Tag: understanding

When you can’t see the Forest through the Trees

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When you can’t see the Forest through the Trees

What does it mean ‘can’t see the forest through the trees?’ It means that sometimes you’re so caught up, so close to a situation you are incapable of seeing the big picture. When we are in the middle of our own life’s situations, when we are in the battles deep in the trenches, often times all we can see is the step right in front of us. So if that’s the case, how do we learn to take a step back and see the big picture? How do we wrestle with our own desire to remain in control? What are the simple rules of survival when lost in the woods? Today we’ll explore that together.

1 Corinthians 13:12 “12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” We grow and as we grow we change. The forest grows with no help from us. It doesn’t worry about the trees next to it or the birds that use it to perch their nests, no it simply exists. When we look at our lives as a whole we often are consumed with the ‘Fog of War’, unable to see the big picture due to the biased nature of our lives. We must learn to take a step back, climb the tree to see over the tree tops, find anyway we can to understand that in order to make a Godly decision we must first look at any situation that we may face, and try to look objectively, look reasonably, and try to understand the path God wants for us. Proverbs 16:9 “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.” When we listen to Gods will our path will be a blessed one. It won’t be without hardships, but we need to be tested, our faith must be made strong. Ecclesiastes 3:6 “A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;” No matter what season we find ourselves we must understand that worrying about what we don’t have control over will never help us figure out our path.

When lost in the woods the first thing most people do is panic. When we panic we expel more energy then if we remain calm and work it out rationally. When lost you must find shelter, find water, and find food. It’s never easy to accept we may be lost. When that moment hits you and you can’t breath, you can’t think straight, you can’t see your own thoughts clearly, that’s when we know we are in the middle of the woods. We can’t panic when the forest gets thick. We must learn to have faith in God. Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” We have to keep the faith. When we are lost, God will show us the way. Psalm 25:16-17 “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart and free me from my anguish.” Have faith in the Lord to guide you. When lost in the woods and you cannot see your way out, and allow God to help you see your path. Keep the faith and keep your compass.

It’s not for our own understanding as to why our suffering occurs but when it does don’t loose yourself to the anguish. You are not in control and that’s an important fact to realize. We are in control of our own actions and how we handle our choices. Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” God will, will be done. One way or another, we will deal with our situations. Stop and pray that God will help get out of the wilderness. Isaiah 40:3-5 “A voice is calling, “Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness; Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God. “Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley; Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Survival is about preparing; it’s about planning for the worst and knowing how to do that. God has given us the compass to see our way out of the woods and back to open prairies. Don’t let yourself get caught in the forest without the map. Shoot your azimuth and follow your direction north.

Sunrise

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The only comfort to ease my soul is knowing I’m loved by God. You break me down, forsaken, left, forgotten, and the burden of loss, failures and doubt creeps in like gouls and goblins in the night. We may never know how long we will walk without a flesh companion but we are promised that God is with us always. We must have faith in Gods plan. We must remember that free will was a gift and a curse. I myself am not innocent and I pray for forgiveness and I pray my new path is pleasing to God and I pray for blessings. To those alone this day trust in the Lord. Have faith, and rejoice in the birth of our savior.

Tomorrow brings new life and as the sun will rise we face a slew of fresh challenges. The river of life can change with one big storm, but as the clouds recede the waters return to a state of a new normal. The river will never be the same again and as destructive as the storm may be the chance to see new scenery, new places, new adventures. We may never know what’s just beyond the river bend, but what we do know is we have the stars to guide us, the compass in our hearts, and faith to fuel us.

Death The Final Frontier

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Death The Final Frontier

It will come for us all. The race will end and then the beginning is new. Death comes for everyone, man, women, child, but through the multitudes only a few will enter the gates of heaven. Several verses particularly talk about heaven.

John 3:5 “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Let the waters of Christ wash away your sins. Be reborn in the waters and give your struggles to the Lord.

1 Corinthians 6:9 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,” We all will make mistakes, but in our mistakes, in our sins, we can find forgiveness. We can trust in the Lord if we can give ourselves to the lord and leave the lusts of the world behind.

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

1 Corinthians 15:50-52 “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.”

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Daniel 12:2-3 “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Psalm 23:4 “4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”

 We don’t know what our future holds. We don’t know when the living life as we know it will pass into the past. The life we live has a finite amount of days to it. We love people, we loose them, and sadly there isn’t anything we can do to change that. Recently I lost a family member that was very dear to my heart. His passing was a bit of a surprise albeit he had some health issues. The pain doesn’t go away or diminish just because they were sick. What we have done, we’ve done, the time will come when we have to answer for our actions. God never asks anything in return except our hearts. God wants us to turn away from the world and focus on Him. The Valley of Death is a scary place. As I have seen death, seen it so up close, of watching my friends die in front of me, watching family wither away and die, and myself nearly dying on more then one occasion. What I have found is death isn’t something to fear. We may never know our time or our importance on this little floating ball in this big ol’ universe, but what we do know is if we have what it takes to make it through that narrow gate, then we too will know peace. If death comes for us know that it’s your divine time to go home. As my uncle’s body returns to the ash from whence it came, peace comes knowing beyond a doubt he made it home. True peace knows that it’s not the depths of the oceans, the expanses of space that are the Final Frontier; it’s the Kingdom of heaven. Do not suffer in loss but rejoice in it. Have faith in the word, and when your time comes, you too will welcome death as an old friend.

Why Gamble with Eternity?

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Why Gamble with Eternity?

 Atheists, Agnostics, and those sitting on the fence are often the ones I fear for most. Many have asked me why I believe in God. The answer is both simple and complicated at the same time. For me the belief in God has gone back to my early childhood. God has given me comfort, guidance, hope, and love through the most difficult of my hardships. Given the possible alternatives following Christ, having faith seems to be the bet. There is plenty of scripture describing hell. The time between the book of Psalms and the New Testament is 586 BC to 50 AD. From the time of the New and Old Testament the conversation of Hell and Salvation never faltered. “Revelation 21:8 “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” Then again in Matthew 25:46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” All the way back David talked about the eternity of God, 600 years before Christ stepped foot on the planet. Psalm 9:17 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” You’re talking truth in the writing that wasn’t accessible from Google. Truth was known in a time when Angels would talk to us, intervened in our lives. Today we don’t hear about Angels talking to us, but if we look closely, if we pay attention we can see the miracles when they happen. My life for instance is a miracle. I should have died but didn’t. My life was saved, and spared, and today I have this Blog, teaching and preaching about the Glory and Mercy that was given to me.

What are the stakes? Our lives, our souls are a high stakes poker game. Jesus Christ is our Royal Flush. If we follow him we win every time. John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” It seems like such a simple truth. It seems so easy doesn’t it? Follow Christ and that’s it, you’ve won the golden ticket. But wait, there’s more, then you have Matthew 27:21-23  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”

I bet that’s confusing huh? What Jesus is saying is God knows your heart. It doesn’t matter how much scripture is in your mind, it doesn’t matter how much you give to charity. What matters is what’s in your heart, truly knowing your salvation is in Christ.

Why then is this a high stakes poker game? What if you don’t believe, what if you question the existence of God because of a lack of proof, or a lack of faith? You could loose eternal life. If you are going to live as a good person, believe in a moral compass, then why not use the Bible as that source of strength and courage? All you have to loose is eternal life for eternal damnation. We must ask ourselves if we don’t know what our afterlife holds, then why not put our faith in the one true God. Even if this is a bunch of hoowey, so you live your life to an honorable code. In this world we worship idols, we worship money, relationships, careers, we put all of our faith in worldly things that will eventually get old, decay, fall apart, break, and it’s a deception. It’s not just enough to know Christ exists, it’s about serving, its about true faith. Even Satin knows God, knows scripture, but has nothing but contempt for his father. The Devil wants us to walk a sinful path, he wants us to loose everything by forcing us to fold.

The blind man see’s, the deaf man hears, the lame man talks, the crippled shall walk, the dead shall rise, all in the name of Jesus. The day the Lord spoke to me, a great weight was lifted from my chest. In this high stakes poker game I will beat the house every time because my deck is stacked. I have a Royal Flush every time. God has given me the tools, the knowledge, and has shown me a better way. I have faith and that faith lets me fly on eagle’s wings. There’s freedom in our scars, there’s freedom in our pain. Never forget to stand toe to toe with the Devil at the table he’s betting it all on your cards being cold. The Devil’s bluff is just another lie. Heaven is perfection for all eternity. Earth will fade away, but Heaven will remain. Maybe God is an interdimensional being, maybe heaven is an alternate universe, the question you need to ask yourself is does that matter? Just because it’s beyond our understanding doesn’t mean it isn’t truth. So pick up your poker chips, throw all in, and lay down that Royal Flush because Christ is the only Royalty we will ever need.