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Embrace the Within

Focusing inward to create the abundant life God wants.

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  • Nov 30, 2023
  • 4 min read

“Don’t delude yourselves: no one makes a fool of God! A person reaps what he sows. Those who keep sowing in the field of their old nature, in order to meet its demands, will eventually reap ruin; but those who keep sowing in the field of the Spirit will reap from the Spirit everlasting life. So let us not grow weary of doing what is good; for if we don’t give up, we will in due time reap the harvest. Therefore, as the opportunity arises, let us do what is good to everyone, and especially to the family of those who are trustingly faithful” (Galatians (Gal) 6:7-10). No one is more foolish than someone that thinks they are not being fooled. And I have lived that life for decades until God brought me the Truth. I was sowing a lot of things that would demand my ruin in the past. I was sowing the habits of bad physical, mental, and spiritual health. I rarely was concerned about what I put into my body, my mind, and my spirit. I was doing some good out there BUT I was going about it in all the wrong ways. I was living by the world’s idea that the ends justify the means. And I was foolish and deluded. And then God brought me His Truth. That the means are the end.

I was tired, afraid, and unhealthy when I started this journey BUT I was no longer fooled. And when someone really wants the Truth, God reveals it, “If you obey what I say, then you are really my talmidim, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (Yochanan (Jhn) 8:31-32). Knowing the Truth and then doing the Truth, however, are two distinct things. And my daily struggle is living His Truth. 

Living His Truth is a struggle because it takes an entire paradigm shift of how I viewed life. I was worried about so many temporary things that were unimportant. I was worried about my feelings. I was worried about the government. I was worried about my life. And His Truth far surpasses any worldly concerns I might have. I know that. And every day I struggle to live in alignment with His Will to serve Him and to serve others. To “do what is good to everyone” is never easy BUT it is simple. It is simply following His lead and loving others more than ourselves.

Jesus loved us enough to leave Heaven and come to earth to suffer and die. Everything we own is because of God’s grace. And we get concerned about those things like we actually own them. We act like the things we own are actually ours. They all belong to Him. Our homes, our clothes, our food, our planet, are not ours . . . They are His. We are just His custodians. We are His servants. And we need to start acting like caretakers rather than landlords. He owns the deed. He created all things. We get a little to haughty and a little too worldly for our own good. We worry too much and Jesus takes time in His Sermon to address how we can worry too much about the wrong things, “Therefore, I tell you, don’t worry about your life — what you will eat or drink; or about your body — what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds flying about! They neither plant nor harvest, nor do they gather food into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they are? Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to his life? “And why be anxious about clothing? Think about the fields of wild irises, and how they grow. They neither work nor spin thread, yet I tell you that not even Shlomo in all his glory was clothed as beautifully as one of these. If this is how God clothes grass in the field — which is here today and gone tomorrow, thrown in an oven — won’t he much more clothe you? What little trust you have! “So don’t be anxious, asking, ‘What will we eat?,’ ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘How will we be clothed?’ For it is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all. But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Mattityahu (Mat) 6:25-33). Seek First His Kingdom and His Righteousness. Not our kingdom, not the worldly kingdoms and nations, not what we see as right, not what we feel is right . . . Seek His Kingdom. Seek His Righteousness. And He will give us ALL things. Once you have found His Kingdom, His Kingdom should change you. His Kingdom should change your whole perspective. That is kind of what the word repent means. Repentance is a total change in perspective about how we see and do things. And if we see and do things the same as the world . . . Maybe we need to repent.   

Serve His Kingdom by serving one another in love.

Grace and Shalom to your home. The Kingdom of God is now!

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

  • Nov 23, 2023
  • 3 min read

“Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose; because those whom he knew in advance, he also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom he thus determined in advance, he also called; and those whom he called, he also caused to be considered righteous; and those whom he caused to be considered righteous he also glorified” (Romans (Rom) 8:28-30)! Sometimes it is difficult to see how everything is going to work for His glory and honor. Sometimes it is difficult to see how things are going to align with His purpose. But that is where we need to trust God. 

If there is one thing that has moved me further along my walk with Him is that, “But for now, three things last — trust, hope, love; and the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians (1 Co) 13:13). I have to trust Him even when the plan does not make sense. I have to trust Him when I don’t see the plan. He has a purpose for me that I do not understand all the time. When I first started walking this journey almost four years ago, I had no idea I was going to be a Christian. I had no plans on reading The Bible and experiencing a relationship with Him. Absolutely no plan. Yet, here I am anyway. 

He has led me into places where I am uncomfortable and placed me there. And I have had to learn to be hopeful about situations. I have to be hopeful because I trust Him. I trust that He has put me in these places because it is His purpose. And I am hopeful that Him placing me into these places is going to turn out for His purpose. And that I think is the place I am weakest. I want to be hopeful about people and situations BUT I am weighed down by experience with people and situations. I have seen how these sorts of people and these types of situations turn out in the past and it is so difficult to be hopeful that the outcome is going to be different this time. BUT it can be because He can make it that way. He can move that way. I just have to get over my preconceptions and judgments about what He can and can’t do. No matter how unlikely I think the outcome is positive, I have to trust and hope that He has a purpose. 

And finally, I need a lot of love. And I am working on that more than anything else. I have to work on disagreeing with people that I love in a way that shows I love them. And that is tough for me. I have way too much experience in doing things my way and not His Way. I have love for people BUT a lot of baggage that makes that love difficult for others to see. I need that love to be more like His love, His service, His sacrifice. 

And I think that type of love helps build hope. Jesus saw what sorts of people we were and He still came to restore our way back to Him. He came to make the way when there is so little hope in us. BUT He had hope in us and He loved us enough to trust that we would make the right choices. Either that’s really stupid or really naive or really comforting. He trusts me and hopes that I will find His love and show it to others. Love helps build our trust and hope in Him and our neighbors. So that we can be that, “. . . light for the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Likewise, when people light a lamp, they don’t cover it with a bowl but put it on a lampstand, so that it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven” (Mattityahu (Mat) 5:14-16). 

Serve His Kingdom by serving one another in love.

Grace and Shalom to your home. The Kingdom of God is now!

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

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