Embrace the Within no. 36

“Lord, I will sing about your faithful love for me.

My song of praise will have your justice as its theme.

I’m trying my best to walk in the way of integrity,

especially in my own home.

But I need your help!

I’m wondering, Lord, when will you appear?

I refuse to gaze on that which is vulgar.

I despise works of evil people

and anything that moves my heart away from you.

I will not let evil hold me in its grip.

Every perverse and crooked way I have put away from my heart,

for I will have nothing to do with the deeds of darkness.

I will silence those who secretly want to slander my friends,

and I will not tolerate the proud and arrogant.

My innermost circle will only be those

who I know are pure and godly.

They will be the only ones I allow to minister to me.

There’s no room in my home for hypocrites,

for I can’t stand chronic liars who flatter and deceive.

At each and every sunrise I will awake to do what’s right

and put to silence those who love wickedness,

freeing God’s people from their evil grip.

I will do all of this because of my great love for you!”

Psalms 101 TPT

If there is a psalm to summarize my journey over the past fourteen days, then nothing does it much better than this one. I awaken every day and, as the psalmist says, “At each and every sunrise I will awake to do what’s right”. And what is right? Of course the abstraction of loving God and neighbor is what is right in theory BUT in practice, what is right?

For me that is getting my temple in order. Physically, mentally, and spiritually preparing for each day before the obstacles and challenges enter my path. And they enter my path daily. So, doing my best to prepare for those challenges is the way to start each day.

So, in practice that means that I awake with prayer before I ever leave my bed. In practice that means that I work my physical body every morning. In practice that means I start drinking water every morning and drink water all day. In practice that means reading scripture every morning and thinking about that scripture and applying its meaning to my life. In practice that means eating foods that are from nature and are nourishing to my body which also means that I make my meals in advance for work so that I do not choose poorly. In practice that means having a definite plan each day. Failing to plan is planning to fail.

So often we don’t have a plan for our lives and that leads us to trouble. To get better at anything, I have to practice that thing well. So every day I awake I practice living correctly. That practice is then something I can get better at doing.

I have tried in the past to just go through life and wing it. You know. Have no plan and just let life take you wherever it wants. That is a path of disaster. I have been down that road. It’s a road of unhealthy choices and worsening health. It is a road filled with poor choices. And I want to make better choices for my body, my mind, and my spirit.

And that all starts by practicing what is going to make the best path forward for all my nephesh. I only get one body, one mind, and one spirit for all eternity. So, I am going to live like it is the temple that YHWH deserves. I don’t want to be a shambles. I don’t want to be in ruin. I don’t want to be a mess. I want to be the best temple I can be.

I can only be the best temple if I spend every day cleaning and working on the upkeep. This temple isn’t going to do the work on its own. I have to get into the routine of renovation and restoration every day.

Peace 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

Embrace the Within no. 35

There are a lot of things I have always thought didn’t make any sense about what I learned in Church that through studying the Word in detail over the past few months make me wonder how folks can get so messed up in their doctrine. BUT, I can see it almost everyday. Just like folks come forward with political agenda, educational agenda, cultural agenda, philosophical agenda, folks even have a religious agenda that they get all caught up within just like those other agenda. And sometimes the other secular agenda are the bigger influence on their religious agenda than the Word of God itself.

You hate to see it BUT folks find rabbit holes and pot holes to get stuck within or stumble over. Getting stuck in one building around one group of people can be stifling just like any echo chamber. Sitting passively and being told what to believe is another trap that I feel into in my youth as well. I read what I was told to read and thought what I was told to thought. I never went into the Word to read and understand. I took for granted that everyone in the church was looking out for my own well being. Decades later, here I am understanding that just like freedom and liberty of body and mind, freedom of spirit comes with personal responsibility and self ownership. No one is going to give you the education you need to be free. And freedom is not open to outsourcing.

Sure there are many Christian men and women out there willing to help me and you on our journey. BUT there are also a lot of people out there that are passively holding a belief rather than actively engaged in living a changed life. I didn’t get into Christianity to be the same as I was before. I didn’t start this journey to be the same as I was in March 2020. I wanted something new. I needed to be free in all my nephesh. I need to be physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy. And I can’t rely on anyone else to do that work for me. Especially not when it comes to my spiritual health because there are a lot of traps and snares out there.

No. We can’t walk our faith alone. It is simply not a possibility to seclude myself from the world and from the Church. What I need to do is have a knowledge of God and His Word enough to know when others are distorting the Word for their own agenda. And there is a lot of distortion out there among the churches and doctrines. So, spending more time in the Word and in communion with YHWH is the way to get myself there.

When a pastor or priest says things that I can readily see are influenced by an agenda, when a brother or sister is using their agenda to interpret what is being said, when folks repeat things that don’t make any scriptural or spiritual sense, it is my job to understand that it is wrong. It is my job to know the Word well enough to go into the scripture and pray and find the answer. It’s not the job of the ministers to work my plan. It is not the job of ministers to read and pray for me. It is my spiritual responsibility to do the work of Christianity, namely knowing the spirit of Christ and living that spirit daily. And Sunday morning on itself isn’t getting me there. Two services a week is not going to get me there. Three services a week is not going to get me there. I need my daily devotion. I need my daily routine. Just as I wake up every day and choose to be physically healthy and start my day with a workout. Just as I wake up every day and choose to think about those things that make me free. Every day I need to wake up and work on my spiritual health as well. No one is going to do that for me.

Putting faith in humanity to do my work for me has never been a stumbling block. I want to do everything on my own. Now I understand that I need to Church as much as I need to walk the path alone. BUT I am never truly alone. YHWH is there. He never goes anywhere. He never changes. And He never forgets about me. He knew me before I knew myself. And I need to work this out with Him through the Church He provides for me. I am not alone BUT the work is mine alone to complete.

Peace 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