LET OUR HEARTS BE ONLY FOR HIM

There is a common misconception that God purposefully hurts and is this big, powerful, scary guy who lives in heaven.  How else could a grieving spouse look up in the sky and curse God when his or her loved one dies?  We fail to understand how much God loves us because of the limitations of our brain's understanding. 

Perhaps this influence is triggered by such stories as Abraham's challenge when God asked him to kill his precious son Isaac as a sacrifice.  You see, Sarah, Abraham's wife was barren.  When Abraham was more than a hundred years old and Sarah 99, God spoke to Abraham and told him that He will make Sarah pregnant with a son who would pave the way for Abraham to become father of many nations.

Small wonder that when Isaac was born, he became most precious to Abraham, not only because he was blessed with a son after being childless for over a century, but he was the catalyst for Abraham to become the father of many nations, just as God had said.  

However, there was one problem.  The older Isaac became, the more obsessed Abraham became of his precious son.  He upheld Isaac's place in his heart higher than God's.  God saw that this was about to consume Abraham completely which is why He asked Abraham to take Isaac up to Mt Moriah to sacrifice him to God.  

Imagine how Abraham agonized over this the night before he was to do it.  As a father who loved his son so much, after years of barreness, after he had raised Isaac and prepared him to be the leader of many nations, after God Himself had said the same to Abraham, and now this?  Faithfully, he did what God had asked him to do and made the journey up to Mt. Moriah, the same mountain upon which Jesus will have been crucified.  

But yet, at the right moment, God stopped Abraham in the nick of time as he raised his hands to kill Isaac.  It was a test of Abraham's faith, of his loyalty to God, of his idolatry of Isaac.  When God's place in Abraham's heart was replaced by his son, God gave him a good lesson in banishing idolatry and placing God back into his heart's priority.

These bible stories are incredible.  Each story uncovers layer after layer which will eventually all lead to loving God.  Layer by layer is a lesson that touches us in different ways.  Another point in this story is that when God told Abraham to stop, there appeared a lamb out of nowhere that was stuck in the thicket which became the sacrifice in place of Isaac.  God put the lamb there so that Abraham could still have a sacrifice to offer God.  The lamb symbolizes Jesus, who was to come, already written in the plan of God to be sacrificed in the old testament as well as the new testament.  Praise be to God!  How awesome and wondrous is He?

Not only would Jesus save Isaac from being slaughtered by his own father but all of us sinners as well.  The Holy Bible, in all its glory, being the most read book of all time, lives and breathes if we allow it to live and breathe in our hearts.  It's like the gift that keeps on giving, as we learn and peel off its layers, that are never ending in its purpose of leading us all back to God.

Until my next rant.... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

YOUR HOUSE OF WORSHIP

You've seen it on tv, you've read it online, you see it in your family and friends' lives, in the children's eyes, in animals, it's all around you.

There is no escaping the truth, that God is everywhere.  Yet, you choose to dismiss it.  As if you can truly run away from it.  There is nothing a true believer can do or say who can convince you, because you shut your ears and heart to it.  But there is no denying the presence of a powerful and omnipresent God in everything you see.  You can't get away from God, no matter how you try.  It's like saying everything you see around you is just a figment of your imagination.  If that is true, what is your truth? 

Evidence has debunked claims by scientists and atheists about God's inexistence.  These enemy- ridden people are adamant about their truth.  But somewhere inside of each of them are questioning and researching stretching themselves to a far reaching truth even though it makes them look silly and idiotic.  They question and research because they themselves are finding it difficult to find evidence to back up their own beliefs.

I am not immune to these types of people.  I unashamedly tweet and post about God all the time.  Once an atheist gets a hold of any of my tweets or posts, the immediately bombard me with insults, questions, etc.  It doesn't surprise me in the least because where God's loyals are, satan's loyals are too.  I do notice, however, that they never face me alone.  They employ the help of other atheists who are, what seems to be, on standby, in case a Christian happens to discuss God in their social media posts.  Funny how they feel the need to have back-up and all I need is God to provide the words for me to meet their sneers.  So in Jesus' predictable style, I kill them with kindness.  Not only does it bother them to high heavens, it frustrates them as well.  They almost always have to spew the final insulting words, as if they're purposely trying to hurt my feelings.

You see, when an atheist attacks, they have no idea who they're attacking and how God's ideals work.  They think that their nasty words will suddenly make you realize what a fool you have been to believe there is a God and drop God just like that and agree with them.  Did I mention "silly?"  They live a very hate-filled life, very self-centered and sinful.  How very sad if one really thinks about it.  

This is precisely why we need to pray for them, bless them and show them Jesus through our actions and words.  This world has a lot of hard work to do for Jesus, but the reward is sweet.

A tiny church sits alone but inside boasts grandeur of God's love for all of us.  Thank God for churches, sacred and shelter to find the most wondrous of all love, agape love that calls out to whomever wants to come and worship the greatest love giver of all.

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER! and yes, especially atheists!

I BEG YOUR PARDON? WHO'S WEIRD?

From conception, we as individuals were preordained to become replicas of our parents or guardians, if you will.  At birth, we have no control over what we wore, what we were fed, our location, our parents, our siblings, or what place we hold in the family.  Similarly, when we are slowly exposed to the rest of the world, our surroundings dictate how we are to act in public, etc.  We are told by our parents whom we were to associate with, in fairness, mostly for our own good and well-being.

God has created us equally but differently.  He holds the power to give each of us some minuscule differences to distinguish ourselves from the next person.  Even identical twins have differences.  God's purpose for our lives is to individually love Him and develop a close relationship with Him.  So why would we ever even think and do as others think and do?  

We each have accountability at the end of our lives.  When that time comes, we cannot reason with God how we acted and did certain things based on what so and so did.  We are as individual in our brains and in our hearts because God purposely created us in that way.

Look at this woman with a goose on her head.  She doesn't care what others see in her whether they think she is weird, crazy, or just plain odd.  She is my subject because she mirrors who I am.  I conform to God's examples, being myself and pleasing only Him.  After all, every one else is human just like me, so why would I even want to please a fellow human being rather than God?  Something to think about, eh?

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

If all the wealth was removed from our world and we were all the same, the same cars, the same size houses, the same amount of food, the same clothes, etc. and the attainment of wealth no longer mattered, what would our worth be?

If all that every person was to vie for is to gain as many friends and the goal was to have as many friends and family, how would we act?

Remove satan from this world and there will be no more strife, no more pain, suffering, anger, violence, etc.  How wonderful would it be if we did not have to compete with each other?

The promises of God to us in everlasting life is exactly that.  He promised that when Jesus comes back He would create a world wherein satan would have zero contribution.  He promises that because He had to sacrifice His own Son to a physical death to forgive our sins, He would make it worth Jesus' life and whomever attests that His sacrificial lamb is Lord, they will be saved from the damned eternal company of satan.  I hear eternal fire is just that, non-stop burning forever. Yikes!  No thank you.

You may ask, "Is it that easy?  Just profess Jesus is Lord and turn away from your sins?"  The answer is YES!  

You see, when you follow Jesus and love Him, you are acknowledging that God the Father does love us unconditionally.  It is not uncommon that dogs love us unconditionally no matter how bad they are treated.  Sometimes I think God created dogs to be man's best friend to show us what unconditional love feels (what is the word dog read backwards?).  But God is the most powerful source of such deep and unconditional love!  It is unfathomable how such a being could love us that way.  But it is not impossible.  You see, when you have a deep relationship with God, no matter what sin test is presented to you, you would not even hesitate to defy such a test.  There is no effort at all, because you are protected.  You have a shield called Jesus who is omnipresent and ready to pounce at any wiles thrown at you by satan, your enemy.

When we make a decision for Christ, though, our perspective changes.  When we shift our eyes away from this world to heaven, we see things with an eternal vision.  There is a paradigm shift in our priorities to reflect what is really important. We recognize the things of this world for what they can be, distractions, waste of time, empty pleasures.

We know enough about what heaven is like to get our curiosity going.  If God is the powerful source of joy and happiness, what does that say about our future eternal life then?  What kind of place did Jesus prepare for us (John 14:3)?  What would it be like not to worry about pain, suffering, hunger, sickness, sorrow or death?  Our own brains cannot even handle what we are about to trek in our eternal life.  I'm excited about it, aren't you?

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

THE KEY TO LOVE

As humans we have the deepest need for intimacy.  It is a characteristic that we were born with, some are fulfilled and others unfortunately aren't.  If there is ever an evidence of God in this world, this inborn characteristic trumps any other.

We all strive for that connection with another human being.  Financial security can only briefly satisfy such longing, a sort of band-aid, if you will.  God shared with us His own longing to be loved by us, sacrificing His most precious Son, although never demanding that love to be reciprocated except giving us unlimited chances to love Him back.  Our faltered humans, even the most devoted Christian followers, continue to function with one foot in and one foot out.  We constantly seek that deep love and intimacy from another human being who is just as erroneous as we are, even though we know that such perfect love does not exist in any of them.  But yet we continue to strive and to seek that person who we think will fulfill such undying love for us.

Not only is such mythical creature non-existent, we ourselves fail to realize that we have disappointed and failed the ones we are married to or have a relationships with.  We cannot righteously accept responsibility and hide behind a smokescreen and shift the blame on others.   But in reality, we disappoint others just as much as others disappoint us.  It just depends on who endures the most.

We regard our partners with such high expectations that the very moment we are disappointed by them, we are devastated.  But instead of bickering, we need to just cherish those deep intimate moments we shared and hold them near and dear to our hearts because such a euphoric state is how God's love feels like.  This fleeting euphoria is the diluted version of God's love for us.  The magnitude of His love for us doesn't even compare,  it is merely a taste of how much love He can give which is why it is critical for His presence to be in our lives and in our hearts.  

Jesus comes back as our bridegroom and we are His bride.  You may wonder if the person we had the greatest connection with would still be the same in heaven.  I wonder that too.  However, in my heart of hearts I feel that the greatest connection we had in this world will pale in comparison to our connection with God then, and that it simply wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of all things.  

Perhaps this is the very reason why relationship is such hard work.  We seem to have to exert so much effort to stay together but the more we seek a better relationship, the less we know of it.  Kudos to those who have mastered it by staying married for years and years.  The grass is always greener where you water it.  It is important to get stronger with our relationship with God.  In my personal life, the stronger my relationship grows with God, the greater love I feel.  Much greater than any love I've ever known.

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER