Leaders

Anyone that has a ministry, a ministry gift and all those that are in leadership positions should be serving the body and not demanding that the body serve them.

Or maybe Jesus was simply unclear on the subject. Luke 22:25-26, Mark 10:42-45

All Things

It is so very easy to become focused on all that is wrong in life, when we should be experts in all that is right ~ All things that pertain to life and Godliness have already been given to us through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Wow.

Trust in Jesus as The Christ and avoid all things that do not give your inner spirit peace.

John Piper - Why I abominate the prosperity gospel

Having been a pawn in the prosperity gospel game, I agree with John Piper. But this next video absolutely turned my stomach. I never saw fully, until watching it and seeing myself (figuratively) in it, what a fool I had been and what kind of immense damage this so called "gospel" does when people start believing that "paying God" will bring them riches and blessing untold.


This video just sort of tops off what John Piper was talking about...

It is a MUST see, don't skip it.

The Prosperity Gospel from The Global Conversation on Vimeo.

Seek and you will find... It's true.

Yesterday I happened upon a program of Joyce Meyers. Although I no longer believe as they (Word of Faith) do and I now know it's all twisted, I still stopped and listened for about 10 minutes. Why? I have no clue, except that she said something to the effect of... stop trying to be perfect on the outside while your miserable on the inside. That's my loose translation of what I heard her say.

I guess it just goes to show that God really can use anyone because He used her to help me to understand more of what I've been struggling with (explained in the last post).

As I listened to her explain how ugly she was on the inside while trying to be "spiritual" on the outside, I began to understand just how really ugly that was.

When Jesus talked to the religious people, He told them they were like pretty painted tombs on the outside but they were literally dead and rotting on the inside. Again ~ my loose translation of Matthew 23:27.

But I began to see that even though I wasn't trying to be "religious" or "spiritual" anymore, I was still dead and rotting on the inside and that was my constant pain. Something that I couldn't outrun or hide from, even though I was trying hard to do so.

And then, as if that wasn't enough of a revelation for one day. I went to the site of Dave Burchett and read this post.

Intrigued, I went to the free download and listened to this man describe my life. I laughed and cried and felt in awe of a God that could put up with the likes of me.

I can't say it better than he did so please go get the free download.

I immediately ordered his book from his website and am very excited to read it.

Throwing in the towel

Ok. So, I've been struggling with a few weighty things these past several months.

Is it okay to be totally honest with God about my feelings toward Him? I mean, He knows already, right? He knows I'm angry, confused, empty and brokenhearted. He knows that I'm sick of the masquerades, disguises, pretending ~ the pretense ~ Blah!

I'm so tired of it all. And maybe he is too. He's about as real as it gets, right? So, why do we constantly fall into the trap of keeping up appearances? If I can't get real with God and with myself then who in this entire world can I be real with?

I had reached a point where I not only didn't trust Him, I didn't believe that He even cared. A careless God made me angry beyond anything else especially after I put my whole life into Him and He failed me. Yes, I truly believed that He failed me. These are the thoughts and feelings that I've been struggling with. It's crazy, isn't it. But there it is.

I've always thought that when everyone else fails and deserts you that He would be the one that remains. People are fleeting ~ God is not. And maybe this small belief is the only thing that has remained and has kept me from walking away from Him entirely. I can't say for sure.

But I know this:

I can no longer do the dance. I will no longer do the dance. No more pretense, falseness and plain old hypocrisy. No more pretty on the outside, ugly on the inside. It's gross and I can't take it anymore. No more being angry at God for nothing. I've made my peace. I couldn't go one more day with this constant ache inside.

So there I am, throwing in the towel. And I have a funny feeling, deep within me, that God is happy about that decision. I know that I am. I can already feel a shift. I can't explain the shift yet but it's there. It has presented itself as something that I know rather than something that can be articulated and interpreted but maybe the explanation will be revealed a little later.

But for now, I'm ready to trust God again. And that's all I have. I'm ready to trust Him again and nothing more. It's that simple.

A Whale of a Tale...

I can't even come up with words. And that's saying something!!!

Pet Peeve

I woke early this morning to this in my Inbox >>>






If I have one pet peeve that I can't seem to get over it's email hoaxes and urban legends. It's not the literal hoax/legend itself that really bothers me, it's the people that continue to spread it around as the truth, especially if that person proclaims to be a Christian.

What disappoints me most about this is that it literally takes minutes to investigate these things on the internet. Here are just a few sites that have already debunked this one...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Well_to_Hell_hoax

http://www.snopes.com/religion/wellhell.asp

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/d/drilltohellfacts.htm

http://www.freebase.com/view/en/well_to_hell_hoax

Make no mistake about it ~ hell is real ~ but this is totally false. And quite honestly if someone preaches the Truth of the Gospel, plain and simple, the rest will fall into place.

~~Jesus Wants the Rose~~

Jesus Wants the Rose is the title to this video but I thought a more appropriate name could be something like... The Missing Point of the Gospel.

Somehow the sum of the Gospel message is getting lost. The beautiful essence of His Truth is being contaminated with the need for more, bigger, better, etc. I could use more adjectives but I hope you get my point.




We might view this broken useless rose as garbage but God does not...

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. Romans 5:6-11 (NLT)

He's right. We are the Rose and God wants us ~ even when no one else does.

Church or Club

Will the REAL churches please rise?




Because honestly... Many of us have had enough already,
myself included.

Reflections

I looked back this morning through my journals for the year. Sometimes that's good and sometimes that's not so good. I guess it's all in the way you look at it. But I'm beginning to see a nice shift in my life for the better ~ mostly.

The only thing that I regret from the past year is letting go of God ~ as I knew and understood Him.

But in the hope of trying to move through my life without any regrets, I began to see this differently.

I couldn't find God with letting go of what I believed to be God.

Maybe that doesn't make a lick of sense whatsoever but to a person that understands the power of religion and the ability of illusions to deceive ~ that person will get it.

Putting it simply...

I had to destroy the house of cards to begin to build the house of stone.

This may be the slowest process and the biggest undertaking of my entire life but it may just be the one with the most gratifying results and the biggest reward.

Only time will tell.

Light at the end

Sometimes we wonder why things happen to us.

I've wondered just that for years now. The events that took place against our will and behind our backs at our old church have been a constant nagging in the back of my mind. But sometimes things just happen for our own good ~ even when it is devastating.

When I left that church I was empty and broken ~ mentally, physically, spiritually. I cried for God to fill the void in my soul almost everyday. I begged God to help me to find a new church family ~ one that would accept me and love me. The church has yet to come ~ and maybe never will. But the void, the hurt, the shame and the pain seems a distant memory.

Maybe I've finally found a way to forgive. I can't say that I've really forgiven any of them but it's all just easier now. Maybe the old saying that "it all gets better in time" is true. Or maybe, after all these years, I finally found a way to let go of the past and find my sense of self again.

No one has a right to tell you who you are. Never give another person/pastor/church that kind of power. You can think for yourself and make your own decisions in life. It's very hard after it's been stripped away but I'm living proof that there is light at the end of the tunnel.