Fear of the Lord

Christ is not someone 'we' can imitate. We are incapable. Our fleshy natures are simply incapable since Adam and Eve chose denial. I think I am coming from a place where I have always 'feared' God to an extent, it is the love and trust that I was missing.

I can understand a need for fear of the Lord. To me, fear is acknowledging how much greater He is than we are. How much greater his knowledge, mercy, ability...simply how much MORE He is than we could possibly comprehend. The Bible is merely a small bit of the fullness of Him, therefore, we cannot possibly expect to FULLY understand his divinity, we cannot possibly expect in our human, fleshy natures to have full understanding of His grace and mercy.

If I were to think that I have full understanding of the mind of God, that would be claiming that I am equal to God. That would be prideful of me. I know that I need others around me to keep my pride from taking control. I need them to remind me that I am merely His creation and am still of flesh, so I can return to a worshipful place of humility, rather than a boastful place of pride. When I am listening to myself and my boasting more than I am listening to the Holy Spirit, then He sends others to me that ARE listening to Him, and they check my pride. Then, I can recognize my sin and ask His forgiveness, so that I can hear Him again. By doing this, He keeps me from getting too far away from Him, I merely need to be certain that I listen and am not choosing to blind myself to the messengers He sends me.

It is similar to the analogy my son told me of thinking he could see just fine, then his eyes were checked by an optometrist and when he got glasses, he discovered that he couldn't see as much as he thought. When our 'glasses' are 'dirty' we stop letting the light shine through us, but we also stop seeing ourselves for what we are. In our pride in ourselves, we forget our fear of the Lord. I appreciate my husband, children, church family, and even the people on this forum, for helping me to remember that I can only serve and through being a servant, I can only hope that God grants me the wisdom He believes I need.

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

Proverbs 9:10
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Proverbs 14:16
A wise man fears the LORD and shuns evil, but a fool is hotheaded and reckless.

Proverbs 15:33
The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

God bless.

End of Times

I wouldn't presume to predict the end of times. Better men than I predicted them and were wrong. The Apostles thought it would happen in their lifetimes. I am certainly NOWHERE near as close to Christ as the Apostles were. In addition, Christ himself said that even the Son of Man (himself) did not know the day that the Father chose.

We were given the signs because the Apostles wanted to know. It is our responsibility to continue accomplishing the job we were given to do. We aren't supposed to focus upon the end of times (aka Judgement Day, the Apocolypse, whatever). We are supposed to keep focused upon Christ. If we are focusing upon the end, we are not focusing upon Christ. If we are worrying about the end, we aren't trusting God to know the best time, the perfect time, for Him to end it.

In addition, none of us know when OUR end will be. I could walk out the door tomorrow and be hit by a car. I could go to the hospital and discover that the headaches I have been having are a cancerous tumor. The simple fact is that it is more important that I live EVERY DAY as though it could be my last. By doing that, I can know that I am doing the job that I was put here to do. I am only here to plant seeds. I am NOT here to grow the plant. It would be impossible for me to do anyway, that is something God alone can do. I can care for the plant so that it grows strong, but I cannot make it grow. By following Christ's example and giving credit to him, I can plant seeds. In this way, I never have to worry when my end will be, because I am always prepared for it.

God bless.

The Little Church

Once upon a time, a church family went looking for a bit of land upon which to build a church building. They searched high and low for something within their budget that they would have enough money left over for a deposit on the mortgage and be able to build a beautiful church.

Eventually they found a plot of land and it was ideal! In fact, it was so ideal that it already HAD a little building that could serve as a church on it. It had beautiful stained glass windows that the members KNEW would be beautiful when the sun shone through them.

So the church bought the property and had a cleaning day. They cleared out the cobwebs, they dusted, they brought in an altar and altar clothes, they brought in pews. They scrubbed the windows, they swept and mopped the floors. They even waxed them.

And yet, something just wasn't right.

When anyone came into the church, there was an odor, not of cleanliness, but of death. The stained glass windows simply wouldn't come clean, they continued to have a dull film over them so the light simply wouldn't shine through. They realized there must have been some sort of rodent infestation in the past and the smell must have been left over from that time. When the sun was shining, the light simply could not penetrate the grime upon the windows, so the beauty of the stained glass would not shine through.

Finally, they called the realtor that sold them the property. The realtor suggested they contact the builder to find out what needed to be done to fix their problem. The builder suggested they contact his son, who owned a cleaning service that also took care of pest extermination. It was run by a single man who would come in and clean out any rat infestation and remove the bodies that were stinking up the church.

The son arrived, squeegee and soap in hand. He used special chemicals to wipe the grime away. What was so difficult for the members of the church was quite simple for the man. He had the proper tools for the job. He came into the church and went directly to where the problem odor was coming from. He plugged the holes that the rodents entered through and removed the decay that was causing the offending odors.

When he was done, the light shone through the beautiful creations of the windows and the interior of the church was so lovely it took everyone's breath away.

The builder's son explained that they could keep trying to clean the stained glass and the church building, but the infestation and grime would return over and over. They could have the builder come in, tear down the building and start over, but the members loved the little church building. They decided that they would prefer to have the builder's son return and keep cleaning the church and its windows because they knew that they could never do as beautiful a job as he did.
~~~
The little church was originally built to be a place of beauty by the builder, but it had become infested and decrepit. The son is the only one who had the capability to properly clean it so that it could be used for the purpose it was intended. Once cleaned, the purpose was clear because the light shining through made it possible for the church to function. The cleanliness didn't drive anyone away, it drew people to want to be there.

We have that same cleaning service in our lives. He takes care of the places we are unable to clean. We give him far less work to do when we lovingly maintain our church. His cleaning glorifies the builder.

God Bless

Envisioning the Invisible

How does a blind man 'see'? He uses the senses he HAS that relate to the world around him. We can 'see' God the exact same way. By relating to how He interacts with us within this world.

Second, 'He' is a universal pronoun. If you have ever studied foreign languages, 'He' is the pronoun that is fallen back on. In the way Americans use the universal 'you' when they mean 'one'. As in "One does not expect anyone to do odd things at odd times."

Since God is an invisible God without what humans consider a physical body, you have to know what to look for in order to see him. Without a physical body, He cannot be man or woman, because that requires a human body in order to have sexual organs. However, He is both man and woman in regards to behavior.

Romans 1:20

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

(referring to Christ)
Colossians 1:15

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

1 Timothy 1:17

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 11:27

By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.

God is love.

1 John 4:8

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:16

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.

And since God is love, we can know God by knowing what love is:

1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

When you see even a poor reflection of that love, you are seeing God at work.

God Bless.