Put You In Remembrance

Since it is reasonable to understand that blog posts are limited by their very purpose of not being able to fit the standards of a more detailed essay. I will envoke a blog writer's priviledge, and make statements contrary to what many may teach otherwise, and while I have reasons for those statements, I will rely on the reader's own inner witness as to their validity. For it is that inner witness which I rely on from the Holy Spirit that bears witness with my Spirit. Truth is found when we hear what the Spirit is saying. With that being said, I will delay no longer in sharing with this post what I found to be a life changing truth in the Book of Job.

It starts in chapter 38 when God finally speaks to Job:

1Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, 2Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? 3Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me. 4Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. 5Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? 6Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; 7When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Now, every commentary I have read about this passage and almost every message I have heard say the same basic thing that God was putting Job in his place. God was basically trying to humiliate Job by telling him how little he knows about the world and it's functions. That somehow for four chapters God was bragging about how much He knows and how little Job knows! Their contention is that God was teaching Job, and anyone else that dares to question God how stupid they are for doing so because of how little they know compared to how much God knows!

If you are convinced that view is correct, then you will probably not like what I have to say, but consider if you think that God is anything like that? Do you think it would take God four chapters to humiliate Job? I am convinced He would not. God is not interested in humiliating us! God SO LOVED the world! Is that the actions of a Lover? Or was God just having a bad day?

Okay, so what then? Well, I have said from the beginning that I believe that all of creation had their beginning in Him. The word create used in Genesis is the Hebrew word Bara which means to carve, to cut down. God literally carved out of Himself -- Man! Then He formed him from the dust of the ground, and breathed His life into him. The fact remains that we are spiritual beings, and had our beginnings in God.

With that being said, I also believe that our Spiritual beginnings are hidden from our understandings. As someone else has put it: "Our birthing is our forgetting." I have heard and read examples of little children being in the room with a baby and inquiring from the baby what heaven is like because they are forgetting. Be that as it may, I am convinced that we are "Training for Reigning." That we are on this Human Journey, not on some Spiritual journey.

I do not believe that God asks us questions because He does not know! God says in Genesis "Where are you Adam?" Not because God does not know, but because Adam doesn't know! Adam, now where are you?

When God says to Job "Where were you...?" He was not trying to humiliate Job, He was trying rather to..... are you ready?.... God was bringing Job into remembrance!

Look at verse 7 again. "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" It is my conviction that Job was among the sons of God shouting for Joy! It is my belief that we, along with Job were there witnessing creation being built. It is my conviction that God was just reminding Job of what he already knew, but forgot because of his human journey!

Think back to a time when you were in school, and the teacher asks you a question about what she taught yesterday. You might say that you don't know the answer, then the teacher might say: "Where were you when I taught this yesterday? Weren't you sitting right there in the 3rd row, 2nd desk from the front?" Then she might just repeat some of what she taught and put you in remembrance. Now her goal might be to embarass you some, but we know that God would never do such a thing.

Consider what Jesus said in John 14:26 "But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

How is it that when the day came where you believed the Gospel, how did you know at that moment that what you heard was right? How is it, that even now when you hear the Word being preached, that you just know that it is right, even though you never heard it before, yet it seems like you have always know it? My conviction is that you have always known it, and the Holy Spirit is bringing truth to put you in remembrance.

I believe that there is more scripture that supports what I am saying here, and perhaps I will include those thoughts in future posts. I do want to take one more post to follow up with what became of God's interaction with Job, and how Job changed because of it. I think I can relate, how about you?

His Divine Purpose At Work

When I first started seeing deeper spiritual truths, I learned so much in so short of a time, that I became concerned that too much of it was just head knowledge. I was driving home from work one day when I brought it before the Lord. I had a picture in my head of a stick man with a big head on it walking around. Then the Lord changed the picture in my head by showing me the same stick man, only this time carrying a big heart on its chest, and He said to me, "just make sure your heart grows bigger than your head!" I am not sure I have always succeeded. I struggle with my natural man as much as the next guy. I am so very thankful that I have been given such a gift of faith, and of understanding, but even with all of that, there are still times when I am left wondering what God's plan is in such difficult situations. Times when I would try hard to do a good job, and then something messes up, and it takes the wind out of your sails! I still get a panicky feeling sometimes when everything seems to be going great, that something is going to happen to ruin it, and that I am being set up for a struggle to have to tackle. And it is one thing to know even within the core of your being that God is all loving, and that He will not give you more of a burden than you are able to handle. Not only that, but knowing that each trial is measured perfectly to grow us up into mature Son's of God. It is another thing to go through something that just seems senseless at the time! Those are the hardest struggles to deal with, the ones that don't seem to have any rhyme or reason! And I do mean that it may not seem like there is a reason. Of course I know enough to know that there is one; and even moreso considering that I have some 35 years of "Human Journey" walking with the Lord experience! Even after all of that, we still need the fellowship of other believers that we can encourage one another in the Lord. I had an experience a couple of years ago where the tractor trailer I was driving for my job took down a tree branch that was hanging too low, and fell on a car, without my knowing about it. The police stopped me a few blocks away, and I got charged with failing to remain at the scene of an accident. Had the charge stuck, I would have lost my CDL, my job, and my career! For several weeks, I did not know what the results would be, and I had no assurance in my Spirit, that the best outcome would take place. I lost a lot of sleep for weeks. I went to a lawyer, but was not assured of a positive outcome. During that same time, I reached out to a group of friends on a message board, and was encouraged by their support and understanding. Finally, the lawyer arranged to have the charge changed to a non traffic offense, which still cost me a big fine, plus his fees, however, my lively hood was not in peril anymore. The torment of any difficulty comes when there does not seem to be any reason for it. Or when there is no good that can be apparent coming from it. There is not much consolation of grief when what caused so much pain seems senseless! It is that time when you have to cry out to God and ask WHY?! All you want to know is WHY? Just explain to me why, and I can handle much more tragedy if there is something positive that comes from it, or if I know, not that if God has a good reason, but I need to know more about what that good reason is. And that is one of the places where we find Job. That is one of the places where we can relate to the problem of suffering. That is one of the places where we might even compare our suffereing to Job's and see how we measure up. After all of the tragic events happened where he lost everything one after the other all in the same day; all that he owned, and his servants, and sons and daughters; even after all of that great unexpected loss; verse 22 of chapt. 1 still says "and in all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." That is something hard to compare yourself to. Here I was in a panic over the potential to lose everything, and Job had just gotten the news that he DID lose everything, and even then he did not charge God foolishly! He did not shake his fist in the air; he did not scream and shout and curse at God, and accuse Him of not caring, instead it says " 1:20 "Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshiped, 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD." Okay, so as if that were not enough, it was not long after that he was struck with boils from his head to his feet over his whole body, and still even when his wife (perhaps out of compassion) tells him to curse God and die, and yet: "In all this did not Job sin with his lips. " (2:10c). There is so much even to this point to speak about, it is hard to know where to start and what to leave out. But since I know I began to write about Job with a purpose in mind, and I have not touched on that purpose yet, I will focus on that in another post. What I do know is that it takes me an average of two hours to write each post so far. That is without a lot of changes being made to what I type initially. What has surprised me the most so far is that I have even had the time available to write these posts. Up until this past week, I have worked several hours overtime per week for more than a year. That is one reason why I have put off starting a blog, because many nights I would be home for just a couple of hours before I would need to go to bed. Plus with now learning to fly, much of the rest of my waking and some of my sleeping time is occupied with that! However, this past week, I have put in the first 40 hr week in a long long time, and I am convinced beyond a doubt that not only in the story of Job, but also in the existence of this blog, and even in the fact that you are reading it that His Divine Purpose is at work .

Come Up Higher!

(I meant to write more about Job, and I will, but it seems this post needs to be first.) I read a quote a long time ago that said, "If you read the Bible like any other book, you will soon discover that it is NOT like any other book." And it is not. The Bible is a Spiritual book. Written in a spiritual language. It is not a history book, though there is history written within. It is not a prophecy book, though there is prophecy written within. It is primarily a handbook with written instructions to our Spiritual man! It is written in spiritual code, with signs and symbols, that transcend time, and culture, and race and language. When someone says that they believe in the inspired Word of God, I think they usually mean the written word as it is on paper. Now I have no argument with that, except if they stop there without qualifying that statement by saying that the written words on the page do not have life in them, but rather it is only when those words are read with spiritual eyes can that which is inspired be seen! "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned." I Cor. 2:14 Want proof? Have you ever heard an atheist or at least a non believer try to quote the bible and use their quotes as a weapon against a Christian? Then again, what is worse, come to think of it is when a carnal Christian quotes the Bible as a weapon! It usually involves the other person going to hell for whatever reason that the scripture they quote supports! Part of the problem where there is so much confusion and contradiction I think, stems from two reasons. One is taking verses out of context, and the second is being able to read the same words with two different meanings, based on how you interpret the whole message of Scripture. For example I fell into the trap of quoting the verse "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." (I Cor. 2:9) I used that verse to say how wonderful heaven will be and how beyond our imaginations etc. And then a friend of mine at the time, pointed out the what the very next verse said that put it into context! "But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." (2:16) For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. The other example is a verse that can be read two different ways depending on how you interpret the message of what is being said, for instance take Genesis 6:3 "And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also [is] flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years." Now, I have always read that with the idea that there is a limit to God's patience. That He will only put up with so much, and then Wham! you are going to get it! But then I saw the Love of God, and understood more of His plan, and all of a sudden that verse became a promise of redemption! Can't you hear the the Love of God, when you consider that He is saying that He will not always strive with man, that there is a time limit, and the strife will end, and He will restore all of creation back to Himself! Then there is a way, wherein verses are read with a surface understanding and a literal interpretation. Everything is to be taken literally, they say. The Book of Revelation is a perfect example of this. All anyone has to do is read any of the "Left Behind" series of books that are out to see how dangerous this kind of interpretation is! Here is a suggestion for you. If you come across any Left Behind books, then do just that, and leave them behind! Here is what you first need to know if you are trying to understand the Book of Revelation, and that is that the first verse tells you what the whole book is about! "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:" The word signified it, means that it is written in signs and symbols. There are many great books written to explain key points in the book of Revelation, and one I recommend is written by Ray Prinzing called: Revelation, A Positive Book. I once missed the opportunity to ask someone I saw who was reading a book about the "antichrist" why he did not spend his time better by reading more about Jesus Christ! Christians spend way too much time and attention focused on the devil, and what he is doing and not enough time focused on Jesus and what He already did! I am telling you the truth when I say, that if you begin to see the message of the Bible as a love letter written to you from the Creator of the Universe; if you can begin to see that it is a handbook for your Spiritual man to be read with Spiritual eyes; that it is not meant to keep you away, but rather draw you closer; then you will begin to get excited again more than ever to know more about what is written within. I commented to a good Christian friend at work today about the verse from Isaiah 55:8,9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, said the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." I told him, that verse is an invitation! It is God saying to us, that since His ways are higher, then don't stay down there on the lower level of thinking, come up higher, and begin to think His higher thoughts, and understand His higher ways! Lets take Him up on His offer and Come Up Higher!

Consider My Servant Job.

If you are like most people, when you read or hear about the story of Job, the first thing that comes to mind is the great sufferings that he endured. Perhaps you think about the Lord calling the devil before Him, and asking "....Hast thou considered my servant Job, that [there is] none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?" Job 1:8, and thus the trouble begins! As we read on, God has given, what seems like free reign for the devil to do what he likes except take Job's life. And while it seems like that at a casual reading, the fact is that there are some very specific guidelines layed out, and notice that the devil complains because he can't do anything without God's permission! The devil is nothing more than a dog on a tight leash, and don't forget that it is God who is holding the leash. Okay, so that analogy doesn't do much for some people because many of God's ways seem so mysterious that it is hard to imagine any good purpose that would come of such tremendous suffering! It is hard to get past Job living a righteous life, and God picks him out, and sets the devil on him to prove something, and then God gives Job back twice as much in the end for passing the test. If that sums it up for you, then follow me to see something that I think will set you free! The first thing you need to know is that the book of Job is a parable. It is a story to teach a deeper truth. So don't get upset reading about his sons and daughters dying. Now, with that in mind first notice that Job did not KNOW God at all. How can I say that? Well read this verse: "And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. " Job 1:5 Why would Job worry about what God would do if his sons might have sinned and cursed God? Job did not know what God was like. He did not know God's character, or His nature, all that Job knew was that God was creator, and demanded a sacrifice. He did not know that God was going to supply the very sacrifice He demanded Himself! This is not unlike many people even now who only know what they have been told about God, and are mislead by even well meaning preachers that are just as uninformed about the TRUTH. Have you been told that God loves you, only to then be warned about what will happen if you mess up? Oh, we know that we are saved by grace, and not of works..... so then why do we constantly worry if we pleased God by our works, or think that whatever trouble we are going through is God punishing us anyway for something we did or didn't do? If you have ever said, "I can't live the Christian life, it is too hard, I give up!" My answer to you is YES! Please give up! God does not intend for you to live the Christian life, He intends to live His Life through you! The death of Jesus on the cross was to put an end to the Adamic carnal, natural man, and His resurrection was to create a New Man. Quit trying to patch up the old man, and make him perform better recognize that he is dead. Okay, so maybe you too have thought like Job that you had better follow all of the rules, and obey all of the commandments to avoid God's punishment. But your righteousness cannot save you, and your righteousness cannot keep you either! The 10 Commandments were never intended for us to keep them! And yet, we want to display them, and crush ourselves and others under those stone tablets! The fact is that God made sure we couldn't keep them, and built within each commandment the desire to break it! Romans 5:20 The harder you try to keep the law, the more you want to break the law you are trying to keep. (Ever notice so many ministers falling into sin?) The simple fact is, that the Law is called the Law of sin and death (Rom. 8) The ten commandments are sin and death to the natural man, BUT... (pay close attention to this!) They are PROMISES to the Spiritual man! Okay, so I am off track from my original intent with this post, and I will continue it next time, but I feel compelled to explain this further. If you are under the notion that all that happened when you became a Christian was that you escaped going to hell, and that now you believe in God, and you are trying to be like Jesus, and obey the law, and do good and live a righteous life, or any such thing then you have been short changed in your understanding of what actually happened! You might not have changed on the outside, but boy did you change on the inside! There was a complete change in government within you! A complete change in nature. You became a brand new creation! All the old things have passed away, and BEHOLD all things have become NEW! You have become dead to sin and alive to God. That is why I said that the commandments have become promises, because the old nature could not fullfill them, and was never intended to, but it is part of the new law that governs our new nature. What is that new law? "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:2 Since there is this new law abiding within you now, it is no longer a commandment to you, Thou shall not... but now it is a promise which says you will not because it is not a part of your new nature to do otherwise! The desire to break the law is now replaced with the nature to fulfill it! So then are you now asking why you still find yourself acting out of your old nature? Perhaps because it is that you did not know you have this Life within you! Did you not find some of your desires changed when you became a Christian? Like I already said, Truth will not set you free, you have to know the truth! Well, now that you know the Truth, let it set you free! Okay, here is a personal example of mine that happened after I learned this truth. I mentioned in an earlier post that I got delievered from smoking, and then about 7 years later I began smoking again. The reasons why are not important for now, but suffice it to say that I smoked for at least another ten years or more. I was never under any conviction for smoking, since I at least knew that my salvation was not dependant on that, but it did become somewhat annoying to be so restricted everywhere, and also the cost added to the inconvenience. I tried to quit a few times, and went on the patch, and even smoked with a patch after a few weeks, since I craved the nicotene. The best I could do was smoke a "lighter" cigarette. After a few more months, in Jan of '94 I took a trip to Florida, and brought a book with me to read. The name of the book is The Character of God in You by Gary Sigler. It was the first book of his that I read. Even though I have not read it again since, the one fact that I learned that changed my life was the same thing that I have been trying to explain here. The natural man cannot live the Christian life! What I also discovered was that my new nature was never addicted to cigarettes! It was a bondage and addiction to my old nature. All I had to do was to live out of the power of the new nature that lived within me, and I would not be subject to that addiction. And do you know that from that day till now I have not had another cigarette! I am not saying you should or should not smoke, that is not the point! Lynn Hiles was asked if you could be a Christian and smoke and still get to heaven? I love his answer. "Yes, as a matter of fact you would probably get there faster!" The point is that God used that addiction to teach me a very important lesson about the power of His Nature within me! Think about that the next time you go to tell someone about the Gospel! It is not so that they can escape some last day bar-b-que, but rather that the Life of God would dwell within them and give them power to know real peace and joy, and purpose. Next time I will try to continue with a lesson from the story of Job that you might not have heard that does tie into this post, as we "consider my servant Job".

Reading The Last Chapter First

One concern for me from the start about writing a blog is that anyone who might read it would do so by starting at the latest post that was written because of the way it is layed out with the latest post at the top. Where my concern lies is, that what I say in the latest post might be misunderstood without the context of what I said in previous posts. It is like reading the final chapter of a book first and trying to figure out what happened to lead up to that point. What would it be like if we lived our life backwards? What if we started out with knowing the results of all of the experiences we had gone through; learned all of our lessons; accomplished all of our tasks; had all of our disappointments; experienced all of our joys; then we lived our life backwards knowing the end result and purpose of each experience we were going through before we went through it. I often thought of something like that. How would our life change if we were able to even glimpse into the future, and see the end of whatever it is that we are trying to decide about now? How many times have you heard, or maybe even said yourself, "If I only knew then what I know now, I would have done something different." Well, perhaps then remembering that will help the next time we are faced with a decision to do something or not, or even if it seems like something we really wanted fell through, and we think we lost out on a great opportunity! Sometimes, we do actually get the chance to see what the results might have been had we made a different choice. Choosing one job over another, only to find out the other company closed its doors, and you would have been out of work. Or even a lost love, only to find out some dark aspect of their personality come to the surface that saved you a lot more trouble than the heartache you endured. One of the most major changes that took place years ago in my Spiritual understanding (that I refered to in an earlier post) had to do with getting a new perspective on the Sovereignty of God! I remember vividly the day that it happened, and it is something that I will never forget. I finally saw the absolute final authority in every detail of every aspect of every part of the entire universe being subject to the total and final Sovereign will and purpose of God! Now, knowing that beyond a shadow of a doubt, and actually living it every day on this Human Journey are sometimes two different things, though less and less which brings me much more peace! We are all familiar with the verses that remind us of His loving care such as in Matt. 10:29 " Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father." NIV. Or the next verse "And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered." Which I am told means, not that He knows the numbers of hairs on your head, but rather He has assigned a number to each hair! (Only in my case, there is much less numbering to do!) Anyway, while we easily agree with the all knowing aspect of God concerning something like that, it amazes me how quickly we take it away when it comes to things like trusting Him in other aspects of our "Human Journey". I don't mean trying to work up faith to buy a new Mercedes on a VW budget! Paul says in: ITim 6:8 "And having food and raiment let us be therewith content." And oh how much more blessed we are than just the basic neccessities. But how about trusting God when things seem at their worst? Perhaps a job is at stake, or a doctor's report is due, or some posing threat to your well being? Oh, sure I know the feeling too! But that is why I wonder if any of it would concern us if we could see into the future at the final outcome, and read the last chapter? So, now what about instead of us having to read the last chapter, or even the next chapter of our life to see the outcome, if we were able to trust that God not only knows, but that every detail is purposed to take place exactly as He planned from before the foundation of the world! Ah, see it is being able to give God that much sovereignty, is where most people have a problem. What about free will? Oh, my, I said it. And I do intend to delve much more deeply into that issue in future posts, but for now I will state clearly and emphatically I do not believe in man's so called free will one bit. I will agree that we have a will, but it is definately NOT free. It is in bondage either to sin or to righteousness. More on that later... Let me finish up this post by opening a proverbial can of worms, and explaining the one glaring truth that I came to know which set me free from that day on, and that is simply this, that the Devil was not created to be an angel, who rebeled, and then gathered 1/3 of all the other angels only to be cast out of heaven into some pit, who then disguised himself as a serpent who usurped God's plan by deceiving Eve in the Garden, who is now trying to trick the rest of the human race, and drag them all to hell with him! The devil is a created being of God's, design purposed for the task to which he has been assigned. Jesus said; speaking of the devil; that he was a thief and a liar from the beginning. The word beginning used there means origin, so he was not some fallen angel, as faulty tradition would have you believe! Every detail of creation and the so called fall in the garden was part of the ultimate purpose of God right from the start. Jesus is NOT plan "B". I used to skydive. I did it for 15 years, and have just shy of 1100 jumps. I mention it because on the reserve handle I wrote the words "Plan B". The reason I needed a plan B was because there was no guarantee that plan A would work! But let me tell you that God only ever had or has, or needs one plan, and that plan is guaranteed to work! Many people because of faulty traditions accuse God of messing up. They judge his plan based on their own lack of understandings because they don't KNOW the truth. They think that because they believe He already messed up, He can't be trusted not to mess up again. My intention is to cover this in more detail, but I will finish this post by declaring this fact, God is not subject to time like we are. Time is a part of creation like everything else. We have to wait for time to pass to find out the end of a thing, God is the beginning AND the end. He does not just know how something will end, He planned the ending before He even began it, and then purposed it to run it's course exactly as planned! The last chapter has already been written. We don't have to read the last chapter first, we just have to trust the One who wrote it!

Truth Alone Will Not Set You Free

I have heard it quoted many times "the truth will set you free." But that is mistaken! The actual verse is found in John 8:32 "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Do you see the difference? It may seem like a small point, but it is an important fact that truth will NOT set you free unless you know that truth! Truth can only have the power of it released to set you free when you know what that truth is. There are many things that are believed to be true that are not, and as long as you believe things to be true that are not, you remain in bondage to that lie. The truth is that Jesus is the savior of the world. Unless you know that to be true, you cannot apply that fact to your life, and you will live as though it were not true, and the truth of it cannot set you free. Instead you will remain in bondage to whatever deception you believe otherwise. Am I overstating the case by talking about being in bondage? I do not think so. Consider the story of how elephants are trained. From the time they are young and in captivity, there is a heavy chain put around their leg and very securely attached to the ground so that they cannot break free no matter how hard they try. It is like this for a long, long time. Then one day the elephant gives up, it does not try to break free and escape anymore. After that the owner can now put on a thin rope, and secure it with an easily dislodged peg in the ground, and the elephant will remain in bondage because it doesn't know the truth. So then, what if we say that we believe what the Bible says so that means we must know the truth then? Is that the case? Don't most churches say that they believe the Bible, and that they preach the truth of the word of God? If that is the case, then how come there are so many different denominations many of whom preach contrary things? Well, I think you have to consider whether the foundation of what you say you believe is contained in the bible or in traditions that have been passed down for generations. And while everyone would be able to point to verses they use to back up their beliefs, is it the Truth of the Word that you believe? Before you protest, consider what Jesus said in the sermon on the mount. In Matt. 5 several times He says "You have heard it said...... but I say unto you......" What was He doing? Giving them truth! Setting them free! "The letter kills, but the spirit gives life"! Consider what Jesus thought of the Pharisees, and the religious leaders of His day. These are people who memorized great portions of Scriptures. Some of them entire books of the Torah, and yet at one point He says to them, Mark 7:13 "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." About 15 years ago I was taking a correspondance Bible college course, and one of the subjects was Church History. I was amazed at the amount of things I learned during that course. Most of that subject dealt with the period of time in the early 15oo's from the Reformation under Martin Luther, to the present day. It detailed the progression of the various denominations and the differences in doctrines that divided them. Moreso, though was the traditions that were passed down from one generation to another. One thing I learned for sure is, that we can only see as far as the revelation we have been given, and that determines how far we will go with the truth we believe. People get a revelation from God on a point of truth, and that is where they stay. That is where they set up camp. That is where future generations become in bondage to that revelation. God said it, they believe it, that settles it! But God is still speaking, and unless we hear what He is saying NOW, we will be left behind in our understanding of Him, and thus dead in our traditions. One pastor put it this way, "If the church was in Abraham's position they would have sacrificed Issac on the altar anyway, because that is what God told them to do! Not listening to what God is saying NOW!" It is progressive revelation! "You have heard it said...... but I say unto you....." Progressive revelation. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know [them], and be established in the present truth. 2 Peter 1:12 What is God saying NOW? He still speaks, are we still listening? What if you search why you believe what you believe, and find out it has no basis in truth for now, are you willing to follow the truth no matter where it leads? Are you willing to trust God more than what you have been taught otherwise? What if it costs you your friends? What if people think you are being deceived, or that you are being led astray? In future posts I expect to detail some examples of things I have learned that are contrary to traditional church beliefs. Be willing at least to question whether these things that I will write are true or not. If not, then what have you done other than to more firmly establish within yourself what you already believed. But perhaps there are some things you will read here, and it just maybe that there is some Truth you will come to know that WILL set you free.

It Takes More Than Bread To Live

I was outside cutting the lawn, and the idea for this post came into my thoughts. That is a good enough reason for me to write it. 

The verse that came to mind is from Matt. 4:4 " ...Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Notice that the verse uses the present tense of the word proceedeth (King James English :-) and not the past tense. That is very important when you consider that when most people talk about the Word of God, they think of the 66 books of the Bible. Some even consider that only certain versions are the true inspired Words of God. Some are King James only believers. The joke is that if the King James version was good enough for Jesus, then it is good enough for me! (see, KJV was written in 1611). 

 Real Bible scholars, and those who are interested in deeper word studies do well to look up the meanings in a Hebrew and Greek concordance. It is very helpful to avoid mistakes in doctrine based on a mis-translation of words into common language. It happens much more than you might think! Having said all of that, if you stop there for your source of hearing God speak you are severely limiting yourself. 

The WORD of God is not written in Hebrew or Greek or Latin or English or French for that matter, the WORD of God is written in SPIRIT! Oh sure, you may read the words on the page of the Bible with your natural eyes, but it is not until you read with your spiritual eyes what the Spirit is saying, that you really read the word of God. You can hear a verse being read with your natural ears, but until you hear with your spiritual ears, will you really hear what is the word of God. 

People often quote the verse: "So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:17 and they think it means if they get the bible on tape and listen to it, then they will have more faith. But is that what the verse means? I believe it is not. Faith comes by hearing in your spirit that proceeding word of God. The proceeding Word of God is what God is saying NOW. What is He saying to you? Prayer is not just you talking to God, is it also Him talking back to you. Sometimes it can be very distinctive and clear, and other times it can be mysterious and enigmatic. I think it is also something that can be developed as well, based on the fact that I have come to recognize more and more when I am hearing a proceeding word from God. This blog is case and point. This post is another.

 Of course there are times when there is an inner sense, or nudging to go a certain way, or do a certain thing, or say a certain thing to somebody. I have read lots of stories of people who felt compelled to say something to a perfect stranger, only to find out that what they said maybe saved that stranger's life. I have also had experiences where I would begin to speak with an authority that was not my own about something where it turned out to be a word from God for them. There are verses that tell us that Jesus only said those things He heard the Father say, and that He only did those things that He saw the Father do. Jesus only spoke when He heard the Father speak first. He saw the Father do a miracle first, and then He did did it. Can you imagine when we will come to the point where we do the same thing? Can you imagine how that would change our lives? How that would change what we say and do?

 Years ago, I heard my friend Gary Sigler talk about how it does not take any effort for God to heal someone or perform a miracle. It is not like you would ever hear God say "Wow, that miracle was hard to do! Whew." It is not like He has to start with something easy like heal a broken bone before He could make a cripple walk! He just has to speak the word. And all that is necessary is for someone to hear Him speak that word, and then to repeat what they hear the Lord say, no more and no less, and it is done! There is no need for screaming and shouting, and casting out demons, and ranting and raving. Usually just a lot of flesh acting up. Just speak the words you hear proceeding from the Father. "Rise, and take up your bed and walk."

 Now it should be noted that the verse " ...Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." is the first of three responses that Jesus spoke in answer to the devil who was sent to tempt Him in the wilderness. "If you be the Son of God...." is how the temptation begins. However the proceeding word of the Father came just days earlier when Jesus was in the river Jordan being baptized by John, "And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Matt.3:17 The question remains then, what proceeding word from the Father sustains you better than bread?

On The Job Training

I mentioned in an earlier post that it was necessary to divide our time according to whatever priorities we have set for ourselves. There are a lot of things that demand our attention. Some things that we choose for ourselves, such as TV, reading, puzzles, writing posts, and many things that are chosen for us. Work comes to mind. Sleep is another. Eating is another. We have to get our rest, and at least most of us have to earn a living, and all of us have to eat. It is during what we consider as our free time, that we try to divide by priorities what activities we pursue at that time.

 This blog is called On A Human Journey. It is called that for a reason as explained in my first post. I believe that we all are first spiritual beings created from the very being of God who is Spirit, and that we were LOWERED into this human physical existence for a reason. I believe that reason is because there is something that our Spiritual being can only learn by going through the process of this human experience. Sort of an on the job training, so to speak. That on the job training encompasses all of our time, both what we need to do, and what we want to do. Asleep or awake, aware or unaware, every breathing second, every heart beat is a part of the process that our spiritual being must experience.

 In my last post I talked about certain experiences I had that matured my understanding of the nature of God. I detailed one, and intend to add to that as these posts continue, but one of the most major changes in my life took place about early summer of 1993. It so transformed my spiritual walk that it will take several posts to explain it. 

I only mention it now, because most of what I believed about God began to change on that day and much of what I write is a result of the change that took place. But for the purpose of this post I hope to make a point about another thought. 

 On Friday, a quick thought and verse came to mind while at work. The title of this post is the theme, and the verse is found in Hebrews 5:8 "Though he were a Son (Jesus), yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;" Do you find yourself asking the question what does that mean? Was Jesus disobedient, and then had to suffer to become obedient? I do not believe so, and yet it did cross my mind.

 Since we know that Jesus was never disobedient, it seems He had to learn by the experience of suffering in His humanity. What it was like to have to be obedient all the while experiencing suffering. Thus there is the relatable experience whereby the Hebrews writer could say in 4:15 "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." No one could say that God does not understand what it is like to be on this human journey. So, how does this relate to why we are going through this human journey?

 Let me try to explain my point this way. God said in the beginning, "Let us create man in our image and likeness." And so we know that Adam was created, and made and formed (not synonymous words). It is my belief that Adam was NOT the man that was intended when God spoke "Let us create man in our image and likeness." I believe that the New Creation Man, is the man that God intended and that Adam was just the first step to that process, and I have many reasons for that belief. 

The biggest reason I think of, can be found in what God says AFTER the sin took place in the Garden. "Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil:" Gen 3:22. Most people think that God was testing their love, or that He didn't know what they would do, or that it was Adam and Eve's fault for not believing, and that the whole human race would still be in the Garden of Eden if they just did not blow it!

 But that reasoning is so faulty in too many ways to name. Let me just say that Jesus was not God's plan "B". God was in complete and sovereign control at all times, and dare I say that it was God's purpose and plan right from the beginning that Adam and Eve would sin in disobedience. All that happened was purposed to happen and part of God's creative process. Until then, Adam only knew God as creator. That was the level of his experience. He did not know by experience one single characteristic of God's nature. Adam did not know the mercy of God. How could he? He had never experienced it before then. God could declare that "His mercy endures forever", but how does he know the mercy of God unless he is in a position to need it? "God is love." But how does he know the love of God until he experiences it? What about kindness, gentleness, longsuffering, power, strength, sovereignty?

 One of the things that is taking up my free time the past few months is that I am in the process of becoming a pilot. I am still at the pre-solo stage, and am very near that milestone in my training. One thing I can tell you from my experience at this point, is that as much as I can tell you, will never substitute for actual hands on at the controls flying the airplane experience for yourself!! You can share in my excitement, (and believe me, I will post my solo experience here after it happens) but as good as any explanation I could come up with would never compare to a personal experience.

 Now how different is that from having a personal experience with God? All that anyone could tell you about their experiences could never compensate for personal on the job, human journey, experience for yourself. And who is best to design the most perfect on the job training experiences that are needed to give you the most intimate and individual attention necessary to provide that experience?

 Let me add this thought. You probably have seen the bumper sticker "God is my co-pilot". I have also seen the bumper sticker that said, "If God is your co-pilot, you are sitting in the wrong seat." Consider this; from my experience as one who is learning to fly, there is only ever one person who is designated as "Pilot in Command" or PIC in any airplane. At this stage of the game, until I get to fly solo, even if I am performing all of the controls, without input from the instructor, he is still PIC. Perhaps, even though it seems like we have the controls of our life in our own hands, God is still PIC all the while we are On The Job Training.

He That Has An Ear.

I don't yet know the purpose I am writing this blog. I don't know if it is for my benefit, or someone else's. Are the things that I will write to help me clarify thoughts and beliefs I have, or is it so that something I write will be read by someone I don't even know only to have that person benefit greatly from learning something that might even change their life? Is that too much to ask or expect or even think about?

 I have been on the receiving end of that very thing many times in my own life. Something I heard someone say or something I read that another person wrote which completely altered my life in a dramatic way! I am meaning dramatic in a spiritual sense, and so perhaps this blog could have the same effect for someone else. I will give a couple of personal examples.

 After I became a Christian, in the mid 70's it did not seem to make much of a difference in my daily life, other than going to Church on a semi-regular basis instead of staying home. This went on for a couple of years, and then I went to a campground that was holding a "Jesus Festival" for a week. There were different speakers and performers at various places in the camp, and one afternoon I sat on a chair in front of a band stand out side, and a person walked on stage, and began to sing. I thought he was a terrible singer, but it turned out he was there to preach. His name is Brian Rudd. He told his testimony of how he was a preacher's kid, and how he got into trouble with the law living a rebellious life, and ended up in solitary wanting to kill himself, and how God came into that cell, and transformed his life. By the time he was finished his message, it was like nobody else was there but me and him. He talked about being delivered from cigarettes, and to come up front to get what God had for you, so without thinking I walked up to the stage and threw my cigarettes on the stage. 

 There was more to that day than just being delivered from smoking. (I did not have another cigarette after that day for some 7 years, but that is another story) The fact is that something else more important happened on the inside to my spirit man! All of a sudden without any expectations, I began to take a great interest in spiritual things! I started going to church on a regular basis. I started to study the bible. I even felt a call to ministry, and began to take courses to study for that purpose!

 I have come to believe that I was filled with the Spirit on that day. I did not speak in tongues, and since that is a problem for some, I will just say that while I believe speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit, I also believe that THE gift is to receive "power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you." Power to live the Christian life. Having received the gift of the Holy Spirit, no matter how you look at it, does not mean that your life just takes on a trouble free path, by no means! That is where the Human Journey kicks in! It is then where you really start to experience God, and relate to Him through your experiences. I have often quoted someone else by saying that a man with an argument is no match for a man with experience, and once you begin to have experiences with God, there is not even any argument you can make in your own mind to convince you differently of the reality of God!

 There are times you might try! Times when you almost wish God did not exist because you are mad over something you think He should have done differently, but deep inside you know that you know that you know He is real. We are spiritual beings first and foremost, and we hear from God with our spiritual ears. Jesus said: "He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit is saying...." Jesus was obviously not talking about hearing with our physical ears. We must learn to hear with our spiritual ears the voice of God, and while sometimes it can be dramatic and life changing, other times it could be something as simple as starting a blog....

 Somehow, this post has taken a completely different track than I first intended, so I will just flow with it, and consider that it is the way it should be. And rather than write lengthy posts, and extend this beyond any reader's quick perusing, I will break this thought up into smaller readable bites allowing anyone to read on, or pause here. And I hope you will read on..... perhaps you will hear something?

The God of Our Understanding

I have often said that we worship the God of our understanding. Think about that for a minute, I will wait.......

 I don't know how many times I have heard someone say, "That's not the kind of God I believe in!" And yet they would both claim to believe in the same God, but both have a different understanding. So what is up with that? Is God schizophrenic? Is one or both of them wrong? An emphatic no to the first question, and not necessarily to the second question. 

 The only way that we can have any knowledge about who God is, and what His nature is, is only when He reveals Himself. Now, someone could say that they believe there is a God, and they can attribute certain acts to Him. How often have you heard someone say that something was an "act of God"? Many can say they believe that God created the universe, but there is certainly something different than believing there is a God, and knowing that God in whom you believe. And the only way it is possible to know that God in whom you believe is that He reveals Himself.

 Having said that, I also believe that our understanding of God changes based on our interaction and experiences with Him. He does not just reveal All that He is all at once, He builds upon our understanding of Him by our experiences with Him. (while on this human journey so to speak) God does not change! Our understanding changes as our relationship with Him changes.

 Simply put, God first revealed His existence to me when I was about 18 years old. I just went from being a non believer to a believer in a very short time. The bible describes this as a new birth, or being "born again". Now, it is more understandable when you consider that a woman does not conceive one day and give birth to that baby the next day, there is a gestation period. But when the labor pains begin, the baby is ready to deliver. 

Thus, I can relate to several different events that transpired prior to the actual time in which I would declare I was a Christian. The gestation period if you will. However, I will say that I do not believe the same things about God now as I did back then. I did not know much about God back then. I was a new believer back then. God did not reveal all of Himself all at once.

 A new born baby does not have any ability to survive in this strange, and hostile new world. We can not feed ourselves, we never had to before, all of our nourishment supplied by the umbilicle cord has been cut off. We have to rely on others to take care of all of our needs. We have to grow, and be taught, and experience this new life step by step, year by year.

 Soon we learn to feed ourselves, and to take care of our own needs to a certain extent. Eventually we learn enough to teach others, but that does not prevent us from continuing to learn more new things, and some of the new things replace the ideas we used to have; ideas that we were so sure were correct. (Do you remember believing in the Easter Bunny?) It has been some 35 years since that day, (the specific day I do not remember) and a lot has changed since then. A lot of experiences with God over the years have happened that has molded and shaped my understanding to formulate what I believe now. This blog will reflect those experiences to reveal to the reader.... the God of MY understanding.

The Email That Started It All

Recently I was responding from my heart to someone I have known for years about a difficult time they are going through, with no forethought of any other purpose than to hope to provide some encouragement and comfort. As a result of my writing the following email, my thoughts continued to formulate the idea for this blog and moreso, it began an inner purpose not to put it off any longer. 

 "I know a lot of stories of many people that went through very hard times, and who questioned even the existence of God because of those hard times! And rightly so! I know from personal experience, that hard times for one person may not be hard times for someone else, but we each have our own breaking point, and I would almost guarantee that it is not until we go through those kind of times..... even to where our faith falters.... even to where we have convinced ourselves that either God does not exist, or that at least if He does then we are not interested to know Him!

 I am convinced that it is having been in that place to where in our soul, we were so shaken that there would be nothing left to hang on to....... that it is in that place, where God will fill us with Himself! It seems to me that it is the very ones who have the strongest faith in the toughest times, are the same ones who have already been through something much tougher, and have gotten to know God on a personal level because of the experiences they had during those tough times! 

 And isn't that the key? It is not enough to know about God or just to believe that He exists, how deep is that faith? But rather to KNOW Him! And how does one tell if they know Him, other than God reveals Himself. It is as easy and as complicated as that! There are no steps to follow, no prayers to pray, no deals to be made, no arm twisting, and empty promises. There are no two ways the same. You can't repeat the same path I was taken (or anyone else) to get the same result. But what I can tell you without hesitation is that there is MORE!

 There is more of Him to be had, more for Him to reveal, and the more that He reveals, the more insignificant any other troubles seem because you just know that He is SO much BIGGER than that. How is that possible? Well, I think it has a lot to do with our expectations.

 I remembered a saying from a while back, that went like this: We are not human beings on a spiritual journey, we are spiritual beings on a human journey!! There is a big difference between the two. To me, that puts a lot of things into perspective. Romans says "For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are ALL things." Since we came from Him, and we are going back to Him anyway, then what is the purpose of THIS human life?? And isn't that the question that needs to be answered? Isn't it possible that the purpose God has in store for us in our existence with Him, can only be developed because of our experiences on this human journey?

 Paul says "that the sufferings of this present world are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us!" And yet we compare the sufferings now to... we do not know what! We don't know yet the glory that shall be revealed in us, so we do not have that experience to compare it to.... and yet, every so often there is a moment in time where He seems to draw back the curtain within, and reveals part of Himself from within, to where it is almost beyond our ability to contain ourselves. And then the curtain is closed, and it is as if it were a dream, and another phase of the human journey continues, and yet, we can draw strength from that moment of intimacy with Him, and we can trust Him even more than we did before, and we can even come to that place where we will say with Job, "even though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!" And we say that, not in our own strength, but in His strength that operates within us.

 That part where our spirit is strengthened, and our carnal man is being overcome. And some days I am not interested in overcoming my carnal man, I just want to be trouble free! And once not long ago, the Lord reminded me of a choice.... though I wonder how much choice He intended knowing what my heart would choose anyway..... What if you could live a reasonably trouble free life. No great heartaches, but also no great heights. Perhaps you would never really know hunger, or pain, or disaster, but you would also not know the deep joys of life either. Not a lot of struggle, and not a lot of success. OR... You could have more of HIM! And the result of every experience He would purpose for your life, would reveal more of Him! Every pain would end in knowing more of Him. Every heartache would result in knowing more of Him. Not that these things would be without purpose, for every detail of our life is carefully orchestrated in unfathomable love towards us, for the glory that shall be revealed in us.

 The cry of my heart was More of Him! And it is really the cry of your heart too!"

Beginning Is Half Done

This blog has been a long time coming. Like many things, how we separate our available time will determine what things we will accomplish and what things get left behind.

 Cindi (my wife) has encouraged me for a couple of years to write a blog, and up until now, writing a blog was not one of those things for which I wanted to use up my available time. One other cause for delay was I did not have a Title for the blog. What would I call it? Seems like a small detail, but to me a title sets the purpose. Giving something a name, identifies that thing. I intend to write more in later posts about the importance of a name, but for now having a blog name defines for me the boundries of the posts that will be written.

 Recently, after writing an email to a friend, I felt like what I wrote (I will include parts of it in a future post) clarified all of these things for me without any forethought. It is because of that sudden clarification that I came up with a name, and a purpose, and I thought it was time to act on it, and at least to begin this blog.

 My former pastor used to say "Beginning is half done." meaning that starting something new is the hardest part, and once we start on something, we are half way there to finishing it. Cindi is also responsible for the time and effort it took to set this whole blog up, so all I have to do is write the posts. Easy start for me eh? 

 Okay, so why the name and what is the purpose? Simply put, we are all on a human journey. All of us. And there are different ways of looking at the events that happen on this journey of ours. Different perspectives. Not only to what happens to us, but what we observe happening to others on their journey, and in the world around us, not only where we are now, but also through the rear-view mirror we use to judge those things which are past.

 There are some that believe we are just human beings and that is it. When this life ends, that is all there is to it, and everything ceases. Their perspective of their human existence consists only of what affects their life on this earth now with no forethought of any part of them that lives on when they die. I used to believe this until I was about 18 years old, but I think there are fewer in this category than would even admit to it if they were honest about their alone times. 

 There are those that believe their life extends beyond this human existence, that they have a soul, or a spiritual part that continues after they die. In this category there are some who might say that what they do on their human journey good or bad affects what happens to their soul and spirit after they die. I think most people fit into this category. 

I used to believe that exact same thing for most of my life. It can be defined as being on a spiritual journey. Who are we, and why are we here? Where did we come from? Where are we going? What should I believe?

 In the third category, is where I find myself now. It is that we are first and foremost spiritual beings, and as spiritual beings, we are experiencing a human journey. Paul says in Romans 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, [are] all things: to whom [be] glory for ever. Amen. God is Spirit! We are spirit created out of His Spirit. We are going back to Him.

 Since we began in Him, and are ending in Him, then why did we leave in the first place? I believe that God's purpose is for our Spiritual beings to gain something through our human experience that can be gained in no other way, which will ultimately lead to greater glory being revealed in us. Once again Paul says in Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 

So we are all on this human journey. And while many of these future posts will likely be from my human perspective of things, I hope that many more will be from a spiritual perspective while being... ON A HUMAN JOURNEY.