Life

Stories and thoughts about life.

Discerning the Voice in Your Head

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In the book of Genesis, God made man on the fifth day. In the second chapter, God made a woman from man’s rib. God also told the man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In chapter 3, the serpent came to tempt the woman to eat the fruit.

God says to Adam in Genesis 2:17, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Meaning dying inside.

But in Genesis 3:5, when the serpent tempts Eve, he tells her “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” She fell for the serpents lies and ate the fruit. Then Adam and Eve realized that they were naked and felt ashamed.

Adam and Eve were living in paradise with all the food in the garden that they can eat and weren’t allowed to eat from any but one tree and yet that wasn’t enough. The serpent knew one thing, to change their perspective of God or cause distrust, meant causing them to hide from God, in other words, breaking communication or connection to their Creator. The serpent twisted it in a way where it made God look like He was holding something good back from them. The serpent wants to establish doubt and distrust in God. He also placed in them, the intent of exhaulting themselves when he threw in, “you’ll be as gods.”

The fall of Satan who was called Lucifer in heaven, started with pride.

Ezekiel 28:17 says, “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground…” He was a beautiful angel who couldn’t handle praise, it filled him with pride and made him believe that he can take over the throne of God, his own Creator. How foolish! Thrown out of heaven and fell to earth, then becomes the opposer, the accuser, the tempter, the one that leads the weak astray. His whole goal is to bring as many people as possible to the fiery pit of hell.

The conclusion has already been set, God has the victory, but everyone has a choice on which path to follow or who’s voice to listen to or who to live for. Everyone has a choice to worship God or idolize people, tangible items, the serpent, other false gods or just themselves. Some think that somehow there’s a lack of knowledge for one that believes in God, but there’s a lack of wisdom for someone who thinks there is no Creator of living beings on this earth. There is a recipe for how living things function, a purpose. Nothing is thrown together, there is no random Big Bang, no random universe. Planets aren’t scattered everywhere, there’s a consistent pattern and each has its place in a galaxy.

There’s a song by Nicole C Mullen that I’m reminded of. In her song, my redeemer lives, she sings, “who taught the sun where to stand in the morning? And who told the ocean, you can only come this far? And who showed the moon where to hide ’til evening? Whose words alone can catch a falling star? Well, I know my Redeemer lives…All of creation testifies This life within me cries….yeah The very same God that spins things in orbit Runs to the weary, the worn and the weak And the same gentle hands that hold me when I’m broken They conquered death to bring me victory.”

As time passes walking on the path of life with God, the knowledge of Him grows and the familiarity of His voice grows that when the serpent comes, lies can be easily detected. Trust or faith in God shall leave no room for the serpent to deceive and will be powerless.

Who’s voice are you listening to and what is influencing your decisions in life? Who are you putting your trust on? Do you trust God or are you being led astray with lies entering your mind?

If you’re tired of walking on a path of emptiness, pain, hopelessness or depression and you’re ready to surrender your life to God. If you hate your life, stop living your life for yourself and start living for God.

You can pray this prayer out loud. Lord God, I’m tired of living my life for myself or others. I surrender my life to you. Take me as I am and show me your powerful love. Fill me with your peace, joy and love to overflowing. Change me inside so I can see that you are a good, loving and a faithful Father who will never leave me or forsake me, a Father that knows my name. Lead me to knowing you personally and bring people into my life that can walk this path of life with me. Thank you for your answered prayers. In Jesus name I pray. Amen!

From Spiritual Darkness to the Light

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For a few weeks, the lights have been nearly out in my closet. Finally, I went out to get new bulbs and after starring and contemplating on which LED lights to get, I went with the soft white, 1800 lumens. While standing in line some random guy walked up and asked me to purchase something hygiene related that he couldn’t afford to buy. He was asking around for almost a hour and everyone said no. He claimed that he was homeless and just recently got a job, but not paid yet.

Before this, I’ve had thoughts about helping someone out at the cash register short on cash so the fact that something similar happened in reality, I decided to accept the opportunity.

While waiting in line, we started chatting. It started with his necklace, which looked like silver formed as an upside down cross and a pentagram at the front center. I kind of knew what it meant, but wasn’t completely sure so I asked him about it. He told me he’s into some occultism, basically he’s a satanist. I told him I’m a Christian and that even if he’s a satanist, Jesus still loves him.

There’s always a reason for someone to get into stuff like that so I asked him what made him start getting into that? He said it was the dark times in his life. Then he told me about how his Mother died of cancer, which was what happened to my Mom as well. When my Mom died I started watching dark videos like ghosts caught on video or some poltergeists stuff. Eventually the Lord spoke to my heart about it and helped me to see what it was doing to me so I had to stop. I could’ve easily gone down a dark path as loosing my Mom was the most devastating event in my life. There were times where I felt my heart stop beating as I was extremely stressed by emotionally distraught. But I’m thankful for the Lord being my backbone and holding me back from falling and loosing my mind. If I didn’t have faith in God, I may have even gone down the same or similar path.

It was interesting how I was buying light bulbs to light up a dark closest as Jesus is the light of the world. “John 8:12 in the Bible says, “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” What perfect significance for that moment.

It sounded like after life hit this guy hard, he got off track and walked into darkness. I hope and pray that this will mark a turning point for him as he is mislead. He even was convinced that Lucifer loves him, but I told him that’s not true. Lucifer wants to ruin every human beings life, bring to ruins and end in hell. God is love and Jesus taking the cross is the expression of God’s love for us. He would give his own life for us like taking a bullet along the path to our heart.

I believe that the moment was of no coincidence, it was God’s perfect orchestrating of time, for while he is walking in darkness unable to see the way, he needs to know that even in the darkness hour, God is there reaching out to him. I hope that he will realize and remember that God is still there thinking about him, no matter what his past or present is. God’s love for whom the world may consider unworthy, is unfathomable, but that’s who God is, His love is unconditional. My prayers go out to him. May he find his way to the light.

Hope for the Hopeless

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I like to hear peoples testimonies sometimes to see the glory of God come through in someones life. Many testimonies I find are from CBN or the 700 club, but this one I was blessed with the opportunity to hear this guys testimony in person and thankfully, I stumbled upon it again online. It’s an awe inspiring story that reflects God’s power to deliver and restore the broken and use to reach others. I hope you enjoy it.

The Gray Zone

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There’s white or black, light and dark, hot or cold, pain or comfort, but what about everything in between? Which side do you choose when you’re in the gray? This happens most often with what’s right or wrong so how do we determine the boundary?

For one thing, there’s our guilty conscience that doesn’t always work, especially when we’re blinded by desire, like a child acting out of character when crying to get what she/he wants or taking candy when not allowed. Choosing to do what we know is wrong as an adult becomes more impactful and more difficult to undo. Maybe that wrong decision is something that could lead to jail or if not, something that can cause your life to spiral down. One decision can cause a domino effect for your future and bring about depression or a life of constant anger and regret.

Sometimes if you feed that temptation, submitting to it enough times can turn into a lifelong habit, almost impossible to get out of. For some, life is changed when they get arrested, jail becomes the blessing to help them stop and turn their life around, but what about others who have no one to stop them? Friends or family can only do so much to try until they’ve fully exhausted themselves after almost a life long time of codependency.

If we are truly looking for a breakthrough, look no further than the cross. As we can receive an abundance of counseling from friends or family, yet only the Lord can move mountains. When we are broken, the Lord is able to put the pieces together. First things first is coming out of denial and admitting the problem, realizing your powerlessness over it and surrendering it to God.

Start with the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr:

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

Then invite Jesus into your life to change you into a new person.

Emotionally Vulnerable In the Right Hands

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Some may believe that life is about accumulating saying, “whoever dies with the most toys wins,” yet the Bible says otherwise, it’s the bold truth that never leaves your face. You can run and hide from the truth, but it always seems to catch up and find you.

The truth of the matter is that life is more than collecting tangible items, as God’s greatest commandment is in Matthew 22:36-39 KJV, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. [38] This is the first and great commandment. [39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

For some, emotions are like a volcano waiting to explode, yet others, like the ice sitting in Antartica, frozen for millions of years slowly melting away. Being vulnerable can be scary sometimes as it can bring about two extreme opposite results. If you can’t handle the worst result, you may hold yourself back to receiving the best. But my oh my, it’s a sad thing when our emotions get attached to the wrong people or things as they are here today and gone tomorrow…or maybe just eventually. Even if someone stays in your life for so long, no one lives forever. So why attach ourselves? We are bound to love our neighbor, basically, be in communion with other beings.

However, there can be seasons where people have failed us, for some that season never ends, and so we’ve placed our faith to bring about happiness in our lives through things or other non-human beings. Although pets bring much joy, entertainment and companionship, human interaction is still a part of the livelihood of our soul.

For many without pets, money or other tangible items become the reliance for joy, like that new car, new watch or purse, but we all know, that high doesn’t last for too long. We know material items can never love us back.

Then there’s money, probably the number one on most of everyone’s list. It can be the fuel to fulfilling the emptiness inside of us with material items and if that’s not enough, mind or mood altering substances.

After toiling trying to fill that empty hole inside that seems to grow larger, we repeat the same actions, only to realize for the hundredth time that it still leaves us all the more empty.

So why keep doing it? For the many things or people we can loose, we can never loose God and He will never leave us. Which is why, above all things we can subject our own vulnerable emotions in the hands of God and who better than the one that lives forever, the incorruptible, the one who will never leave us or forsake us who’s love for us is always unconditional. He never changes.

So the next time you think you can’t live without someone or something, ask yourself, is your heart in God’s hands? That is where it will be protected. Scared of your emotions? Let God have all of it and give a small portion of it to whom the Lord chooses.

The Incomparable Presence

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I was having a conversation with an acquaintance about Jesus. She got into reading the Bible and going to church, but she felt that life was getting difficult in her path of seeking the Lord. She eventually turned from that path and got into Buddhism, chanting and meditating every morning with incense around a Buddha head. She said when she started doing that, she got everything she wanted, although she got kicked out of her place for her hostile attitude. This brings me back to the last time I was at a spa, when I was on my way out, I noticed their meditation room, the plants and incense burning. I remember the feeling I got when I stepped into that room. There was something very luring about it, a serene feeling familiar to being surrounded by nature, but it was different compared to feeling of being in God’s presence.

There can be much deception from the worship of false idols. I’ve heard many stories of other women being into meditation, mainly concerning the moment they decided to stop and start to worship Jesus. Many felt like they started playing for the opposing team & had angered the spirit of the team they turned their back on. But the God of the Bible doesn’t work that way & no one should ever worship Him to get whatever they want. The world tries shape our thoughts into thinking we need certain things, but ultimately, who knows us better that our creator? The very things that money can’t buy can fulfill our souls & bring us joy. Just think about those that seem to have everything tangible that the world wants, but still it’s not enough. The empty places in our heart, only God can fulfill.

There’s a story in the Bible of a Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well. Jesus knew she had been married several times & currently not married to the man she was living with. He told her about the living water in John 4:14 KJV “But whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

We sometimes seek after things believing it can fulfill us. The lady in the Bible was seeking for that something in men, which she never got so she moved on from one to the next. Ultimately, what she was looking for to fulfill that empty part of her soul was only found in Jesus. The living water is given by the Lord, fulfilling that part of us that seems to never be satisfied with the things or people we rely to make us happy.

Sometimes we start to worship things or people, becoming obsessed, clinging too tightly that if it, he or she is gone from our lives, we feel there’s no reason to live. Our lives had revolved around such a thing or person. This can be dangerous. But worshiping God, who will never leave us. Deuteronomy 31:6 says, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Also, Hebrews 13:5 says,”Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Although sometimes it may not seem like He’s there, He is.

Throughout the Bible we see God’s character. The gospels in the New Testament, read the witness of God in the flesh, aka, Jesus. If you are aware of God’s character, you can start to see the defining line between the one true God and false gods. It is important to know who God is, His character. Galatians 5:22 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith..” 1 John 4:7 says, “
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loves is born of God, and knows God.”

The Spirit of God brings love, joy and peace and with that comes His power that heals. 1 Corinthians 1:29 says that, “no flesh should glory in his presence.” Psalm 16:11 says, “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; “ Philippians 4:7 says, “And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus..” Luke 5:17 says, “ …and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.”

Having an understanding of His presence, there is now a reference of discernment between the Spirit of God and false gods or wicked spirits. The Bible says in 1 John 4:1, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God..” Some that are in darkness look for hope or help in the wrong places. This may be worship of false gods, playing with witchcraft, new age, tarot cars or getting involved with the occult and other demonic rituals. This opens the door for the demonic to come in, ruin your life and hopefully take you to hell with them.

The Spirit of God is all powerful. Through Him curses can be broken and demons tremble at His presence. We can’t make ourselves holy or pure by our own works, only God can purify us and He has through Jesus taking the cross. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

My prayer tonight is for those that are involved with such deceptive groups, organizations or activities will have the strength from God Almighty to turn from all of it and that God will begin to break curses off of their life, that they will once again have peace in their mind, heart and home, that they will be able to sleep fully and peacefully and will once again gain back control over their life rather than being controlled by a wicked spirit. I pray that God will bring joy, healing and restoration into their lives, purify their minds, and fulfill their soul with hope. In Christ name we pray. Amen.

Raising a Generation of Snowflakes

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The First Amendment text reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Our first amendment constitutional rights are being taken away from us. How did we get from the Freedom of Speech to censorship? Laws are being passed that prevent us from saying or asking certain words that may offend others. Why is it our job to make sure certain people don’t get offended? Some are being censored because something said was taken out of context. It seems, the government, big-tech and the mainstream media believe that they need to think for us. How did we raise a generation that doesn’t seek truth, but believes what the majority of society tells them?

Certain conservatives are being censored, canceled and demonetized by giant tech companies, having published true stories. One being NTD news, one of the only that showed live videos of many witness to voter fraud. What’s even more terrible is the fact that mainstream media channels like MSNBC are putting out false news trying to make people believe that Biden will bring a more booming economy than Trump, which is nothing but a lie. Look at the stock market, almost all industry sectors have been going down his first week in office. For a President to be so quick to sign 30 executive orders his first three days, it sounds like he’s fulfilling his promises from the green notes. The orders he’s passing, it almost sounds like he wants to hurt this country on purpose. But the mainstream media is making it sound like Biden is doing such a great job. So sad that so many people are being lied to, only to find out the truth later when his poor decisions finally manifest.

Orders are being passed that will prevent us from asking or speaking our mind, we now have to watch what we say to make sure no one is offended. People will get offended no matter how hard you try not to offend, there are just sensitive areas that bring out emotions. Someone’s sensitivity should not turn into another’s responsibility. If someone says something rude about your gender or race, defend yourself with words, not with violence, then shrug it off. It’s not our job to change someone’s opinion. If a biological man believes he’s a woman, why is it our responsibility to support denial? Having heard several stories already from several men struggling with their gender identity or homosexuality, they’ve discovered a connection of their lifestyle with having either no or a horrible relationship with their Father, but when finally loved and accepted, healing came.

Our modern society is no longer about healing, truth and finding the root of a problem. Our solution is to not face it, to deny and censor anyone or thing that would bring focus and attention to it. We come up with words to define and normalize it, following prescriptive drugs. No one wants to dig deep. People have become immune to pain. When words or memories resurface, society is not allowed to speak about it. Our society needs healing. Some of us have come from crazy upbringings and are mentally and emotionally messed up, we don’t even know what healing is.

Although protecting someone’s feelings from getting hurt sounds like a good act, in the long run, we’re adjusting to never facing the fear or the truth. The command of leadership trying to dictate our actions, keeps us frozen, allowing our minds to be controlled and believing that we don’t know what’s best for ourself.

Walking without knowing where to find truth is like walking in the dark with a blindfold trying to find the light switch. Jesus is the light of the world and sheds light on the truth. The Bible reveals the truth about life, our purpose on earth, the imperfections of humanity, the make up inside of all of us that keeps us stumbling ever in need of a savior. Having pride, most want to exalt human kind and deny the Creator. Who knows us better than ourselves than the one who created us?