Why are things so Different today?

This is from Father Joseph Girzone's Blog: www.joshuamountainblog.org

September 23, 2011

 

Father Girzone wrote the international best seller Joshua

 

Jesus, why do we not have peace and why we have so many problems?

“The answer is very simple. Because you choose to live in fear, and to hate and lie about one another. Your hate and your lies destroy any hope for the future, and adding to that is your refusal to forgive one another. Lack of money is not your problem, it is fear inspired by a mean and twisted spirit. You are sick people and it’s your own fault that everything around you is crumbling. You ask for healing. How can I heal when you hate? You are merely reaping the harvest of your hatred. As long as you continue destroying one another and think it virtue, you spread evil every time you open your mouth, so don’t pray to me for peace and healing while you choose to hate. And you call yourselves patriots and my disciples. I don’t even know you. When you learn to practice what I taught you, come to me and ask for forgiveness, and if you are sincere I will try to believe you. But, nothing that you do inspires me to trust you.”

Fight or Love - It's Your Choice

This is a sermon for the week: "Fight or Love, It's your Choice".

Some people look at everything that happens to them as a fight to be won or lost:

• a job
• a mate
• shopping
• raising kids
• driving
• eating
• dieting
• socializing

Some groups (organizations) also look at their functions in the same way:

• government
• community groups
• churches
• condo associations
• families  

My husband remarked yesterday that we can live in a war-like state, where everything is win or lose and we need to take arms against the opponent, even spiritual warfare. Or we can choose to practice love and forgiveness and let the power of love neutralize the fighting and  prevail.

How do you live your life, fighting or loving? One way to tell is to check your blood pressure, no joke. If you have high blood pressure, you are not only eating the wrong foods, but you are fighting your way through your life. If you have low blood pressure, you may be loving your way through your life, which is healthier and ultimately wins the day.

It's ironic and one of the paradoxes of how God works, that when you lay down your arms, you win the war. When you choose to practice love and forgiveness, you win.

How is it with you today? If you want to switch sides, just choose to lay down your weapons and begin to practice love, even if you don't feel like it.

Act like a loving, forgiving person and you will become one. You can take that one to the bank.

Who Me?

My Bible study this morning about Gideon highlights what all of us have said at one time or another, "Who me?" or "Why me?"

Gideon, when asked by God to lead the charge and kill some enemies, asked those questions. He was so mistrustful that he put out a "fleece", tested God twice. He said, "If you do this, then I'll do that."

A bargaining sort Gideon was not initially ready to drop it all to help out God. Sound familiar?

What do you think God wants you to do that seems odd, or different, or scary, or something you have never done before, or bold? Do you test God, do you bargain, quibble, and negotiate with the "If then" scenario?

Today is your day. Today is the day you can stop that and start to lead the charge.

What is it?
- Saying grace at a meal when others are around,
- reading God's love story every day, even if no one else you live with does it,
- eating the way God tells you to eat, even in public settings
- dressing modestly in a world of fashion lasciviousness
- using language to bless and not to curse
- exercising when no one else does
- picking up trash that others mindlessly throw around, even in public restrooms
- saying "no" when you used to say "yes"
- saying "yes" when you used to say "no"

Who me? Who you?

You know deep inside when you are being "called" to step out and do something. Please conquer your objections and begin. Today is the day.

A Prayer For You

I am praying this prayer for you, anyone who reads this blog, anyone who I know, and anyone who wants to know more about God. I wish that were the whole world.

"In my prayers I keep asking the God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah (Jesus), the glorious father, to give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you will have full knowledge of Him. I pray that He will give light to the eyes of your hearts, so that you will understand the hope to which he has called you, what rich glories there are in the inheritance he has promised his people, and how surpassingly great is His power working in us who trust Him."
Ephesians 1:16-19

Hope

"For what (I) am proclaiming is not( myself), but the Messiah Yeshua as Lord..."
4 Cor:5

"We have all kinds of troubles, but we are not crushed; we are perplexed, yet not in despair; persecuted, yet not abandoned; knocked down, yet not destroyed."
4 Cor 8-9

"I trust and therefore I speak."

"This is why (I) don't lose courage. Though (my) outer self (like yours) is heading for decay, (my) inner self is being renewed daily." 4 Cor 13, 16

So if anyone wants to know why I speak out, have 6 blogs, am working, writing a book, learning about eating and preparing food in a new way, this is why. Not because I have to, but because I get to. I must.

Please pray that I finish the task.

I Seek Beauty All My Days

One of my favorite novelists, Catherine Cookson, has an autobiography called Our Kate. In it she wrote,
"I will seek beauty all my days.
Within the dark chaos of a troubled world I will
seek and find some Beauteous Thing.

From eyes grown dim with weeping will shine a Light
to guide me, and in Sorrow's Hour
I shall behold a great High Courage.

I shall find the wonder of an infinite Patience,
and a quiet Faith in coming Joy and Peace.

And Love will I seek in the midst of Discord and
find swift eager hands out and stretched in welcome.

I will seek Beauty all my days, and in my quiet
I shall not be dismayed.

I shall find God."

This reminds me of the old rag picker in The Mad Woman of Chaillot by Jean Giradoux whose famous line is, "I hate ugliness. I love beauty."

What about you? Will you seek the ugliness everywhere or will you, like me try to find beauty and what is worthy all the days of your life?

Did you know that you could choose which one you will seek?

Do You Believe In God?

Do you believe in God? Many people say they do, but there is little agreement among most as to what that should look like in their lives.

Rereading the New Testament book of Galatians, I have been struck by how many times two words are repeated: trust and faithfulness. Therefore, if I believe in God, I will trust Him in all things and I will be faithful in all things.

Move over to Thessalonians and the word trust is there everywhere.

It's not easy but the directions are simple, from 1 Thessalonians:
"...make it your ambition to live quietly, to mind your own business and to earn your living by your own efforts...Live at peace among yourselves...confront those who are lazy...help them change..encourage the timid...assist the weak...be patient with everyone...always try to do good to each other...always be joyful...pray regularly, in everything give thanks..don't quench the Spirit...hold onto what is good, but keep away from every form of evil."

This is the job description for everyone who believes in God and wants to trust Him in all things and be faithful in all things.

Let me know how it's going.

Better Than Science Fiction

I finally "get" the obsession by some people with science fiction.

In it people appear, disappear, have seemingly miraculous powers and live in a world that cannot be explained by gravity, the laws of physics and other sciences.

That's because some people who are awed, overwhelmed and nonplussed by biblical narratives feel the need to manufacture the supernatural out of their own imaginations.

Reading Acts 8:39 and 40 can be perplexing. At one minute Philip is there with the eunuch and then in the next minute, he is not. "The Lord snatched Philip away The eunuch saw no more of him, because he continued on his way - full of joy. But Philip showed up at Ashod and continued on his way - full of joy."

At first glance, that could be seen as science fiction. At a deeper level, it is evidence that time and space with God are different than with men. This is not science fiction. This is a Holy Happening, only possible with God. Real, witnessed and yet unexplainable by the laws of physics.

When Jesus appears to his disciples, Mary and others some 40 times after his Resurrection, each appearance could be dumbed down to call it science fiction and not real. EAch appearance could also be called a "Holy Happening."

How many Holy Happenings can you list from the Bible? Start counting and send me your list. We will compare notes.

Remembering What God Has Done

How do you keep track of what God has done in your life? Do you journal, tell others, just rely on memory?

The ancient Israelites used to put stones as markers in places where remarkable and miraculous things has occurred. Even today Jewish cemeteries testify to the visits of loved ones when visitors put stones on the headstones of those they came to see.

Today is Passover and a wonderful time to remember how God, with an outstretched arm, rescued the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt and parted the Red Sea so they could be free. The story is wonderful and when retold with family, friends and even strangers, leaves a lasting mark of wonder on all who listen.

Tonight I will be celebrating this with a "Life Group" in Florida, people we pray with, worship with and call friends. If you've never been to one, many churches and synagogues have Seders and invite all to come and participate.

Reread the story in Exodus and wonder, marvel and think about whether or not the plagues of today will be lifted for the miracles of tomorrow.

God's story needs to be etched on our hearts so we can reflect on it and be refreshed by it, 24/7.

Happy Passover to all people who believe in the power of God to save!