Resurrection Day.............One day or for life?

Well Easter/Resurrection Day has past, but is it really?

To me it was like a seed planted afresh, which will sprout up, and the beauty of its blooms will continually bless thru out the year.

This is a reminder that we belong to someone greater than our earthly forms, that both the physical and spiritual has hope "because He lives".

We are the "sheep of His pasture, He is the "Good Sheppard", we know His voice and we are known by Him".

He cares enough about us to "know the very hairs of our head" yet He "stands at the right hand of His Father in Heaven" and "makes intersession for us".

We are eternally blessed to be "His people and called by His name."

Every day that we live we can rejoice in "Christ our Savior" because "each day is a new day, a new day in the Lord."

I lay hold to the "mercy's that are new every morning", and "grace convenient for today" for "He is faithful to deliver, and will."

Life without Him is hopeless regardless of success or failures, but life "in Him" is full of hope that gives purpose and direction as "He leadeth me" and "directs my paths."

With every "Resurrection Day" that I experience in my life I know that I am drawing neigh to the "Eternal Resurrection" that awaits for all who are "called by His name."

For those who "look for His coming" the promise is secure, as are all the promises that are in Him. Promises that "follow" those who believe as signs and wonders, and those promises that "will be made manifest" on the other side when we arrive.

He fills the long life with blessing, and He redeems the short life with the sweetness of His presence early on.

"In Him" life is best, without Him life is difficult at best.

His presence in our lives brings with it bountiful riches regardless of our "state." Blessings and Love is our surety, and "newness of life" is what we experience daily as we "abide" in Him.

His Resurrection is proven in us every day that we "arise" with praise, and our hearts full of thanksgiving. As our feet hit the floor we "will go out with joy and are lead forth with peace."

When we enter into His rest at night our "sleep will be sweet", and "He will keep us".

I count that there is no greater joy in life than being "found in Him", and "growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ."

The Resurrection has not "just passed" but lives on in us daily as we abide in Him.

Love

In Christ

J&E in Tn

Short thoughts

The "expectations" of Christianity is no longer based on Scripture as a general rule, it's based on whats practiced by it's participants.

If your life (consisting of all your thoughts, words, and deeds) was the only witness of the Gospel someone was to receive, would they find it "necessary" or "inspiring", and want to believe?

Do you have "Divine" expectations from "your Father in Heaven" or are you "satisfied" with your own applications of faith, however powerless?

John 20:29
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
This is the proper "expectation", Scripture is True in every aspect whether or not you have seen or experienced it in your "faith" walk. You are not the standard of Scripture, Christ is! 

Blind Bartimaeus never experienced a miracle but that didn't stop him from crying out.

A true saying

Miracles are only as uncommon as they are unexpected!

We are made in His image and likeness.......Not the other way around

But because of the flesh we all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. Note to those who believe otherwise, sin is not an occurrence in God but us. We are in His image and likeness.....not the other way around. It is our nature to sin and fall short not His. I can't emphasis this truth enough, God is Divine, never changing, ever. He cannot change. We can and will. He cannot be tempted, we can. He cannot sin, we will.

Clear enough?
Then let me query this......why do we believe that He somehow has our personality traits and falls under the same comparisons?

The point:

God is love, right? But God is also holiness, righteousness, judgement, and truth. Right? So which is He more? Is His Love greater than His judgement? Holiness greater than His righteousness? Again the answer is He is not in our image and likeness we are in His. And we are to be conformed to His image and likeness as we follow Jesus, decreasing so He may increase, and dying to self so He can live through us. We are being conformed to His image and likeness. So we are lower (baser) than He but He is working a work in us to change us to His image and likeness to Glorify Himself in all the work.

So what character is greater? Love, Holiness, righteousness, or judgement? None of the above is greater. In His divinity they all have the same level of importance. His Love will never override His judgement, nothing will ever change with God, only our thinking sets up a "priority scale". The Love of God was shown through the coming of Christ (His promise), to show His absolute Holiness (sin can't stand before Him), to set the bar of His righteousness (we couldn't approach His throne), and to eliminate His judgement by the blood of Christ. God is Divine without fault and with no level of participation more important than the rest of the levels.

So what is the problem?
Us + sin!
We (man) has the odd ability to take perfect Divinity and drag it down to the level we ourselves are on. We are a needy people and our greatest need is not judgement, holiness, or righteousness, it's Love. All of the woes of man can be laid to rest by Love......especially Divine love. So Love becomes the blanket to cover all our blinding to the whole message of the Gospel. Now don't get me wrong, the Gospel is God's greatest show of Love to all mankind over all time but it is not the only thing that God has revealed of His character. We focus on this because it gives us leave to ignore the rest of His Word and the warnings therein. Jesus is Love incarnate, but even He talked and warned more about Hell than He did heaven. He preached the message of Gods Love and redemption but He also warned about damnation and eternal torment, "where their worms never die and their flames never go out." So here we have Love and Damnation with damnation on a greater scale coming from He who is Love.

What does Gods Love save us from and put us in relationship with? Judgement, righteousness, and Holiness. All at once just as He has all these applications at the same time. But because His judgement, righteousness, and Holiness scares us (though it is slow (on our part) to keep us from sinning, we have to focus on the only thing that we want God to hold us accountable to and that's His Love. Many use Love (Christ) to leverage God when we continue to sin. Is there forgiveness for continued sin? Yes. But sin is easier to continue in when we say Love is greater than judgement, righteousness and Holiness. Even though Christ has settled all these issues with His blood we focus on God's Love as the only proprietary condition. We can better understand God's Love toward us if we better understood what real judgement, righteousness, and Holiness is. What we really deserve and what Jesus's blood saved us from. How He leveled the playing field between Divinity for Humanity and gave us the right to stand before and supplicate a Divine God.

So then seeing this we can "as through a glass darkly" begin to see "face to face" and gain a full appreciation of who our Father in Heaven is and why His love is so unconditional and incomprehensible. We were created in His image and likeness but now we are being conformed to His image and likeness now.

He is in the heavens and we are on the earth. He is Divine and we are carnal. He is the Redeemer of all things and we are what needs to be redeemed. Christ brings us into His presence and the Holy Spirit works in our lives to conform us to His image and likeness the way we were before sin entered in so we can walk and talk with Him as in the beginning. He is the Master Potter we are the clay of His making. We have confidence in judgement because we have Christ and His sacrifice as our mediator. Christ is both our righteousness and Holiness.

This should change our thinking on how we perceive our God and give Him His rightful place in our hearts and minds.

He doesn't have our weaknesses, He doesn't have our failures, He doesn't have our needs, He is the answer to all these human afflictions.

Maybe this will help with our present dilemma of who God is and who we are so we can worship the King in love and truth.

Love
J&E in Tn

Today's fb post. Not the usual fare for this blog but good content as to how I live and apply faith

Welcome Monday! 
The night seemed so long but you finally arrived.
I woke up to your overcast sky's and brooding coolness, but that won't keep me from gaining all I can from you.
"Weeping may last the night but joy comes in the morning."
The Master of "my day" assures me that there will be "grace sufficient" and "mercy's new every morning" to jump start my joy. 
I have arisen once again to the love and voice of my wife, and a breakfast (Mediterranean style, fruit and toast), that is fit for a king.
Weather may clear enough to start cutting the lawn, and the Psalms will be entering into my heart through my ears while the chore is being put to rest.
During the last cutting/weed whipping adventure 32 Psalms were "ingested" via ipod, and if the "Lord is willing" by staying the weather, more will be covered as I partake of His written feast.
No other big plans to implement for today unless the weather doesn't clear except to "bless the Lord O' my soul with all that is within me, bless His Holy name."
One thing for sure is this: I am convinced that there is no way to separate life and worship (praise) once they are united by the finished work of Christ in our hearts. Worship is our life from henceforth and forever more.
We live as encouraged by our "eternal promise" and "each day is a new day, a new day in the Lord, each days a new day to offer up His praises, forgetting those things which are behind us, looking unto those things before us, each days a new day a new day in the Lord."
Faith has already claimed the Might Works of God for this day and gives focus to the path that forms before me, "He leadeth me in paths of righteousness," "He directs my feet."
Make your day a "singular" one today, draw strength and direction vertically first from "your Father in heaven" then manifest His Love "horizontally" toward others. A good place to start is with your own household and expand out from there.
Have a Super Day.
Love
J&E in Tn

Whats wrong with Scripture?

NOTHING..........

Psalm 19:7-10
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

There is no problem with Scripture back then or today. God has not changed and He is the same from beginning to end, (of this creation), and in heaven: from forever to forever, "He changeth not."
So it would go then that what was, is, and will be forever, Himself, His Word, Christ and the Holy Spirit all have eternal presence. They are all one with three distinct applications in God's plan so that we can "return to God through Christ led by the Holy Spirit."

As Psalm 19:7-10 proves, everything about God's communication with man through His written/spoken/manifested (in Christ) Words are for our (mans) blessing and hearty continuance. If "let God be true and every man a liar" is true (and it is), then where does the fault come in with the interpretation and manifestation of it? How come it fails to give real and assured hope for our day and needs?

The fault relies on the "ears that hear" to "hear aright the Word of the Lord." There was a period of 400 yrs back in the OT where there was no Word of the Lord being spoken by prophet or "man of God." No guidance from God to man at all. Nothing. 

Why? Because man had hardened his heart to His Word and until there was a starvation in the land "for that Word" then the speaking of it was useless. No one obeyed, sought after, cared about, or remembered its value. Like the seed sown on the different soils. After a farmer sows seed on poor ground enough times, he gives up hope for a harvest there, then lets nature (the applications of life) take its course of changing it's germinating condition. Seed will once again be broadcast when the ground is ready for germinating a harvest.

So we are today. People have been so long without "manifestation" of God's promises and deliverance that the common practice is to "turn a deaf ear to them." All of this comes from man's personal/or instructed interpretation of Scripture which of course becomes weaker with time and lack of faith.

So as not to beat a dead horse, here's what I propose for a personal application:
Become familiar with God and all His glory. The way Scripture describes Him! Then whenever you read those Scriptures don't base the interpretation on "what you have seen or experienced" but what the Word says and promises. Learn to pray as with great passion, like your situation depends on Divine Intervention, "EXPECTING" great things to be done in your behalf by God. Let God be God in your life. Not questioning but "believing" that what He has done in the past He will do for you today. 

Believe in who God is and since He sent His Son to redeem you by His blood, then everything else is not only true but guaranteed. "We are closer now than when we first began," is what Paul said about His coming again. Jesus said: "When I return will I find faith on the earth?" 

Faith produces fruit in keeping with repentance, good fruit, God honoring fruit, sinner convincing fruit. Scripture is the Word of God to "show us the way" and quell all our fears, meeting all our needs.  

Everyone who "calls on the name of the Lord" not only shall be saved but with seeking, "filled with the Holy Spirit" to "Glorify our Father in Heaven" according to their faith. 

I feel it's more important to read Scripture and believe them than to read and understand them in that order. Understanding will come "in God's time and in accordance with His will." Believing will open the doors of heaven to pour out a blessing that you will hardly be able to take in and empower the believer to be effective in the kingdom of God.

Love 
J&E

Just a short thought on why marriages fail

Since I have been saved the Bible has been the answer book to all my questions. I don't mean that I would think of a question then look up what the Scriptures said, but before the questions came I covered myself with mass portions of Scripture until the entirety of it became one, the Holy Spirit writing them on my heart. 
I believed then, and so now, that "he would reveal His Word and wisdom to me in due time (His time) in that day that it was needed along with the grace to understand, teach or perform what was shown. I am thoroughly convinced that "to walk with Him we need to wait on Him, His timing, His anointing." All knowledge comes from Him, as does wisdom and faith," but all according to His will "on that day." Don't perceive that you can't gain Scriptural wisdom by just reading the Bible but know that the Word is Spirit and it is "the Mind of Christ", so we need to be full of that self same Spirit in order to "unlock the mysteries of Christ."
If, when I was a babe in Christ, someone would ask me a question, and I had not been revealed an answer that would "deliver or set free" then I would simply say "I don't know, I can pray about it but for now I can't make a supposition about that until I am sure that God has shown me the answer." 
I believe this is the correct way to proceed with Scripture as one "in Christ." Don't know? Don't wing it! If your not part of the answer, don't become part of the problem. If your answer doesn't give hope through faith then it's causing confusion. 

Now to lasts night question that the Holy Spirit put in my heart.

Why do marriages fail?   

The direction this took is about false love having to do with a lack of faith. An emotional, carnal need for companionship instead of real Love "that's shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit." We know that the Love of God (for God is love) is given to us along with faith to believe and receive. Jesus Christ is "the Love of God" "no man cometh to the Father but by Me" "by grace (unconditional Love) we have believed through faith, so now we have the "outline" to know and receive real Love from the vertical and direct it horizontally to others. First we must receive it from above (freely you have received)  then we must release it to others, (freely give). I truly believe that salvation is True Love to us and inspires us to Love God for His great deliverance from hell (justly ours) into His Eternal Promises.....Life and that more abundantly here and then eternally there. Because real Love is all encompassing, (God fills His creation and we, all men, live and move and have our being in Him), included in this is body, soul, mind, emotion, passion, compassion, and controls our thoughts, words and deeds, it fills every fiber of our completeness and makes us whole. 
Companionship (outside of True Love, God) can become a deception from True Love, and have the same effect on both the non believer and ignorant believer, as it fills all the above "emptiness" of man but is only there to meet the needs that are left unsatisfied by True Love. So there is a "need, emptiness" in man that will be filled one way or another, but God only provides one answer and the Scriptures bear out that this True Love is Jesus Christ......the purest expression of "the Love of God." 
At every decade since the beginning of creation, man has tried to replace God, or the gifts of God, (this discussion, Love), with something that would take away the need to be obedient, and obey His commands. The Hebrews wanted Moses, then they wanted a King, some religions need a priest, others need a pastor, (not that Christianity doesn't have structure in God's design), but that Christ is our High Priest, King, and Shepard, He is who we look to and the other ministerial anointing's: pastor, prophet, teacher ect., under His direction, nurture the Body of Christ. It was never meant (then or now) for man to replace the personal communion/intimacy with God by placing someone else between the two. We are the body, Christ is the Head. We are all under Him, all ministries equal, different functions, all necessary to complete the body. 
So there should be no one taking the singular place of Christ but all connected to each other forming His Body supports (lifts up) the Head, Christ. 
Because of the carnal practice of needing a mediator among men we have disconnected ourselves from the True source of Love and the intimacy and completeness that this brings. 
Now both detached believers and non believers have lost hold of the True Source of Love and have fallen into "companionship" to be the answer, mans answer not God's.

So then why do marriages fail?

Any believer (who chooses) or non believer (who doesn't know any better), that feels the emptiness inside them will have a desire to fill the emptiness. If that person doesn't want to "obey God" and turn fully (for the believer) or firstly (non believer) back to God then they will "go the way of the world" and embrace the secular humanistic answers of man. They will embrace companionship with the false hope that it will fill in all the holes left by the absence of "their Creator." They will put the same expectations on companionship (which can and will fail) as they would on True Love (which never fails) with tragic results. This practice in both the church and in the secular realm has a failure rate of at least 50% first time and over 70% second time marriages. Remember that the big difference between True Love and companionship is the presence of God and Unconditional Love instead of an "effort to make function" based on a need to continue. True Love never fails because it always forgives, (70x7 daily), and is blessed by grace through faith, whereas companionship, not out of True Love, can only  become exhausted by unequal effort by one or both sides and fail. Yes companionship can an does exist in True Love but it's existence is based on Gods Love and anointing through Christ it's originator.

Marriages fail because of the root problem.........lack of faith. Not just faith in anything but faith given by God to every man to find True Love and be made complete, as was God's purpose "in the beginning". Some may perceive that there are many things we can have faith in. This is a lie. Man cannot have faith in anything but God. He give it freely for us to find Him and return to His Lordship through Jesus Christ. He is the originator of faith for the purpose of our reuniting with Him for worship, meeting of needs, and Eternal Life.
To have faith in anything or one else is to practice idolatry. Nothing or no one else can insure that what you believe in will be performed according to your need. Nothing nor anyone can replace God for your needs the first one being salvation. That non optional stepping stone of Christ to God. 
This must be understood in it's fullest and deepest context in order to receive the "grace that comes through faith" convenient for each day. Do you have faith in your new car? Then why are new cars broken down on the side of the road, and what does that do to your faith.
Christian faith is based on the promises of God to perform what He said according to His will, and His will is that "what God has joined together let no man set asunder." 
Faith in the "True Love" supplies power to prevail by grace without end........never failing.
Companionship, outside of True Love, is the road map to failure.

Let God be True and every man a liar.

There are more facets to the sin that causes marriages to fail do to the lack of True Love being part of the marriage so more on that later.

For now this will suffice as the root problem to the massive failures in marriages today. Lack of True Love caused by lack of faith to know and receive that True Love.

Love in Christ
J&E