Embrace the Within no. 44

“Prayer is not merely prattle; it is warfare.”

Alan Redpath

“Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle [is] not yours, but God-Elōhīm (The Living Word) [The Many Powered]’s.”

2 Chronicles 20:15 AMP

“Virtue is undesirable to those who are immoral; holiness is abhorrent to those who are impious; chastity is an enemy to those who are impure; integrity is a hardship for those who are corrupt; frugality runs counter to those who are self-indulgent; mercy is intolerable to those who are cruel, as is loving-kindness to those who are pitiless and justice to those who are unjust.”

excerpt from SERMONS 127.6-7 Peter Chrysologus (400-450 AD)

Prayer is all I have. Prayer is my only hope. Prayer is all I need. Prayer is always enough.

Thoughts and prayers. What a worthless thing to say to someone in the eyes of the world. And I can agree with that for the first half of the sentiment. Thoughts are not going to do anything. My thoughts are not my own. Thoughts are sometimes troublesome. Thoughts can lead to poor choices. Thoughts don’t change anything. BUT prayer changes everything.

Prayer is seen as ineffective when you live in a microwave and wireless society. Prayer is seen as pointless when you live in a mindset of immediate gratification. Prayer is seen as worthless when you live a life of self righteousness and self worship. Since prayer to their gods doesn’t change the outcome of the game, the outcome of their day, or the outcome of the election, they see no power in prayer. BUT I am not praying to any god. I am not putting my faith in things made by humans. I am not putting my trust in a finite principle. I am not putting my belief in something another human created. I am praying to YHWH. As the translation says, He is The Living Word. He is the Many Powered. He is not bound. And this idea troubles the enslaved as Chryslologus says earlier in this sermon, “To those who are held captive, the freedom of the one innocent of wrongdoing becomes hateful.”

They can’t understand your freedom that comes through giving the battle to YHWH. They want to place their trust in the temporal while we place our trust in the eternal. All these things will pass away but not Elohim.

So keep your thoughts in check and your prayers going. Prayer is the only option. Prayer is always enough.

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 #NotMyWayYHWH #GodKnows

Embrace the Within no. 43

I’ve learned that there is nothing perfect

in this imperfect world except your words,

for they bring such fantastic freedom into my life!

Psalms 119: 96 TPT

“When we see even a small glimpse of God’s holiness, we will bow in worship.”

• R. C. Sproul

There is nothing else to place my belief, my faith, or my trust. And that is kind of the point of the last “fourteen days” that stretched since March 2020. In those “fourteen days” I started on a path to getting myself free from fear and ended up here. Not at all where I thought I was going BUT the place that I arrived nonetheless.

I was already frustrated by folks doing things and acting as if those actions were accomplishing change. Screaming, shouting, crying, fighting, and protesting that arrived back at the same sameness. Sometimes the sameness looked a little different for awhile BUT it was all just the same. Nothing truly changed. History keeps playing the same old tunes with different bands covering the songs.

So, I went for change. And that change started with what I put into my body and my mind. Back then I wasn’t concerned about my spirit, however, changing what I put into my body and mind greatly influenced a change in my spirit as well. You are what you eat. And I was consuming true food to help strengthen my body which fueled a better mind that pondered importance and not distraction which then gave a chance for my spirit to flourish as well. I know most folks don’t journey that way. A lot of folks go to YHWH first when life is a mess BUT I was making an order of my mess on my own when the path came clear. It took awhile because getting my body and mind in order was a lot of work. There is so much physical and mental poison being paraded and disguised as nourishment that things get difficult. And there are equally so many spiritual poisons out there as well to stunt my growth.

So instead of screaming or marching or voting my way to freedom, I bowed my way to freedom. I changed how my day was structured. When what I found important changed, my life changed to fit what was important. We support what we love. And it turned out that I really loved dirt. My change of my backyard and eventually my entire property is a testimony to the stewardship of nature. BUT, back to freedom and love. Through that little garden, that keeps growing into what I affectionately call the plantation, I came to spiritual understanding that there were things that I was never going to be able to control. And there were times I was going to have to trust YHWH. So, through that stewardship to nature I learned to grow spiritually to trust and obey. There is nothing else to place my belief, my faith, or my trust other than YHWH.

Everything else has failed to provide. Everything else is joyless. Everything else is pointless. Everything else is “full of sound and fury” and truly signifies nothing. Life no longer needs to be “a tale told by an idiot” when it is given over to God.

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 #NotMyWayYHWH #GodKnows