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.

⁶ And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.

⁷ Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.

⁸ And He saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.

⁹ When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,

¹⁰ And saith unto him, every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.

¹¹ This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him.

 

 

The Gleaning:

1.When Jesus performed this sign He did it in such a way that kept many of the people present out of the loop of knowledge that a miracle had even occurred.  This made it so that the bridegroom could take credit for having such a supply of fine wine.  Socially this must of had all kinds of implications for the bridegroom.  This is an example of how we can treat one another in Ha Mashiak’s (Christ’s) love.  By putting a lot of thought and effort into trying to get the people around us to show respect and favor to a friend, loved one, or an enemy we are doing Christ’s work.

2. We learn also something very simple.  You see, if we do as Christ commands, miracles will be performed by Him through us.  Jesus never touched the wine.  He ordered the servants to fill the jugs, then the cups.  The remuneration of these acts caused the water to be turned into wine even finer than the original wine set out.  We also learn that the chief servant was a drunk, as it was the third day of the party and he was still drinking and able to tell the difference between good and bad wine.  straight up professional drinker that head servant was!

3.This leads us to another lesson.  We can learn from our subordinates.  This message is in many, many of the scriptures. Sometimes subordinates know much more about what is going on than we do. Our Father has the power to put the scales over our eyes so that we don’t see something while everyone else does.  He is always allowing us the chance to become humble if we so choose to accept His offer.  It was the servants that filled the jugs with water and only them that knew what had occurred.  At the time of the event, nobody else knew.

4.Humbling ourselves is important as a heart set in pride is great soil for the seed of sin.  Pride hardens us in our ways, unfortunately.  Instead, we are to be ready to adapt to what Christ wants of us at any moment and at any time.  We are to be chameleons of action and our color is to be chosen by what we know is true and right through our daily devotion to prayer and readings in the Living Word.

5. As an example of how Jesus wants us to act among one another He purposely turned the wine into better wine than usual.  Imagine the social implications of this!  Most everyone likes to alter their state of being. Fermented wine was one of the only ways to do this.  Many people worshiped alcohol and therefore became like it.  The social implications of this act would leave people singing about how the bridegroom set out inferior wine before fine wine.  We are to consider allowing other saints to see who we are, good and bad, from the beginning.  This will create a situation where we are more forgiving of the errors and faults our brothers and sisters make.  We are to be forgiving and keep on trying when people pick up our fault like a knife and stab us with it.  This takes great strength and trust that we can only receive from having faith and believing in The Savior.  It will be hard and it will help you to believe more fully in The Savior.  Remember in Proverbs 27:6 it says:

<The wounds of a friend are trustworthy>
When you do what The Savior tells you to do and get wounded, remember that The Savior is your friend and can act through your friends and your enemies.

Our faith leads straight to the Father.  That Faith is reliant upon Him.  He is the tether that brings us to Him.

 

 

Bethesda: Who Knew?

Tags

Healing, scripture, Seraphim, Silowam, Who Knew

In Jerusalem, there was a public pool at Bethesda.  At this pool many of the cities crippled and maimed spent their time.  The people at that pool had no idea why they spent so much time there; The pool was just where they happened to be during a great portion of their days.

Every once in a while one of the people there would jump up healed! Many people spent their lives at Bethesda but alas, would never find healing.

Some of the people at the pool didn’t know why somebody there would find healing from time-to-time, but there must have been a few who did.   The above is a short fan fiction piece on one of the many possible scenarios surrounding the historical origins of the place “Bethesda” from The Holy Bible. This is where we turn from a story that came out of my, the author’s, mind and asking you, my brilliant and prayerful reader, to ponder this question:

What was the buzz around Bethesda in the days of Jesus?  Was it wholly and totally known that the pool was a place of healing?  Was it wholly known that an angel from God was the messenger of that healing?  Was it a little more silent?  Did only a few quiet people sitting at the pool know that God sent healing when they saw the troubling of the waters?  OR …  was it a complete mystery:  Only a fluke that sick people spent a lot of time there and a fluke that whoever got into the pool after an angel came and went became healed from either very obvious infirmities or more subtle, mental and spiritual, or emotional scars?

Focus: Good Characteristics or Bad Ones

Tags

Exodus, Faith, Genesis, Golden Calf, Israelites, Jews, Levites, prayer, Priests, Sanctuary, The Bible, Word

In Exodus Ch. 32 we find all the people of Israel donating their gold apparel with the intention of finding a thing to direct their worship to.  Many people see this and focus on it as if the Israelites only did wrong.  All the time.  They  were awful idol worshippers and nothing else.  That is not true.  Far from it.

Most people leave out and/or have no idea what they did just a few chapters ahead in the Exodus Chronicle:  In ch. 36, while building God’s Holy Place, there was a point when the artisans had to stop their work to go to Moses to tell him that the people had brought more than enough, and that they had to be ordered to stop bringing their gifts.  It says {So the people were restrained from bringing.}

This temple’s plans were contrary to denominations.  The plans to this sanctuary were written by God Himself for the purpose of bringing His people to The True Him.  Literally built under the instruction of The Holy Spirit: { He has put in his heart the ability to teach, in him and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.  He has filled them with skill to do all manner of work…}

If only I were a comic artist.  But since that is not my forte I will just make a list.  But try to picture it:

Slip Up:

Goal: Golden Calf

People gave: Gold

 

 

 

Nailed It:

Goal: Making a Sanctuary for The Lord

People gave: Gold, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen, goat’s hair, red skins of rams, badger skins, silver, bronze, acacia wood, onyx and other stones, spices and oil.  All of this was a free will offering, except maybe the acacia wood.

When the calf was made, one man melted and hammered the calf, and then later denied he had even very much to do with it. {“So they gave it (gold) to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf”}.  “And out came this calf!”  Are you serious? That’s hilarious

When the sanctuary was under construction, all men and women whose hearts were stirred to do the work came and worked together until a beautiful sprawling sanctuary was built.  There were multiple people dedicated to attending to the daily worship there, and a dad and his son focused their lives on the sacrifices and services necessary to do in and around the holy tent.

There was a beautiful crystal lens over the eyes of The Israelites with YHVH’s name all over it in the building of the holy tent.  On the other hand there was a spec of sawdust that had Satan’s name all over it in the eyes of the Israelites when a half hearted golden calf was hamered out and we focus on that?  What a laugh.

Fire and Brimstone

Tags

Fight, G-d, God of Destruction, Havoc, Jeremiah Ch. 1, jesus, Lord, The Lord is a Warrior, Victory, Wrecking Ball

How do we build on a wild plot?  Put up walls and a roof and a safe haven for the tenants.  Yes, that is part of it.  First, though we need to do some destroying.  Some wrecking ball havoc is in order:  some fire and brimstone.  First, the lot is cleared, making room for the structures walls and roof and amenities.

In Jeremiah Ch, 1 we learn that Jesus is not just in the comfort game.  He is learned in the ways of destruction too.  Wouldn’t you want a warrior on your side when things get tough and the world wants to see you suffer?