Mercy, Grace and Eternity

Mercy traveled a great distance to reach the people of this earth.

Once Mercy arrived, people treated Him like He was a  heretic and a trouble maker.  Those in church leadership hated Mercy the most and wanted Him dead, so they conspired together to kill Him.  Mercy, having upset the Jewish Leaders of the day, was put to death by the Romans through the method of Crucifixion.  Mercy was nailed to a wooden Cross and suffered and died for our sins, so that whoever believed in Him and His death and resurrection would be saved!  (John 3:16)

After 9 hours of agony, much shorter than most crucifixion deaths, Mercy gave up His spirit to The Father, saying simply, "It is Finished,"  But before Mercy's death, He promised to return in the form of "the helper," or "The Holy Spirit" in order to help us know right from wrong and live our lives the way Mercy would want us to live.  Mercy's greatest instruction to us was to "Love one another as I  have loved you."  (John 13:34-35).  We should work hard every day at being kinder, and showing His mercy to others, through our love for one another, for if they come to know Mercy and believe in His great and free gift of eternal life, perhaps they too will be saved!  But if we don't follow the path of Mercy and show His mercy to others, no mercy will be shown to us.

Mercy sacrificed Himself for us so that we might live...and have life more abundant! (John 10:10b).  When Mercy rose from the dead three days later, just as He said He would, everyone was in awe, disbelief and utter shock.  "This can't be!" said the Roman's who reported it to the Jews.  The Roman's couldn't explain His disappearance, so they conspired with the Jews to say that Mercy's body had simply been stolen by His faithful followers.

It's sad.  They didn't understand Mercy, so even though they thought they knew everything they needed to know to survive in the world, they truly didn't know anything at all.

Three days and nights after He was crucified, Mercy rose from the dead!
It was then that we could finally understand grace!  For His Mercy, gave way to Grace!  (Ephesians 2:8-9).  Jesus was Mercy, and Grace ...once for all, His blood was spilled so that we might be saved from sin and eternal death, hell and damnation.  To be truthful, Mercy and Grace were there at the beginning of time in the personage of Jesus, God's only begotten Son!

During the Lord's Supper the other night, our Pastor read a passage about the bible regarding "The Last Supper," in which Jesus names His betrayer by handing Him a piece of bread.  The bible says that "Satan entered the body of Judas," (Luke 22:3).   Mercy knew it was Judas that would betray Him, but told him, "What you do, do quickly."  They took Mercy before Pontius Pilate, who washed his hands, saying he didn't want anything to do with killing Mercy, for there was no evidence to support a death sentence.  But still  Mercy was sent to die on a cross.  He rose three days later, and still lives today.  He sits at the right hand of our most gracious Father in Heaven, and He lives in the hearts of all those who believe in Him! I can't wait to fall at His feet and worship Him someday!

Our Pastor also made a comment that had me putting my sin in the same context as "betrayal."  I have to tell you, that one hit me right between the eyes, and boy did it hurt!  I had been so pre-occupied with "ME" that I had forgotten all about "HIM" and my life should always be all about "HIM" not "ME"!  As a sinner, I had betrayed my best friend!  Luckily, He is so full of mercy that all I had to do was say "I'm Sorry," truly meaning it, and I was forgiven! 

Rejoice!  Jesus Christ is Risen Today!  For Mercy and Grace abound through the one who gives us life, and watches over us each day.  Even if we are sinners, He still loves us and wants us to believe in His Mercy and Grace which came from Golgotha's Hill, and the blood that ran down the mountain on that day when my Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins.  A day is coming soon, when Jesus will return for His Bride so buckle up!  And if you don't know Jesus?  Try to get to know Him.  He might just surprise you!

God Bless all of you on this Resurrection Sunday and have a terrific week!

Is Life Making You Weary?

Are you burned out?  

I have been through it a million times as a lot of Christian's have, but whenever I get to the bottom of the mental elevator, I stop and remember the Christians in Africa who are giving their lives daily for the name of Jesus and that leads to thoughts of those in my own back yard who may not yet be saved or even heard the good news of Jesus Christ.

Humbling isn't it?

No matter what you are going through, the Lord is there, and He is carrying you through the rough times and will sit you back down on your feet when He knows you are back on the right track again, but He will always be by your side, walking with you.  So why so much despair?  Have you forgotten His miracles?  All of 'this' is temporal no matter what you are going through!  Plus, it is not God who sends these trials, it is Satan and our own sin that causes us trouble, we're just too proud at times to admit it.  But please, don't lose heart!  For Jesus tarries not!  He is on His way to claim His Bride, and personally?  Throw all the junk news you want at me, I know the truth!  Jesus is my fortress and my shield, and it is my goal, my my one yearning desire in life at least at this stage, is to endure to the end, no matter how painful. 

If you are in the doldrums and know it's sinful, try this.  Read the entire new testament in 31 days!  9 chapters a day.  This is an exersize our entire church did, and while some of us finished on time, (yeah, I was late...lol), most of us finished and most of us kept going!  

You need to be challenged.  So read your bible every day because it is by far the most reliable way to keep yourself humble, and useable by the Holy Spirit.  We are vessels that should be filled with the Spirit on a daily basis!  If we're not doing that?  We're burning out!

Allowing the Spirit to convict us when we are wrong and then repenting right away, helps us to remain sin free.  This can be done, for the bible says, "His mercies are new every morning."  Lamentations 13:12, which can be done, for "His mercies are new every morning," (Lamentations 3:22-23).  This means God's forgiveness is free for us at anytime we ask, not just at the moment of salvation!

None of us is perfect, and we need to stay in constant contact with the Lord, and stay within the boundaries He has set for us in order to keep a happy attitude in the Lord going!  This way, others who see us will wonder what we have that they don't!  They need Jesus, so don't let the SADS or the spring cleaning keep you from spending time with Jesus or mentioning Him to everyone you meet.  Even if they spit at you at the mere mention of His name, it's worth it.  

Just remember, balance is the key.  Too many commitments at church may take you away from your family more than it should....cut back.  If you're not doing anything?  Ask the Pastor of the church where you can serve!  It's not that hard!  I'm sure He will have plenty of options for you, or a few people to chat with so that you can start to serve the Lord with a glad heart every minute of every day of every week of every month of every year!

We all need Jesus, especially when we are weak, or are losing our strength or are caught in our sin, which we become comfortable with.  Taking time for yourself with the Lord is the key, and if you aren't doing that on a daily basis, you will see the old you in the mirror again and then wonder what the heck happened.

Stay in touch.  He wants to forgive you.  He wants to teach you.  And above all else, He loves you so much He gave His only son for you!  He simply needs more time with you and you need more time with Him.

Keep the faith.  And don't burn the candle at both ends, just keep it going!  Don't let your light go out!  Jesus needs you now more than ever because we're going home soon!  

I love you all, I pray for you all daily and I truly hope this blog is having an affect on those who read it.  We are in the home stretch folks!  We are on the verge of complete victory!  Don't quit now!

Christmas & Self Confrontation

I am a self tortured shut in with fibromyalgia which leads to other problems, the worst of which is restless leg syndrome which can cause deep aching pains all the way down one or both legs.  This can happen especially in the coldest weather.

This new level of my torment, which I have suffered since 2007, will never stop me from writing, nor shall it ever keep my heart from beating for Christ alone.   Even Job, who suffered even greater than I said, "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth."  (Job 19:25).

Lately it's been so cold, that I have been in almost constant pain.  The Dr's have done what they can do, but constant heat is the only thing that makes the pain go away.  

Even at church I am most of the time in agony from either my back or my legs, or both, but I go anyway, praying for the miracle of healing so that I can once again be able to live a normal life.  And believe me, if you've read this blog, you know my life is anything BUT normal!  

Thus here we are, nearing towards the night we celebrate the birth of Christ, God, who humbled himself to become a man (Jesus), so he could walk amongst us and understand the temptations, trials, pain, etc., that we as His creation feel.  He wasn't born into a palace but rather was born into circumstances that were humble in order that those who truly believed in the promise of a great Savior would know He had arrived.  The star that lit up the sky, frightening even the most sturdy shepherd of the day, and causing 3 Kings who followed the star to bring Him gifts of gold, frankincence and myrhh were key events that bestowed upon Him a recognition that something very special had taken place.  He was born into the humblest of circumstances, not with pomp and circumstance but in humility, born in a manger amonst common animals because there was no room for Mary and Joseph at the inn.  And just as He was born amongst animals, Jesus hung out with prostitutes, tax collectors and those referred to as "animals" by the San Hedron and the Pharisee's, the wise biblical scholars of the day who felt they were beyond help.  He knew they would see Him for who He was and a lot of them did.  Fishermen, tax collectors, etc., who became his disciples, a woman about to be stoned for adultery, a woman who bled for years who knew if she just touched the hem of His garment that she would be healed and the list goes on and on.  Oh, how I wish I could touch the hem of His garment right now!  Can you imagine what the world would be like if God hadn't come here to see first hand what it was like for us?

Self confrontation at this time of year is difficult.  People are bustling with gift buying, putting up the tree and worrying about which type of meal to serve for their holiday dinner or whether Johnny and Jane get the gifts they so coveted in their letters to Santa.

While I confront my sin, my self and where the road leads for the next year, which I fear will be fiercely worse than the past year for a lot of people, I struggle with how to make it through the holidays without feeling alone.  And I am not the only one. It's one of the reasons I reach out on this blog.

I have discovered that this year, just like every other year in recent memory, especially since 2002, that I am in pain, physically alone, although not spiritually alone, and praying for a miracle just as I do every day of the year.

However, I do not consider myself equal with the families who have lost loved ones this time of year even though I lost my own mother to cancer the Sunday before Thanksgiving 3 years ago.  I found a silver lining, even though she was abusive, and that was to be thankful to her for bringing me into the world!  To honor your mother and father should be a lifelong thing.  That's something I figured out too late.  

I don't consider myself equal to those living in poverty around the world, for even here in our own country, there are those who go to bed hungry every night of the year, and I am grateful to have what little I have, and thank the Lord every day that I have it, for tomorrow may not be as plentiful.

I do not consider myself equal to any.  Even those who have it good, are healthy, seemingly have it all and are fine upstanding citizens.  And I especially do not consider myself equal with those who are spiritually superior to me in prayer, written word or thought,  for they are wiser and much more humble than I.    

Here at this place in time when we Christians celebrate the Birth of Christ, I, once again, have much to learn and pray that God will again pull me close to whisper in my ear, teaching me what He needs me to know.  

All I can ask of Him who gave His life for me on Calvary's tree this year, is for his bountiful Grace in my life to continue, to forgive me for my transgressions, forgive my haughty, prideful spirit, and to help me become more like Jesus in the days, weeks and months ahead.

Merry Christmas & May God Bless Us Every One!
              

The Wandering Child in the Toy Store of Life

The world is an evil place, becoming more evil by the day.  Because of this, there is one thing any parent will tell you and that is that they are always going the extra mile and expense, if they can afford to, to make sure their families, especially their children, are safe.

Just for a moment, try to imagine the anguish a parent can go through if they are for some reason separated from their child.  Even if only for a moment, it is the worst feeling a parent can ever experience.  What about the times when the child is never found? Or found, but their lives taken. Even though the parents may blame God for the evil that has befallen their family and taken the cherished child they have lost, sometimes in the most unspeakable of ways, God does understand. 

In our grief and anger, we will always have a need to place blame.  God seems to be the easiest target as a parent may sob uncontrollably, screaming  inaudibly to the rafters as they pound something with their fists, asking "God, how could you allow this to happen to my baby?"

God is more than aware that the anger, while misplaced, needs to be let out, so He endures our attacks on Him because His love is everlasting, never failing and because, as a parent, who gave His only son for our Salvation, He, better than anyone, knows what we are going through. 

While God would rather good things happen to our families and our loved ones, sometimes evil just gets the upper hand.  It can take our innocence from us, which in some cases is never seen again.  It can snatch away all the joy of life, muting it to a dull feeling, rather than the overwhelming happy feeling that it should be.

While it may be easier to blame God, there is something we all tend to forget in our moments of grief and despair and that is that God "... causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous," (Matthew 5:45b).  I know it doesn't seem to be fair, but after years of searching the scriptures, I have never once found a verse where God promises that life will be fair.  Only a life that promises, to those who believe on His name, will be eternal and filled with His love, His mercy, His kindness and that He will above all, always, through the Holy Spirit, be our comfort and our hope that all is not lost and that tomorrow will bring brighter days.  He also promises that He will avenge the wrongs done to us. "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." (Romans 12:19).

The evil that lives and roams on this earth, may come in the form of the people who walk amongst us, but those evils that are done to us are without a doubt in every instance directly from hell itself. "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, roams about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."  (1 Peter 5:8).

Imagine the horror of a parent being separated from their child for just a moment, and then the joy they feel when they almost immediately find them.  Has it ever happened to you?  Maybe they wandered down the wrong aisle in the toy store and your heart and stomach were doing somersaults until you found them?  If this has ever happened to you, then you know exactly what I'm talking about.  The fear.  The not knowing....the anguish...it's all there.  Until they are found.  I believe God feels those same exact feelings about us when we "wander off" too.  Anguish, heartache and tears...all for us because we have gone astray, away from His word, or are just downright ignoring it, not believing what we have heard when the Gospel is given to us.

We wander away from God our Father just like a child in a toy store.  All it takes is something irresistable catching our eye and our attention and our hearts are turned towards that something that might not be good for us.  And all the while as He tries to remind us He is there, giving us warnings in our heads from His word, we continue to wander away from Him anyway.  We don't listen, sometimes making very unwise decisions for our lives, hurting ourselves in numerous ways, which would grieve any parent, especially the parent who made us.  Our creator, God our Father. 

Sometimes we wander thinking we've been forgotten by God because of the choices we've made or by the evil things people have done to us, but in truth, He never leaves our side. He carries us!  " For the LORD your God goes with you!  He will never leave you nor forsake you."  (Deuteronomy 31: 6b).  It's the devil who perpetrates the lie that God has forgotten us, and doesn't want us anymore.

All the Lord wants is for us to come around the corner in the toy store so we can be found!  Just as a parent would rejoice, God will rejoice that the son/daughter who has wandered away, or who has never met Him at all, the child He thought was dead and lost forever, can be celebrated alive once again, and called His own!  "For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry."  (Luke 15:24).

God did give us free will, as shown by a child who wanders in a toy store.  We are free to do whatever we want, but that freedom can actually lead us into a bondage that may take years to overcome.  

Once we realize that God is still there, we can turn the aisle in that toy store of life and make the choice to come home, back to the safety of our Heavenly Father's arms, His word, better than any security system, making us safe against the snares of the devil. 

This is a choice that sets us free from the bondage we have gotten ourselves into.  Even if we don't understand it right away or the devil picks on us saying it isn't real, if we work diligently by studying God's word, especially about who we are, and how He feels about us, we will eventually understand that God has forgiven us, making us totally free! "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (John 8:36). 

When we make the choice to turn towards God, we can experience a freedom that we have never known.  "What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?" (Romans 8:31).

Just like a child can wander away from us in a toy store, we can wander away from God.  Sometimes we wander by committing a sin, whether we know it is a sin or not and by the time the devil has us right where he wants us, we try to turn around and look for God to help us but we cannot see Him!  The devil blinds us from seeing him and all we see is a huge crowd of people standing between Him and us, and when we can't see Him anymore, it becomes easier to continue living a life of sin, despair and loneliness.  We wind up feeling abandoned and alone, but that is the lie the devil wants for us to believe!  The reason we are unable to see Him is the sin that separates us from Him!  Then as things get worse, we blame Him for leaving us at the most vulnerable times of our lives, thus making us even more miserable than we were before.   

All it takes is a prayer.  Ask God to forgive you, and the crowd between you and Him will suddenly disappear and He will be all that you can see.  His love, His mercy, His unfailing Loving Kindness are there, waiting for you!  Come home dear child.  Turn into that next aisle in the toy store of life and run into his arms.  They are waiting to hold you again!  He is waiting to rejoice and celebrate your home coming! He wants you back, just like any parent would stand in that aisle and pray their child is just a few feet away, just out of sight.

So think of it.  The joy a parent feels when they realize their child is just in another aisle of the toy store looking at Lego's and the joy they feel inside at finding them, and then contrast it with how God must feel when we repent, ask His forgiveness and once again are in agreement with Him, and back in his loving arms!  Just imagine if a parent can rejoice over finding their child, how much more will God rejoice when you decide to come home again.  He loves you and He's waiting.

Make this your best Christmas ever.  Believe on the name of the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.  Re-dedicate your life to Christ, and you will feel joy like you haven't in a long time.

God loves you and so do I.  If you need counseling, please call.  I am here for you.  1-888-359-5439 or Tweet me on Twitter @BeABarnabus or Send Me An Email!  I will pray with you and for you and I know that the Lord will do great things in your life!

God Bless you all and keep an extra eye open in the back of your head while you do your Christmas shopping to protect those you love!  
  

Brand New Ground

Have you ever noticed that when the things we desire most don't happen, we tend to get teary eyed, down in the dumps and just down right depressed?  We snap at the people we love, we act like the world is coming to an end....but really?  It's not.  We just feel that way.  Feelings are the devil's favorite way to make us feel like we are less than we are, and that we are doomed to constant failure whenever we suffer a defeat of some sort.

We are all God's children and no matter what we think of ourselves, we were created in HIS image, not the image everyone around us thinks we should be and especially not the one we think we should be ourselves!  "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Genesis 1:27).  Knowing this, I don't understand how I ever could've looked in the mirror and then constantly felt inferior or not up to the task, or just not as good as anyone else unless I achieved something really spectacular or important.  Feeling ugly is a symptom of the world and it's constant demands to look a certain way or you don't fit in.

It's like sometimes we feel like we are less than God created us to be!  Believe me, He knows what He's doing and you are a unique example of His love for us all!

I think we all know what I'm talking about when I say that the things we want to happen the most don't always go the way we expect.  Like the promotion at work, or the job we were so sure we were going to get or those extra pounds that we just thought for sure would fall off with the new diet we are on.  And what about that college scholarship we were sure we'd get but didn't?  The engagement gone wrong?  The marriage that failed?  Sometimes it's the things we thought would never happen that brings us to the brink, causing us to fall upon our knees to ask, "What now God?"

The parents who raised us are suddenly divorced.  The precious gift from God, the child suddenly stricken with a terrible disease that turns your lives inside out, upside down, and hurts your other children who just don't understand, making them feel left out and depressed, marking them for life as we sit and wonder, "Why us God?  What did we do?" 

Maybe it's the friend we've known for years who just changes so rapidly before our very eyes that we don't even recognize them anymore.  And then the friendship ends one way or another because of a breakdown in commitment to one another as friends or even worse, a lack of the communication that we care, and that God cares about them, and how we don't like what we see, but that there is hope in Jesus.  So afraid we will lose them as a friend we then lose them anyway because of our own cowardice to confront them about the way they are living and how they are destroying their life.

And then there's my tragedy. The one person I never thought would leave me did.  Several adulturus affairs that tore our entire family apart.  My mind constantly searching for a way out, but he won't file for divorce, and I am lost without work, no money and a mentality that refuses welfare or government assistance, so I wait patiently on God.  I have no other choice but to be faithful to Christ, for my reward will be there for standing on His promises and not upon the worlds.

Then there is the worst possible tragedy a family or friend can face. The death of your spouse/child/best friend.  Believe me, that one will take you down as far as you can go before God picks up the pieces and gives you the grace, strength and courage to face just one more day and to eventually move on with your life.  

This type of tragic event leaves you feeling beaten, bruised and totally helpless because there is nothing you can do to bring them back.  They are just no longer there, leaving a gaping hole in your life where they used to be. Whether it be a spouse a child or a best friend, it doesn't matter. It leaves you feeling helpless on so many different levels, your whole life is just a wasteland until you have the fortitude to, with the help of God, put it back together again.

What I don't understand is how someone could rush in and tell a person in this position to "just get over it and move on."  That's just cruel and heartless.  This is the type of loss that stays with you forever. It is something you simply never get over.  Some people are lucky enough to have friends who never leave them, who take care of them after such a horrible trauma.

And yes, there are others like me who while going through much less, go through it in our stoic voiceless screams alone with only Jesus at our side. I know I am just one of many such people, who feel there is no way out but God and the mercy He provides to us daily to stand up under it.  There are so many of us who have lost a spouse through death or betrayal that it boggles the mind when I look at the statistics.

Sometimes the pain will last for years, sometimes till the day we die, but yet we still, somehow are forced to move on.  Some are blessed with another child, but it doesn't make the pain any less nor does it replace the child they've lost.  Sometimes a spouse abandoned by suicide, adultery or just a husband or wife who's spouse just packed up and ran away will find someone new in God's timing and fall in love again, but it's all in His hands, not ours.

So my conclusion in this little exercise is that I got heated and upset over something that really has no relative meaning compared to what others around me are going through.

There are those of us who take a little time getting there, but when we do, we ask and receive God's forgiveness and then are ready to help someone else in need or are just simply humbled by the pain and the strength of others who are going through the unthinkable. 

Sometimes, I just cry it out with God and then pick myself up, dust myself off and trudge through another day, hopeful that I will find solace and an escape from my sad and very lonely situation.  I am so grateful for Jesus because otherwise, I sincerely don't know what I would do!

The level of pain we feel from the hurt is usually the way we are able to tell how long the hurt will last and in some cases, like the loss of a loved one, it never fully goes away.  It can be the type of pain that lasts until we go to be with the Lord and the loved one lost to us on this earth.  The pain we feel here, exists between us and God and can only be dealt with by a respect for who He is, what He did for us on the cross and  a reverential fear that He has perfect control over our lives.  His will is unquestionable to one who has such faith, and there is no answer except to trust Him fully for the fate that has befallen us.

It takes a lot of tears and a lot of time, and for someone who has never been there to say "get over it already," is just cruel and it makes me pray for them because to me?  It leaves me questioning their true standing with the Lord.

I was ready to move on from my disappointment this evening rather quickly as soon as I thought of my dear friend who had this insult hurled at him.  He is going through something much worse than myself or a lot of other people for that matter.  Our days are numbered on this earth, and only God knows how many days, weeks or years we have left.  It just isn't fair to tell someone else how to grieve even if you've walked through that valley yourself, because we each react to loss differently.

Watching my friend talk about this person telling them to "get over it," made me wonder how I would behave.  I would probably scream, throw things.. but how long would it take me to once again get back to the frame of mind where I would Praise God for what He had given me and what He had taken away?  While my humanity would want to break everything in sight and make someone pay, my Godly side would want something different. For "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." (Job 1:21)

It would take me awhile to get there, but in my grief I know I would remember God and all the good things He has given me.  And even though a precious one is gone, I would still give Him praise and be forgiving of the one who hurt me.

 So the next time you suffer a set back like I did, try to remember that there is always someone else out there who has it worse than you!  Then?  Go dance in the rain.  When the rain comes down, it brings a new ground upon which to start re-building your life, even if it's just a bad day!  And with God's help?  Well, who can stop us?