So Is It For Us or Not?

There is something I have been thinking about for awhile. I know there are some differing of opinions on this topic because I have heard them. I know this post will not be liked by some. Oh well, I think the name of this blog indicates that I will write it anyway.

This is what I have been thinking about, is what is written in the Bible for us or not? Now, before you freak out here is why I have been thinking on it. I have heard people say things like, "God doesn't do that anymore" and "that was just for the people of that time" and similar comments. So obviously there are people who believe that parts of the Bible do not apply to us.

In the Old Testament there are the laws that were given to the Israelites, and they involved sacrifices, people being unclean, and how far people could go or how much they could do on the Sabbath. We are not under these laws today because when Jesus was crucified He fulfilled these laws. There is no longer a need for sacrifices because He was the ultimate sacrifice. Accepting Him makes us clean so we no longer are under the unclean laws either. I could go on considering these laws, but I guess the question could be asked "since those parts of the Bible do not apply to us then maybe other parts don't, right?"

I have heard on more than one occasion people say that one the most quoted verses does not apply to us. You know the one, Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." They say that this verse was written to the Hebrews of that time who were in captivity. Of course, it was, but does that mean that God doesn't know the plans He has for you? Does that mean He doesn't want to give you hope or a future?

People say that God doesn't give the gift of tongues to people anymore. I have even heard people say that God doesn't do miracles anymore. I just wonder why Jesus is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow (Hebrews 13:8) if He can no longer give gifts or perform miracles. I know some of these beliefs are denominational. I know some are believed because it passed down from generation to generation. Some have been preached and are being preached from pulpits any given Sunday.

Now, I want you to know that I believe every single Scripture is the Word of the Lord. I believe He gave promises, and they can be found in both the Old Testament an in the New. I believe that He gave us commands that are supposed to be followed today, like the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament and ones like "Love your neighbor as yourself" that is in Mark.

I know this post will ruffle feathers and anger people. I know that "my pastor says..." will be used to argue counterpoints. I know that some will never read another post that I write. Honestly, that is okay. It is okay because I know that God is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow, and I know His promises, gifts, and principles are still the same as they were when they were written down in the Bible. I also know that this post will make some think and search for the Truth of His Word.

All I ask from you is that you search His Word if you disagree or aren't sure. I ask that you not ask what someone else thinks or believes, but just focus on what He has to say. I ask that you are open to Him and open to what He shows you. I know that is what I need to be. I know that I need to read, and ask, and listen to what He is showing and teaching me. I hope that never stops, and I hope that it is the same for you.

Surprise!

A few months ago I was angry at someone. I mean angry enough to avoid this person for a few days. This person had no idea I was angry and that is the way it had to be. What? That seems backwards. I'm not suppose to stuff my emotions, and I'm not suppose to let the sun go down on my anger, but I did. And like I said, I had to.

I was angry because God placed something on my heart, something really important. I shared it, and then this person jumped on it and ran with it, in a different direction. Get why I was angry? I prayed about it and asked advice and the answer was, "let it go, I've got this." Yup, that was what God was trying to tell me. He had it. He gave me the idea and His purposes will be fulfilled no matter who tries to pick them up and run with them in another direction.

So I let the anger go and I went in the other direction too. I knew God wanted me to. I knew He wanted to do some stuff in me, like trusting Him that He had it, and more. At first, it was hard, and I won't deny that. Over time though I found that the direction this person went in was helping me, and soon I forgot I was even mad about it.

Then, surprise!

The direction came to an end. I let God deal with some stuff in me, some relationships were deepened, and I was able to see this direction wasn't "bad" and served a purpose. Like I said, the direction ended. Then I heard the words coming from a different person's mouth, the same words that God had given to me a few months ago. I couldn't help smiling as I realized He did indeed have it.

Even so, it wasn't as readily received as I wanted it to be. I kind of held my breath as God reminded me that He had it and to be silent. So I was. Not a day later, the same words were coming out of a different person's mouth, and I felt God say "now." I said something, nothing profound or earth shattering. Nothing that made light bulbs go off over people's heads or anything, but just the right words. Then the person who ran in the other direction was agreeing with us. I almost did a Holy Ghost jig, for all my Pentecostal friends. I did smile and heard very clearly, "Didn't I tell you, I've got this?"

Surprise!

Speaking No Matter What

When I finish a book Bible I ask God what He wants me to read next. I recently finished Matthew and asked the question. Before I had the question out of my mouth I heard "Ezekiel". Honestly, I didn't love the answer so I rephrased the question. "God, since I've finished this book what other book should I...." "Ezekiel" came the answer again. So I tried a third time, "if no other book is the answer it will come to me. I'll just wait." Crickets! Big sigh, "okay, Ezekiel it is."

Now, there is nothing wrong with the book, but I really wanted Him to tell me to read a good history book instead. So I started reading it and it wasn't long before God spoke to me through it. In chapter 2 I read, "Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house." (verses 5-7)

God was sending Ezekiel to speak to the rebellious people of Judah. God knew that they would be hardhearted and wouldn't listen. God still sends people speak to others, speak the Truth, and He knows that they will not listen. I reread these verses, actually the chapter, because I really felt that God was talking to me.

This book is named Even If My Voice Shakes for a reason. God has asked me to speak the words that He has given to me, to share the lessons that He has taught me. He doesn't want me to stop speaking because the readers decide they don't like what I'm saying and stop reading. He doesn't want me to stop because it is something hard and it makes me anxious and even fearful to share. He is calling me to speak the Truth, regardless of the reader's response. God doesn't stop speaking because people don't want to hear the Truth.  He speaks and gives us the chance, sometimes many chances, to hear and turn away from the wrong path and hardness of heart that keeps us from Him. I have to be obedient and share what He tells me to.

I am not saying that everything that I think or say is from God. It certainly isn't, yet when I know He is speaking then I need to speak His Word.

Let the Warning Sound Blow

I recently finished reading The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn. It was fascinating to see the correlation between an ancient vow made by Israel and what has happened in America in the last few years. The one idea that kept going through my mind was "when things happen why do we try to fix it ourselves? Why don't we see them as warnings from God?" So often we see the bad things as attacks from satan, and they are, but they are also opportunities. Opportunities that can bring us closer to God, turn us away from bad choices, and protection from continuing down a path that will lead us astray.

Yet we don't see the good. We tend to focus on the bad, the attacks of satan. It is true that satan is attacking us, he is trying to separate us from God. He wants to keep us down, hurt, feeling guilty, feeling alone. But the Word says that God uses all things for good, even the attacks of satan, maybe especially the attacks of satan.

One of my favorite parts of the book came at the very end. The prophet was telling the main character about the warnings given in ancient times. When a danger was approaching a city the watchmen would pull out a ram's horn and blow it in warning. He asked how this would sound. The answer was simple: "jarring, disturbing, ominous".

The conversation continues with an explanation of why it needs to be that way. The prophet states that it needs to be that way to wake up the sleeping. Then he asks would it be better not to sound the warning because it is unpleasant and the people would not like it. Of course the answer is that the alarm needed to be sounded. Would the people have rather been killed or captured than inconvenienced by the horrible sound of the warning? Of course they would rather be inconvenienced, it's a no brainer.

Today we don't see the need for a watchman's warning sound. We get mad to be disturbed from our comfortable lives. We don't want to be told that we are being complacent and need to wake up to danger. We don't want to know that we are making bad choices, letting in corruptible influences, or are just plain old being blind to the evil around us. We rise up and rebuke the enemy without considering what warning God is trying to give us. We get counselling to fix us (not that counselling can't help, but only He is the answer) without looking to the Spirit to show us what He is trying to do in us. We get defensive and start spouting all the things we are doing right, whether those things line up with God and His Word or just what man considers good or not. We get religious or worldly and don't consider how we need to get in relationship with Him.

I am guilty of this as much as anyone. I want to just blame it all on satan and not heed the warning. Instead, I want to be open to see and hear the warning in the jarring, disturbing, and ominous things that happen to me and in me. I want to heed the warning and look to God, turn back to God, rest in God and be saved from possible calamity and grow in Him.

Onion Peeling

Ever peel away the layers of an onion? I have, well I started to. Slowly I have removed layer upon seemingly endless layer of onion. As I got closer and closer to the center of  the onion I got frustrated and just pulled the layers apart. Sometimes I feel just like that onion.

God starts peeling away layers of my life. He slowly removes things from my life that don't need to be there. They might be fears, hurts, or even people that He peels away. There are times when I welcome the peeling, but most times I don't. Even though I know the removals are going to bring healing and freedom, I also know they are going to hurt. They are going to take me out of my distorted comfort zone. They are going to make me see things and admit to things in my life that I may have buried years ago or even just recently, but I wanted them to remain buried.

In the last few weeks I have felt some of these peelings happening. Part of me wants to rejoice, and part of me wants to go running through the streets screaming at the top of my lungs. I guess I figure the running and screaming thing will get me committed or something. No matter which way I want to react I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is God at work.

This morning I said a strange little prayer, "Lord please peel away a layer." I don't think I have ever asked for anything in a prayer like that before. I have asked Him to make me more like Him, which would result in peeling, but I have never asked for peeling. I want freedom in a certain area, a major area, of  my life. I want to move forward and I don't want to waste anymore time doing so. So I have asked a daring request and let the peeling begin.

Dealing With Stuff I Didn't Even Know Was Still There

Do you ever feel like no one gets you? Yea, I know you do. I think we all do. I know there are times when I don't get other people. I don't understand decisions they make, words they use, or how they just acceptt things without hesitation.

This past week I did a spiritual gifts test. I've done similar ones before, but somehow this one clicked for me. Maybe it was that I did it with people I knew and knew me. It was good to discuss what their tests showed about them and what it showed about me. Previously I had done the tests by myself or with people I did not know. But it was more than just being with people I know. I finally understood some things about me. A bit of how I work came to light.

There is more to me than that though. I have a childhood that has shaped things in me, both good and bad. I know we all have, but we tend to either have more good or more bad shaped in us. Some children actually live really good lives, with good parents, and very few trials of childhood. I would think that wasn't true, because it wasn't always true for me. I would think that is just a myth, but I know someone, actually a few someones, who had that kind of childhood. I still am a bit amazed by that. I work with kids and see some who come from hard places, hard homes, and then I see the ones whose lives are practically perfect. I can practically picture their futures based on what I see now.

I do not know what struggles they will face in the future, and their childhoods don't have to define it anyway. Yet for many of us it does, both good and bad. I know that God has healed some things from my childhood, things that affected my adulthood. Yet, there is more healing for Him to do.

Unfortunately, the feelings of being misunderstood are still there. Yesterday, I ended up spending the last few hours of the day crying and crying. The experiences of my childhood and my main spiritual gift ran smack into a suggestion that affected me in a way that I didn't see coming. My response was "no". It was a no brainer for me. But the aftereffects of emotions were not expected. I certainly didn't expect to have the feelings.

They spoke things to me that I thought were gone, but were really just buried. They made me admit some things that I thought I had overcome. They made me admit a major truth of something I believe. A hard, hurtful truth. Not what I believe is true, because it isn't. I mean I truly believe it and I need God to deal with it.

I wished that others understood me and wouldn't have even even made the suggestion. At first my reaction was directed at a person. I wished that I was understood better and then maybe it wouldn't have even been made. Then I realized it really had nothing to do with anyone else. God uses everything, e-very-thing, to work His purposes. He was doing some heart work, He is doing some heart work. Not sure how this is going to go. I am still reeling from the feelings and know God is still working on my heart. Hopefully, soon, healing and Truth will bring the healing that God is bringing.

This living a life of letting God heal your heart is not easy, but it is so worth it.

Fiery Darts

The truth is the glass is half empty and half full. We spend time trying to figure which way we look at the glass, but it's both. It's not one or the other. Yes, the optimistic person sees it as half full and the pessimist sees it as half empty. But is that really the point? I don't think so. I think it is about the fact that it is both.

Why is that important? Well, on the way to work today I was thinking about how I need to learn from the fiery darts of the enemy. They are bad and meant to kill. But they also are good. What? Yup, they are good.

You see satan meant them for bad. He thinks they will get us off track. He thinks they will destroy us. God however, will turn those darts for good. He uses them to get us off a track that we shouldn't even be on. He uses them to drive us back towards Him. He uses them to chip away at something that shouldn't been in our lives. He uses them to bring freedom, peace, and life.

Those darts are like the glass. The glass is both half empty and half full. Those darts are both sent by the evil one and redeemed by the Holy One. I wish that the darts weren't necessary. They hurt! They bring out things I want buried deep. The pain though can be a healing pain and that I do want. I do want God to do a work in me. I want Him to chip away at the things in my life that do not belong there. I want them to drive me closer to Him.

I am not going to lie. I do not like the darts. Occasionally after I pray a prayer to become more like Him, I instantly regret it. I think, "oh man, what did I just pray for!" Lately, this has been the case. I have a problem with emotions. I am not overly emotional, just the opposite. But that is not where God wants me to be. That's not where I want to be. The last few days darts have been flying. This morning one hit home and hard. I was at work so crying really wasn't an option, but I did let myself feel the pain. I didn't try to convince myself that it was bad to feel it. Satan meant to take me out with that dart. He was unsuccessful. Instead, I let myself feel the pain, even though I couldn't express it then. And, most importantly, I turned to God and shot a quick prayer to Him and He heard me. He gave me a peace. That is the most important point. He took the dart and He won. The best part is He always wins. Now it's time to walk in it.