Thursday 30 May 2013

I Have the Problem of Shortsightedness

This morning I was asking Jesus what are the sins you want me to confess this morning? 

After a couple overarching sins... pride, fear of man... I heard him say...

Maria you get into temporal trouble because you think you need and/or are entitled to be "happy," to have "fun" (I am shortsighted)... BUT Maria this is not the point of your life... I AM! Yes, following me will include joy and peace, but they are different than happiness and fun, joy and peace are deep and everlasting, whereas happiness and fun are only shallow and temporal. Sooooo rather than living for the moment (getting drunk because it will be fun right now) why don't you think about trying to make choices that will bring joy and peace for the long term? I will help you, just ask me, this is in part why I have sent to you my Spirit so that you do not have to live in the ways of sin and death but so that now dear girl you can live in my ways of LIFE!!

This is a truth that I think is spoken to ALL of us, Jesus has offered us a better way, the way of everlasting life...

Jesus is asking YOU "what will bring you joy and peace in the long run?"

When I asked myself this morning the overarching answer I came to was: following Jesus, being in his perfect will for my life... Now to just keep asking this day to day, decision to decision...

Are you shortsighted? Do you only live for the moment, not looking to the everlasting? Shortsightedness is not only when you live to have fun right now, it is ALSO when you focus your life on working to achieve wealth, prestige or the like, rather then listening to Jesus when he says store your treasures in heaven (longsighted). This is not living, it is death, because the ways of the "world" lead to death, whereas Jesus' ways lead down the road of life...

I want to LIVE!!! How about you? 


Saturday 25 May 2013

It Is Really All About Love

What is the point of living? I asked my Father God this morning, and this is what his Spirit whispered into me heart and mind... 


Other being loved by Me (God) not much Maria, that is kind of the point, Me and you being in a love relationship... Then as you accept my unconditional never ending love and learn to live in it you will start to love people around you, you will be my representative, my ambassador of love and reconciliation to other people and all of creation, by testifying what I have done in your life, seeking and acting in social justice, and bring order and flourishing into the creation by caring and stewarding the environment you live in. 

OK so I need to start by accepting and learning to trust in my Father God's love for me... The more I do this, the more secure I am in His love the more I will love others... So if I am not loving well then maybe it is because I am not secure in His love for me? Maybe it is because I am feeling a need to control (remember my idols) things myself and seek comfort (idol) in things other then Him?

Are you resting in your heavenly Fathers love for you? Or are you worshiping your idols (read yesterday's blog called Idols)? 

I confess I am still worshiping my idols, trying to control the situation and seeking comfort in things other than my good Father God in heaven... oh help me God, help me. 

Amen

Friday 24 May 2013

Control and Comfort


  1. Isaiah 2:8
    Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.
  2. Isaiah 2:18
    And the idols shall utterly pass away.
  3. Isaiah 2:20
    In that day mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to worship, to the moles and to the bats,
  4. Isaiah 10:10
    As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols, whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
  5. Isaiah 10:11
    shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols as I have done to Samaria and her images?”
  6. Isaiah 19:1
    An Oracle Concerning Egypt ] An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt; and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
  7. Isaiah 19:3
    and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out, and I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers;
  8. Isaiah 30:22
    Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”
  9. Isaiah 31:7
    For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.
  10. Isaiah 40:19
    An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.
  11. Isaiah 40:20
    He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.
  12. Isaiah 41:21
    The Futility of Idols ] Set forth your case, says the Lord; bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
  13. Isaiah 42:8
    I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
  14. Isaiah 42:17
    They are turned back and utterly put to shame, who trust in carved idols, who say to metal images, “You are our gods.”
  15. Isaiah 44:9
    The Folly of Idolatry ] All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.
  16. Isaiah 44:10
    Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing?
  17. Isaiah 44:15
    Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it.
  18. Isaiah 44:17
    And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”
  19. Isaiah 45:16
    All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together.
  20. Isaiah 45:20
    “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.
  21. Isaiah 46:1
    The Idols of Babylon and the One True God ] Bel bows down; Nebo stoops; their idols are on beasts and livestock; these things you carry are borne as burdens on weary beasts.
  22. Isaiah 48:5
    I declared them to you from of old, before they came to pass I announced them to you, lest you should say, ‘My idol did them, my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’
  23. Isaiah 57:1
    Israel's Futile Idolatry ] The righteous man perishes, and no one lays it to heart; devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;
  24. Isaiah 57:13
    When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you! The wind will carry them all off, a breath will take them away. But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain.
  25. Isaiah 66:3
    “He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck; he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig's blood; he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol. These have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations;
This morning I was reflecting on my idols ...

Control - I want to control the situation so I make lists of what I can do about it, before even talking to God, I get busy, rather then stopping first and turning to God, asking him what he wants me to do/ not to do and/or how to do it. 
Friends - if I'm having a bad day, rather then crying to the Lord who promises to love and comfort me, I first turn to my friends... Food - same deal, I seek comfort in friends, food, I also try to escape into movies and TV.
Fun - I am desperate to feel "alive" and rather then living in Christ, I seek "life" in the things of this world, like drinking, parties, movies, clothing, and so on.

Note: This list is by no means exhaustive, it is only the things that first came to my mind.

I could call my idols Control and Comfort... any time I try to control a situation before first giving it over to God and asking him to guide me, and anytime I seek comfort in anything or anyone before first crying out to my heavenly Father, I am worshiping Control and Comfort. 

Think of all the idols you have in your life, things/people/activities that you put your trust in... When you are in need you cry out to them, you turn to them to help you to comfort you, before you turn to God... Does it work? Maybe sometimes, maybe for a short time, but they will all eventually let you down, where as God never ever ever will, grantee! 

Make a list of your idols... tear them up, burn them, stomp on them! Confess them to the Lord and he will be faithful to forgive you, ask him to help you not to turn to your idols, but to trust in him first and above all others. 

Amen. 


Thursday 9 May 2013

Focal Point?

What's the point!?

This morning Jesus reminded me not to focus on the job or task, even if it's a good God project, but to focus on Him! 

I was getting discouraged, because I was thinking what am I doing? What is the point of my life? I study, I work, I play, but am I really making a difference? There are so many in justices, and should be doing something about them!!! Which is true, but the problem is if my focus is fighting the injustices I will always be discouraged because they are never ending, and I can never do enough or be good enough! So Jesus said "Maria do not focus on the yourself, what you are doing or not doing, focus on ME, please, because I AM you're source of life, peace, and joy. As you continue to get to know me, through praise, prayer, and study (all in community), your mind and heart will be transformed and you will bear much fruit, such as fight injustice.

OK. 

What are you focusing on?