God

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.

Hard Times for Preparation

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I try to recall the times I felt like life was beating me up, when times got so tough I’d try to not allow myself to stay beat down and now just getting off another roller-coaster. With Christ, I can lift up my hands and know that He has me grounded.

When times get tough, I try to remember that it’s just an obstacle course. There’s falling on your face and being humiliated and sometimes emotionally crushing, but the hand that pulls me out of it is the saying, “God is good all the time.”

If I had to climb a 70 foot mountain, days later, a 30 foot mountain would not be a big deal. I have to remember that God’s love is also allowing us to go through hardships, only to make us better fighters, being able to take on harder circumstances thrown at us.

The Bible says in Philippians 1:6 NKJV
[6] “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”

As sometimes we may walk away from where the Lord leads because we may feel we can’t, unable or may not identify ourselves with it, but to remember that there’s one that knows us more than we know ourselves, our creator. As a way to prepare you for the blessing He has for you, sometimes it requires hardship. Then & years later looking back and saying, “I get it.”

Beyond the Stars

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It has been a few months thinking about getting a telescope and other astrophotography equipment only to spend hours looking and taking photos of the stars, but I would have to go far out to see anything.

The last time I spent hours looking and taking pictures of the night sky was during my first visit to my parents house in Hawaii. Each house in the neighborhood is almost 100 feet apart from the next and 3000 feet above sea level. The first time I arrived to their house when the car lights went out, I looked up and saw colors that I’ve never seen before in the night sky. I have been to places with little light pollution where the stars were so easy to see, but I never been at a time and place where the belt of the Milky Way was so clear. I spent hours and days sitting outside on the deck at night while my parents slept. Some nights my Mom would catch me outside.

When I look at the stars, my thoughts are beyond just science and life outside of this planet, but God’s hand of creation. I cannot look at the stars without thinking about Him. What’s more amazing is how this big God loves us all and reached out to us through Jesus.

Genesis 1:1-5 NKJV
[1] In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. [2] The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. [3] Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. [4] And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. [5] God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

I think about how He set everything in place and how He knows us and thinks about all of us.

Psalm 139:17-18 NKJV
[17] How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! [18] If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.

I think about how big His love is when He sent His Son, Jesus to come to earth and reunited us with our Creator.

John 1:1-3 NKJV
[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.