Embrace the Within no. 55

“Our identity is to be rooted in the Imago Dei, in the image of God. But we’ve gotten so ingrained in the thinking of the culture, that we wind up being parakeets to what the society is saying, rather than taking a solid, loving but clear stance on what God is saying.”

-Tony Evans

“God has given us the Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds. He is eyes and understanding to us.”

A. W. Tozer

There are a lot of confused folks out there trying to tell you their truth. Folks that have a difficult time living at peace want to try and sell you their truth. They found a new way to make things easier while living a difficult life. So, stop believing them?

Folks like to point at our beliefs and say we are gullible. That Christians will believe anything. And they are right. They aren’t right because we are Christians. They are right because we are humans. And humans will believe anything. Look back to the Garden and how much trouble we get into by trusting what we see as good to really be good for us. And then fast forward to now and look around at all these people choosing what they think is good for them and really choosing their own destruction.

There are so many roads to wrong choices. We weren’t born with the ability to choose what is right. It’s a practice of continuing doing what is right and thinking about what is right and listening to what is right. No one wakes up one day and just does the right thing. I slowly worked my way into a habit of making right choices by changing my whole routine. When I gave up smoking, I had to choose to change my old routine. When I chose to eat healthy, I had to choose to change my routine into something new. When we decide to make better choices, then something in the past needs to go away. Right choice isn’t a miracle. Right choice is a daily practice that comes from consistent living.

Sure, Christians are gullible BUT so are the rest of humanity. In thinking that we can’t be fooled lies a foolishness of its own. I have been studying and teaching influence for nearly a decade and I still get fooled by the tricks of influence. I am better at recognizing those techniques BUT there is still an art and beauty to how they can get employed that fools anyone. Even folks that work at crafting influence get fooled. So, don’t be concerned about being gullible. The folks that think they are above trickery are the ones fooling themselves.

Judge the messenger and the message before accepting their truth. Not everyone, not even everyone in a church, is looking out for your best interest. Let the Ruach of Truth guide you.

Shalom to your home. Bless your being. The reign of YHWH is now. Be a blessing to YHWH and others.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyNepheshMyChoice #ChristsLifeMatters #EmbracetheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH #GodKnows

Embrace the Within no. 54

"The Word of God is perfect; it is precious and pure; it is truth itself."

Martin Luther

Peace is something that we can pass on to those around us. Knowing peace and being that resolute and unwavering beacon of peace and hope is really an important quality in a world besieged by fear and worry. Peace is something we should show daily in our walk.

Sometimes we forget that folks need to be reassured that there is peace and truth out there in the world because God is still in the world. And through our daily relationship we get to show the truth of the letter to the Ephesians that, “Once your life was full of sin’s darkness, but now you have the very light of our Lord shining through you because of your union with him. Your mission is to live as children flooded with his revelation-light! And the supernatural fruits of his light will be seen in you—goodness, righteousness, and truth. Then you will learn to choose what is beautiful to our Lord” (5:8-10 TPT).

Now that we are choosing what YHWH wants for our lives, what was truly intended by Him with our creation, the relationship that was granted in the Garden, those gifts of His light are the gifts we should be sharing with our neighbors. Those gifts of goodness, righteousness, and truth will allow those around us to find the same peace we have today.

Remember when you were full of fear and doubt and worry? It might have been a long time ago or it might have been yesterday or it might be right now. The great thing is we can choose not to be full of fear and doubt and worry. We can choose peace. We can choose freedom for all those things the world wants to heap upon our minds, our bodies, and our spirits.

We can walk away from the world and into the embrace of the Lord. It’s not an easy choice. Anyone who has known me at any time for the nearly five decades I have been around on this side of eternity can testify that I did not make this easy on myself. I watch all number of other people make things so much more difficult than it need be as well. It all starts with wanting to get that relationship back. To want to walk in the Garden with Him again. And that happens with the same way we build any relationship . . . . Caring enough about the other to learn all about them.

So, if you want to find the peace that the world can’t offer, then the only place to look is to Him. And the best way to get there is through understanding His Son. Through that understanding, we can all build a better relationship through conversation and study.

Shalom to your home. Bless your being. The reign of YHWH is now. Be a blessing to YHWH and others.

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoGodsNoMasters #MyNepheshMyChoice #ChristsLifeMatters #EmbracetheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH #GodKnows