WHAT EXACTLY IS THE CHURCH'S ROLE?

Everything worldly is a double-edged sword.  One cannot simply depend and focus their energy on any one thing on earth.  Some people, especially new Christians, are solely in need of guidance through the learning of the spiritual life of a Christian that they solicit the help of those who have been conditioned in the faith.  

But one cannot rely on or use as a crutch any church establishment in the strengthening of their faith.  Just as we learn the steps for Zumba, and afford the help of a personal trainer, eventually we get into the groove and are able to do it by ourselves to reap the benefits of getting fit.

The process is the same with spiritual strength.  New Christians are led to God, and eventually, through the help of the Holy Spirit, their relationship with God grows stronger and stronger every day.  Eventually, they become wise believers and like a bird departing from its nest, has the wherewithal to fly on its own and succeed.

I do not minimize the role of the religious organizations as a necessary stepping stone and in providing valuable services, but their role stops there.  It is when we begin to ripen to rot in the church but are not able to fly on our own that we encounter stagnancy.  No longer are we growing spiritually but fall back into the worldly existence, again surrounded by fallible people.  We need to recognize if we are to volunteer and be active in the church organizations that our service is for the furtherance of God's kingdom, not for people or to appease them.  

Those types of people or cliques become the cancer that sends the church crashing down turning new christians sour about the church.   The church members' role is to bring people together and not cause separation from each other and eventually from God.

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

I love hot air balloons and they make my day when I see them flying above Napa every morning!  But I have never seen them this close.  Praise God for such blessings!

SPIRITUAL DROPOUT

Christians know, or should at least be aware, that prayers lined up with God's will are answered.  The tricky part is the "when." God, in His infinite perfection, only knows the right timing of answered prayers.  Full surrender to Him breeds patience in us.  Patience is difficult for our human understanding, especially when what we are praying for is perceived, by our own minds, to be urgent.

When tragedy strikes, in our sadness and sorrow, there are a few choices to make.  In our despair, we may give up, use temporary aids to forget, or turn to God. 

In our lifetime, sorrow is part and parcel of our makeup as humans.  It is inevitable in this wretched world, but our reaction of survival to troubles or sadness, is what makes us stronger. Situations may look hopeless but submerging ourselves in the presence of God and praying for his protection and guidance may only be manifested through spiritual strength.  A wise person will turn away from bitterness to God because he/she knows who is larger than, or more powerful than, any problem that exists.

We never should give up.  God will take care of the "when" in His time and He is the only help available in our time of need.  God is the end all, be all.  We have to stand by His blessed assurance.  God will always come through for us.

As Paul said, "Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil.  Then after the battle you will still be standing firm."  Ephesians 6:13

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

READY TO POUNCE

*Original Artwork is for sale.  This is a mixed media acrylic, paper, magazine, gold leafing, paper, on 11x7x 1 inch thick fiberboard $25 + shipping from Napa, CA to the continental U.S.  International shipping to be determined.  Send payment to PayPal to jcsgirl5252@yahoo.com or click here to go to my website to check out other items for sale

**The images were taken from the National Geographic magazine December 2016 issue from the article "Putin's Generation"


The Bible, God's Word, teaches us to always be aware of roadblocks encountered that hinder us from our goal of being Christ-like.  It tells us that we need not fear the seen more than that which are unseen.  Humans just like us may be scary at times for whatever reason that play on our own fears.  What is scary to you may not be scary to others.  What God tells us is that we need to always be on guard with the principalities that are unseen.  

The devil is very real.  It can take many forms, for example; guilt from our past mistakes, people who have hurt us and make it a career to keep doing so,  human urges and sins of the flesh which we have very little control over like food, sex, gambling, drugs, etc.  Anything that can trip us over and taking away our focus off God.  Because God does not interfere in our own free will, it is up to us to be strong through our own volition or, if that is too difficult a task, ask Him for assistance.  God always wants us to call on Him to fight our battles for us.  He wants to take on our burden and when He does, He wants us to trust us enough to not rip it back away from Him.  It is on us to understand that we are not in control of anything, but God is in control of everything.

The prize we win is not only did God take care of it for us, He also blesses us for giving Him the trust He so wants us to give Him.  How awesome is our God, right?  All we have to do is to be able to tap into the truth, and the truth will indeed set us free.  

But we need practice.  A lot of practice.  The reason is because we are merely humans.  Before we realize that God can fix it all, we have been doing things our way and it is not easy to give up that habit.  However, we need to seriously keep our minds open at all times, and catch ourselves when we slowly start to take that control back from God, and because of our free will, He has no choice but to let us.  Practice makes perfect.  Start practicing today.  It is better for us to be on the winning side than struggling to fight a losing battle  on our own.

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

P.S. start with this:

THE HARE

One of the funniest speeches (which I couldn't get through after the first few sentences) was of Madonna where she was being honored at an academy award show.  She said that when she was a struggling music artist in New York, her apartment was broken into so much that she quit locking her door.  It struck me as odd that instead of heightening security, she would choose to welcome the thieves in.  But what was funny was that she was struggling but yet she had something in her apartment that was valuable enough to get broken into so much.

The whole scenario reminds me of one of the funny stories of Aesop's fables where the hares were in constant danger from predators that they decided to drown themselves.  However, upon reaching the edge of the lake, they found that the frogs were afraid of them.  They decided instead to hang out at the lake and frighten the frog because they now feel empowered.  How silly!

But in all seriousness, we often respond to dangers of our environment in the same manner.  When troubles strike, most people turn to self-destructive behaviors not only to themselves, but also sometimes to others.

When the Israelites got tired of waiting on God their responses to that situation was one of self-destruction. They began to feel sorry for themselves and turned to lust and destruction.

Imagine the horror that met Moses when he came down from his meeting with God!  But Moses was smart and had a heart after God's that instead of anger and disgust, he prayed.  He prayed for God to spare His people and he did not give into defeat.  The same should be applied in our lives.  When circumstances beyond our control plague us, the first thing we should do is pray.

It is so easy to be self-reliant.  That seems to be the first human reaction we do.  But when we are spiritually mature, we look beyond ourselves and focus our vision straight up to the heavens.  We need not look around for answers, the answer will always be above us.

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

THE ACT OF COMPASSION

You've seen it before, you were shocked at the very sight of it, so shocked that you say to yourself, "What is wrong with this world?"  The scene is a video you might have come across on Facebook.  People sometimes post them for shock value.  There is nothing wrong with that if you have the stomach for it.  I sometimes watch them just to understand that humanity is slowly but surely dissipating from this world.  God and the Bible are pushed out of man's very core.  What used to be a daily practice, for example, family prayer, is no longer alive in an average human being's home.  We have been desensitized.  Compassion is no longer the response to aggressive situations that arise.  Instead, we pull out our camera phones and film it.  The upcoming "ME" generation of selfies, selfie filters, narcissism is rampant in our youth and has gotten out of control.

God reminds us all throughout the Bible that when this happens, satan will run amok in our world spreading hurt, pain, bitterness and coldness of heart.  Love is no longer upheld.  Instead, love of self is in place.  People reach beyond feeling.  They feel nothing, no more caring, slowly but surely.

We have entered a path that sustains no compassion and love and fear of God.  Men of God continue to plow through and teach us to hold onto our compassion.  Self-examination must be part of our daily lives to sum up our day and ask ourselves if we practiced the act of compassion today. The tap of compassion should stay on, lest we reach our death clothed in bitterness.  It's not an easy task but we should consciously conduct ourselves accordingly and make it our main goal.  Nothing else matters in this world except actions that please God, and what pleases God reaps rewards.  Eternity is a time, space and place where these acts would no longer be difficult.  We practice today, in the now, in this world.  Before it's too late.

Until my next rant... LOVE ONE ANOTHER!

The Napa Valley has Hot Air Balloons

On my way to work this Spring, I usually rush out and jump in my car.  While going through the motion, something catches my attention up in the sky... THE HOT AIR BALLOONS!  I don't know why but it does make my day.  Since there are no roses to stop and smell, these balloons are an awesome substitute.  They are usually the subject of my photo fetish.  So I share them with you.


A little photo editing.  This was taken from my work.  All my kids were mesmerized by how close they were.


How can you not possibly fall in love?