Our Armageddon

What the hell is heaven? Is there hope for the hopeless? Brett Dennen

All around me are familiar places worn out faces...Michael Andrews

These are lyrics from popular songs and the latter even used in an Integris commercial. I like these songs! They speak volumes about what goes on inside our minds. Maybe not 24-7 but the battles of this world are real and we can not help but face them. Turn on the news and you will hear stories of your worst nightmares coming true. Or what you need to look out for and worry about. The news does sell worry and they are very good at it. Now I do know we need to be aware and the news is not the only avenue in which we get informed. But to what extent is it damaging us? Our well-being? Studies show that stress and our nerves wreak havoc on our health. I do not watch the news all the time. I keep up but I do not let it consume me. There is much good to be done and we all are much happier and more productive when we focus on loving others.

A couple of years ago the news reported 'teens killed in a fiery crash' and the story was too close for comfort for me and one of my closest friends. My son was ahead of that crash by only a minute or two and he did not see it. My friend's son was one of the first cars on the scene! What he experienced he will never forget. I had been on the phone with my friend checking on the boys probably at the time of the crash. It was getting late and I knew the boys were heading back to college after a holiday weekend at the lake. Something didn't feel right and I found out that my friend was concerned too. We felt an urgent need for prayer and protection. Little did we know how urgent! We didn't feel peace or calm at that time but Jesus was right there with us both and He was our hope. Hope for the frightened,worried, angry, lost, depressed,... The fear we were feeling that night became a reality for other parents. It affected all of us and everyone else who heard about it to some degree. The point is - no one escapes the battle inside the mind. It is very real, very bloody, nerve-racking, and very catastrophic! Ok now you might be thinking: get to the cure! This is depressing, someone get me a Zoloft! Well, sticking our head in the sand is definitely not the cure either. This is not a fun subject to broach but a most critical one we need to understand. We each face Armageddon everyday and most of it in our thoughts. Maybe we think, thank goodness for antidepressants, they should be in our drinking water like fluoride but it's a coping mechanism not a cure and oh by the way we will worry about the side effects later.

What shows do we watch? Murder mysteries , horror flicks, Americas Most Wanted, Criminal Minds, Law and Order x 3, CSI x 3, Cops, and I could go on and on, NCIS (see what I mean?). The gorier the better at the box office. Gone are the days of the Waltons, Little House On the Prairie, Mayberry R.F.D. In the book, Where's Your Jesus Now? by Karen Spears Zacharias; she writes "We are a nation in repose feasting on fear. We are constantly feeding our insatiable panic addiction. We like having the ever loving day lights scared out of us. Neurosis has become as American as billowing flags and apple pies!" This is not to say even if you blew up the t.v. you could put your head in the sand and go back in time. Times were not perfect then either, looks and sounds better maybe, but many of our so called conveniences today stem from our parents' and ancestors' desire to make things better. Believe it or not it is not all doom and gloom and we too have this desire to make things better. However a word of caution here, sometimes what seems to our society as a step forward has many rippling ramifications. We must face our future with constant prayer, we must practice the presence of God diligently as if our life depended on it! Oh my mistake - it does! If you think it sounds easy just get in your car and start your day. We need so desperately to hear our Shepherd's voice. He is the calm in our storm. Alistair Begg once said in a sermon (and this is not an exact quote) "We should not worry about death or the death of a loved one if we do in fact take God at His word. Has He not ordained the number of our days yet even before we were born? We as humans are not going to do anything to change that! Do you think one day God is sitting up there just reading His morning paper and much to His chagrin says "oh looky here Alistair Begg died! I didn't know He was here, quick go and get him so I can greet him"'. Gotta love Alistair for putting it into perspective in such a wonderful way. If you have not had the pleasure of listening to him think of what I just told you in a Scottish accent! I highly recommend him. You can find him at truthforlife.com.

Anxiety is rampant in the U.S and abroad. My husband sees 4 and 5 year olds with anxiety! As parents we need to address this issue. We need to stop and see what our fears are teaching them, what we watch, let our children watch, what we talk about, what unrealistic things we expect out of our children, what pedestals we put them on... and on and on. Just think what the tapes in the minds of our children will replay when they are adults! We need to be aware and we need Jesus! "trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto your own understanding." " ... and He shall direct my path." We must teach our children well - it is the most important job we have. If we live in fear and anxiety they will indeed learn what we live. "And He walks with me and He talks with me along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart! You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart." "Because He lives I can face tomorrow, because He lives all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future and life is worth the living just because He lives." Two of my mother's favorite hymns and oh how I love to hear her sing them. What a most precious gift! Practice the presence of God my friend and no matter how hot the furnace we will not burn nor smell like smoke. Choose to have a blessed day in the Lord!

Heavenly Father

Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Your Son Jesus' name I pray. Amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

"Let not your hearts be troubled"

Much of our trouble is brought on ourselves. We simply refuse to rejoice in hardships and difficulties. "I am His" is true for believers but we must choose to consistently walk and talk with God. In the onslaught of persecution prayer is our only defense and should be immediate. Our wounds produce an automatic reflex, a punch in the gut, a stab to the heart. Those feelings are for our own good!; otherwise we could not discern right from wrong. Much of life is learning what not to do and it takes personal experience so it will sink in - and for most of us it takes a lot of it. "Let not your hearts be troubled"? When these knee jerk reactions catch us by surprise how are we to do that! Ever hear the saying 'practice makes perfect'? Not what we want to hear, now is it? "He walks with me and talks with me, along life's narrow way. He lives, He lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know He lives, He lives within my heart." Isn't that what our heart desires? We need lots of practice and God already knew that and we are given many opportunities to learn.

The other part is the realization and what to do. Many times my children would come to me hurt over what someone had said or done to them. As they grew I was able to share with them the gift in the hurtful things. When people made them feel negative emotions over and over I said 'remember how this feels and do try to never treat someone else that way'. Well, good advice, but God my friend works in mysterious ways! I wanted them to grow up not independent but to grow God dependent. The kicker was and is, God's working out that very same thing in me too. I once heard someone say , ask yourself these questions before you speak or offer advice, 'was it necessary?, was it kind?, was it helpful?' Good advice, but this too takes practice. Practice is easy if we really desire something, love it, and are to the point of obsession about it. If we love the Lord our God we are, but it takes time, patience and growth to realize our deepest desire and guess what? God is not in a hurry. As parents we are so focused on our child's development we sometimes neglect our own. In this case in my desire for my children to grow I didn't even notice how unforgiving I was to whomever had hurt them. I didn't notice but as my children grew, they did! Ouch, Ouch, Ouch! "Out of the mouths of babes come words of wisdom." Instead of comprehending the truth I justified my unwillingness to forgive. Children do indeed learn what they live and we all at times want them to 'do as I say and not as I do'. We must be willing to look deep into our hearts to see what we are instilling into others because others are watching. Our tongues are a mighty sword and they demand much more respect and care than we ever give them. "Take all thoughts captive" is in the bible for our safety and good yet we pop off every chance we get for the most part; causing hurt and pain we never intended. Harboring unforgiveness leads to bitterness, hatred, and revenge and our tongues are the first source of that revenge to surface. "Let not your heart be troubled.", "My peace I leave with you.", "Be anxious for nothing..." "Love your neighbor as you love yourself." ... If we walk and talk with God and take to heart the renewing of our minds through God's word then it will indeed be a lamp unto our feet. When we realize how short we fall it is also critical for us to comprehend our own forgiveness through the sacrifice of our Lord's blood. Then we will truly begin to grasp - are we not to forgive whom God has already forgiven? Love will encompass forgiveness every time! We must choose to forgive and rest in God's love , for "God is love." It is not about the hurt we feel at the onset of the sucker punch but it is all about the unconditional love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Are we willing to let Him live through us? When we do over and over He takes away our pain and restores our joy! Glory to God in the highest may His name be praised for ever more.

Heavenly Father

Hold tight to us in this battle of life, let us be the vessels that shine Your light so many will join in eternal praise of You! In Jesus' name I pray. amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

Why we need to understand parables

We all know that Jesus taught in parables (stories that apply to everyday life) but the Old Testament is spoken in parables too, if we look at it that way. Can we not relate to the Israelites and their troubles and compare them to our present daily trials? The thing about parables is that they speak to the spirit, they transcend any worldly common sense and get to the heart of the matter. Any story or movie worth its weight has a parable worth taking to heart. It's about good and evil on some plain of existence, and we identify with the characters. Our spiritual life is the only life we truly live, for we are dead in our transgressions! why? Because God first loved us and sent His only begotten Son to die for us. God did this even before we were ever aware we were sinners. Jesus has already won the victory, it is finished. Yes this really happened and there are those who try desperately to prove it is just a story that as followers of Christ we just want to believe. Oh really? As for believers, our faith is not for sale. It can be tried and it can be shaken but if we truly love the Lord our God it is not for sale my friend. We did not wake up one morning and say 'hey I think I want to see if I like this faith in God believing stuff', then temptation and trials come so we say 'forget that I'm done with faith' and we never think of it again. Oh no my friend, God chose us- not the other way around. We all know we stumble just like a baby taking his first steps, but to go back to crawling and never try to walk again would never do, now would it ? Our hearts long for God and when we realized there was a thirst deep inside that no one could fill but God and that He gave His Son who became our sin so we could reach our Father in whose image we were made ; we were given a new heart! a new hope! Our past life was full of darkness but our new life is full of light and understanding! We desire God because God created us to desire Him. The bible becomes food to our soul and water to our spirits. We indeed need to thirst no more. We often become parched , dried out in this life because we indulge our flesh in the spirit of busyness. We must drink the living water and let it sink in and nourish our spirits. The more we do this, the more light we start seeing. The word is full of parables - wonderful, wonderful parables. They are not put out of our reach of understanding, for it is the Holy Spirit who gives us our understanding. God reveals what each of us needs and not more than we can bear. But there is a catch! We must seek. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, then all the rest shall be added unto you." There's one to write on your wall so you can read it every day.

It's ironic to see all the literature out there on faith and Christianity but look at all the time we put into reading so many other things. It is sobering to see how little time we spend in the Word. Our level of understanding has everything to do with our desire and thirst for God. The Bible is full of glorious parables just waiting to be revealed to us but if we don't ignore the spirit of busyness and seek, then our light will not increase. We can stumble our whole lives like a child learning to walk or we can learn to run. Either way we will still cross the finish line but will it be with our hands held high and our hearts beating wildly in victory of running the good race? Oh the joy of crossing that line into our Father's arms! We can only imagine for now how glorious a day that will be. So for now His peace He leaves with us and we are so blessed to have it right in front of us through the renewing of our minds with the scripture of God's word in Christ Jesus. The question we must ask ourselves is - are we ready to thirst no more? A greater story was never told. A story of God's love for you, and it extends for eternity. "Pick up pick up the good book now" Cat Stevens

Heavenly Father

Draw us nearer to you, let us see our parched thirst so we will come to be filled with living water of Your love to our dry and thirsty vessels. In Jesus Your Son's name I pray amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)