Teenagers... Sebastian was right

I am a father of a teenager. I am a blessed man. My teenager has helped me grow more than I have in thirty nine years. I have learned patience. A sense of humor (though I'm still working on that one). And most important I have learned how God sees each one of us, with unconditional love. Thank you God.

Emotions...

There aren't any scriptures on this one friends... This is an exploration of emotions...

You scientist are trying to quantify emotions into something that they can fit into a test tube. But I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they won't find a test tube big enough to fit even the smallest emotions.

I am an emotional person (my darling would affirm that) and the last couple of years, my emotions have been up one side and down the other. From the depression of missing my family dearly, to the pain and confusion in the passing of a loved one.

I've been emotional all my life... There have been times where my emotion took me to the very edge of pure joy and times where they took me to the edge of a balcony wondering what it would be like to fall 13 stories (I bet that's a shocker for some of you).

I can see how many a wise man in history as instructed their students to get a hold of their emotions. They can rule you and with far more influence than that loved one who you cherish dearly.

There times where we need to have our emotions for the compassion that we have for that hungry person asking for a meal, to the birth of our new offspring.

Emotions are not bad, they are not good, they just are... I hope I didn't lose you, it was just an exploration of emotions.

Peace!

Daily battle...

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
Ephesians 6:12 ESV

You know that person that you hate so much???

Well your fight is not with them. Don't hate man or woman. Don't hate anyone! From the terrorist to the murderer; from the rapist to the thief. Don't hate ANYONE, from the homosexual or the heterosexual; from the person of a different color or the person of a different political party. DON'T HATE ANYONE!!! When we hate a human, FOR ANY REASON, we give Satan a feather for his cap (and trust me he isn't making macaroni).

Satan is who you need to hate. Hate all of his machinations, hate all of his minions, HATE SATAN!

"You (those of you who are not followers of the Maker King and His Prince) are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44 ESV (notes added by me)

You see, Satan is wanting nothing good for anyone. So don't hate the human, hate the father of lies. Don't hate that person who just cut you off in traffic. Don't hate that person who just beat you for a promotion. Don't hate that officer as he hands you the speeding ticket. DON'T HATE HUMANS!!!

HATE SATAN!!!

Now your hate has been focused correctly, meet the Prince of the Maker king, Jesus. For he comes to bring note hate for our fellow humans, but love for each other.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..." Matthew 5:43-44 ESV
"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31 ESV

Believing in Jesus is not a prison sentence from having a free will... It is an opportunity to take your free will to a place you've never been too before... Love. And not just a love for things, or a lover for a partner or a love for life... I mean a love so LARGE that you will serve those you love, you would even die for those you love. And that is exactly what Jesus did for all of us. He died for all of us. So believe with you heart (exercise faith in the fact that Jesus did exactly what everyone says He has done) and then confess those things with your mouth and receive the ability to love, live you've never received before.

Hate Satan, Love man, see where life takes you. Peace.

A new anthem...

(Sorry there was a technical malfunction on the blog, vid fixed.)

 

This song make me want to go out and kick some demon onos..

                                                             This is my new anthem...                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Not Gonna Die

Skillet

Verse 1
Death surrounds
My heart beat slowing down
I won’t take this world's abuse
I won’t give up I refuse

This is how it feels when you're bent and broken
This is how it feels when your dignity's stolen
When everything you love is leaving
You hold on to what you believe in

Pre-chorus
The last thing I heard
Was you whispering goodbye
And then I heard you flat-line

CHORUS
No
Not gonna die tonight
We're gonna stand and fight forever
Don't close your eyes
No
Not gonna die tonight
We're gonna fight for us together
No, we're not gonna die tonight

Verse 2
Break their hold
Cause I wont be controlled
They can't keep their chains on me
When the truth has set me free

This is how it feels when you take your life back
This is how it feels when you finally fight back
When life pushes me, I push harder
What doesn't kill me makes me stronger

BRIDGE
Don't you give up on me
You're everything I need
This is how it feels when you take your life back
This is how it feels when you fight back

Not gonna die
Not gonna die
Not gonna die tonight


Written by: John L. Cooper and Korey Cooper

Narrow minded...

I'm slowly learning to wear this title with a little pride and not pride in myself, but in Whom-I-believe that I receive the title...

You see as a believer of the Maker King, and doing my best to live in His Courts, many in the world have pointed their "righteous" fingers and labeled me "narrow-minded." However now I accept it gladly. If I'm narrow-minded, then so be it. Ok let's look at this from the point of views of those who bestow the title...

Merriam-Websters defines narrow-minded as...
lacking in tolerance or breadth of vision : petty

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/narrow-minded

And just so I'm thorough, petty is defined as...

1: having secondary rank or importance : minor, subordinate

2: having little or no importance or significance

3: marked by or reflective of narrow interests and sympathies

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/petty

OK... Well yeah, I am narrow-minded. Because I have 100% confidence in the Maker King. I have 100% confidence in the fact that He is who He says He is. I am 100% confident that He will come again, and the only way to heaven is through Him. Is it arrogant of me to say these things? NOPE! It is not arrogance that I have, it is confidence. So of course I'm narrow-minded. 

I have seen many, MANY things in the world that would try and make me think otherwise AND IT HASN'T WORKED! I'm narrow-minded!!!

Now does that mean I'm better than anyone else? NOPE (that would be arrogance). Does it mean that I'm more special than anyone else? NOPE (again that would be arrogance). Does this mean that I am hopelessly losing myself to a ridiculous myth that is propagated through history by men who wish to control the minds of countless lackeys??? NOPE (that would be just plain stupid). 

You see (and trust me, I know this is subjective, but fortunately my King only says that I have to speak [type] this, I don't have to convince you of anything)... 

Jesus of Nazareth; the same Jesus that was brought before the Roman Governor Pilot by the Jewish leaders of His day, who was then crucified (as confirmed multiple times by history), who then rose from the dead (as testified by numerous witnesses) is the Son of the Maker King, and as His Son, has been given all authority in all of the known & unknown Universe. The Prince of Creation wasn't just killed, He gave His life as a ransom (or even better, liberation money) to pay the debt of sin. Then through His rising from death, gave the 100% seal-of-certification that we as mere humans can be insured that we can have a place in the courts of the Maker King, for eternity by placing our faith in Him. 

 

I believe all of those words above with all my heart, mind and soul that I can muster. As Jesus himself said...

"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." Matthew 7:13-14 ESV

 

I am doing everything I can to stay inside of that narrow gate. I can not even imagine going back to the wide gate, because I know that it ends in nothing but death and separation from the Maker King. 

 

So please all you worldly-wise, keepers of the worldly morality, continue to call me narrow-minded; I celebrate it. I claim it as a badge of confirmation that my walk in the courts is remaining narrow and focused on the King on His throne. So is my confidence arrogance? I don't think so, but I will tell you this...  

 

"For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down)“or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Romans 10:5-13 ESV

 

PEACE! 

The killing side to knowledge...

You know I was always taught that the more knowledge you had the better off you were. In most cases I would completely agree with that (especially in one particular case, you'll see later). Everyone should remember the phrase, "and knowing is half the battle (Yo Joe!!!)." Yet can more knowledge kill you? Well if you were a spy and knew too much, that could get you killed. If you have a P.H.D. in physics and tried to get a job at a fast food joint; that could kill your employment chances. But could knowledge kill you spiritually? Well I would say yes... Allow me to elaborate.

First! Read Romans 7:7. Let's use the Message translation...
"But I can hear you say, “If the law code was as bad as all that, it’s no better than sin itself.” That’s certainly not true. The law code had a perfectly legitimate function. Without its clear guidelines for right and wrong, moral behavior would be mostly guesswork. Apart from the succinct, surgical command, “You shall not covet,” I could have dressed covetousness up to look like a virtue and ruined my life with it." MSG
2002 Eugene H. Peterson by NavPress Publishing

So knowledge, in this case the Law (as given to Moses from God), is and continues to be our doorway into the knowledge of sin. As Paul points out, we would not know that coveting was bad if God had not told us that. So that now we know, we know it's bad (and later in that chapter Paul talks about how even though he knows something is bad, he struggles with doing it). Now I know that this will come off as I'm trying to bash God or blame my (or others) sin on Him, but really I'm not. Sin is our problem, not God's.

Ok, read it from another translation... 
"What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”" ESV brought to you by Crossway

Does the knowledge of right and wrong lead me into the knowledge of what sin is?

Let's look at it this way...
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”" Genesis 2:16-17 ESV

AH HA! We're faced with an Adam/Eve situation everyday. That single commandment led Adam and Eve into the knowledge of the sin of disobedience. And what happened after that? Well just like for you and me, the father of sinners came in, "dressed up" sin, or the knowledge there of, and both Adam and Eve gave in. Like Paul they knew what was right, but did wrong anyways.

So my point is this; knowledge does have an edge to it. Some of the knowledge that we receive in this world can lead us to the very gate of hell. Examples? Darwinism... That we're all just lumps of flesh that should be killed off when it is better for someone else (abortion). Newage-ism... Turn to yourself because you have the power to do anything (yet everything you do will eventually fail and fade away and again you'll be left with nothing). I'm sure there are others, they are not coming to my mind at this time. 

But don't be discouraged by all of this talk, there is a knowledge that can bring life...

In Paul's letter to the Ephesians... "...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him..." Eph 1:17 ESV (That's the case I referred to earlier, yeah[!], God baby!)

Knowledge of God and who He is brings life, always. And like Adam and Eve; He wants us to make that choice. The choice of the knowledge of good and evil, right and wrong, life or death. And as Moses said, "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live..." Deut 30:19 ESV

Don't let knowledge kill you off....  Know Him, know love, know life. PEACE!

A new frontier...

Well I've transitioned from Facebook to my blog on a regular basis. I'll go over again why I did this...

Put it simply, I'm eliminating distractions in my life. I truly care for all of the friends and family that I had connected with on Facebook over the last few years. However, God wanted more of my life, so that was one way to give Him more.

I'll post blogs on here as I sit down to write them. Hopefully they will continue to be a blessing like my Facebook page was.

God bless all of you who read this!!! And God bless those who don't, because we all need to be blessed; no matter how it may be. :D

PEACE!