Guard Your Mind

This morning I need to write about what happened in my dreams last night.  I was attacked and had to fight.  There were monsters all over. Demons coming at me and who I was with.  Every corner, every turn, there was another monster showing up and coming at us.  Again and again the attackers came at us.  Just when I turned a corner and thought they were gone another one of them came at me.  I knew they were trying to kill me but I was able to fight them off.  I don't remember if I had a weapon but I was fighting.  It was a terrible battle and I was getting so very tired but I could not give up or I was dead.  Then I woke up.

In waking everything was so vivid and I began calling on the name of Jesus!  I knew there were evil spirits in my mind and they had been tormenting me in my sleep.  They had been out to kill my peace.  For at least 10 minutes I prayed and said the name of Jesus as my heart quit racing and the faces of the monsters were replaced with the face of Jesus and his angels who set guard over us when we call on Him.  I turned on my audio Bible to the book of Psalms let the verses flood my mind.  Chapter 18 is where I started listening as David cried out to the Lord to fight his battles and to protect him.  If was not a coincidence the Lord started me in that chapter.  I took 15 to 20 minutes before I was calm again and the monsters were fading from my thoughts.  I fell back to sleep with the audio Bible playing the monsters never returned.

As I think about the event this morning, it was terrifying to have it happen but then as I read Psalms 18 this morning I knew in my spirit that God had played that word for me to calm me from the attack of the devil I had experienced. This scripture reaffirmed to me that we are in a world filled with evilness and even those of us who walk closely with the Lord can come under spiritual attacks just as it says in Ephesians 6:12.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

God gives us the way to fight these rulers of the darkness and that is what we are told to do in Ephesians 6:13-18.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 

I have underlined the words, above all, to point out the shield of faith is what was needed to fight the monsters who came into my dreams last night.  As I woke from the fight, the dream, I had the ability to know it was a demonic attack and to go straight to Jesus and His word.  Without faith in the power of Jesus we are open to the demonic attacks here on earth.  It's a daily walk and daily learning how to walk the walk.  Without being in the word of God we cannot be prepared when these attacks come at us.  The blueprint for navigating these battles is right there in scripture for all of us to learn and know.

This morning my devotional only reaffirmed what I already knew but I love the poke from Holy Spirit that I heard correctly. Remember, with God there are no coincidences. 

The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. - Romans 8:6

SEARCHING

I believe that every single person who has a working mind and is old enough to understand that they are a human being here on planet earth, will ask either themselves or others why they were born.  At one point in time they will seek an answer as to why they are here, why they are alive and breathing, and what is the reason for being them being here.  Some will search many years for the answer year after year, sometimes until they die.  Some will find the answer.  Some will hear.  Some will not.  Some will quit asking.  Some will lead others by their own truth of this question.  Some answers will be the correct answer and some will not.

 

Human beings are very strange beings.  Most of want their needs met.  They want what they want and they will kill others to get it.  Some humans are more passive souls and will not hurt others to get what they want.  They might lie and cheat and steal but they will not intentionally harm another human being.  Some will find their answers in a substance that will numb their mind so they do not have to think about life especially the terrible parts of life caused by other human beings or the elements of this globe spinning in the universe that can bring about natural destruction. 

 

Today we live in a world where a majority of the people think they have the right to anything and everything they want.  Whether is be a need, a right, or an opinion it is theirs and no one can tell them otherwise.  If you do not agree with this than you are the one in the wrong.  They will tell you that you have no right to judge them.  You have no right to speak anything other than what they believe.  They will rise up against anyone and everyone who tries to deny them of their beliefs and their morals.  They will not bend or admit there could be another way or that others even matter. They will fight for every single thing in their life.  Fighting in life is not what any of us should want to do.

 

I am a believer that Jesus of Nazareth was God in human form who came to earth to save people from themselves.  I believe he walked the earth for approximately 33 years and told of a way to live life on earth in a peaceful, hope filled way.  I believe he was the Christ, the Messiah spoken of in the books of the Old Testament.  I believe the Bible is the inspired word of God for a world that is evil and sinful.  A world that does not show the peace, love and hope of a Creator that made human beings in the likeness of him.  I believe the books of the New Testament fully show that Jesus was God and that his followers were, and still are, inspired by the power of the Holy Spirit of God.  At this point in my life I have no doubt of who Jesus is and he is who he said he was.

The Dream and The Word

I woke up about 3:30 am and decided to look up information about a small church we were planning to attend in Redmond.  There were more than a half of a dozen churches in downtown Redmond so I was looking at the website information about each church professing Jesus Christ as savior and professed to follow the ways of Jesus.  I went back to sleep after an hour and woke up a few hours later with parts of a dream still in my head.

 

In my dream I had been visiting the different churches, all within walkable distances.  Each church welcomed me but then someone would come up to me and begin telling me about a dead body and that they could not find the killer.  It was repeated over and over in each church, with different faces and different voices, it was the same story of a dead body and no one could find the killer.  As I listened there were people who actually wanted to find the killer.  But in each church I noticed there were those who hung back and those who told me it was none of my business and that I should leave.  As I left the churches I could feel my feet sinking and I looked down to see the carpet where I stood and I could  see it was  mud and goo under my feet and it was blood red.  I walked out into the yards of the churches where it was also filled with the blood red mud and goo.  I continued to talk with many different people about the death, the dead body and who the killer could be but nothing was ever determined and no one knew how to find the killer.

 

I woke up from my dream.

 

Waking from sleep I tried to understand what the meaning of the dream was and what the Lord wanted me to understand. 

 

I was lead to Deuteronomy 28: 15-68

 

“However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. The Lord will send on you curses, confusion and rebuke in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin because of the evil you have done in forsaking him. The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess. The Lord will strike you with wasting disease, with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought, with blight and mildew, which will plague you until you perish. The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed. The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven, and you will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms on earth. Your carcasses will be food for all the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. At midday you will grope about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue you. You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression all your days. The sights you see will drive you mad. The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. The Lord will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror, a byword and an object of ridicule among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you. You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off. You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity. Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land. The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them. They will be the head, but you will be the tail. All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever. Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand, a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old or pity for the young. They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine or olive oil, nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined. They will lay siege to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you. Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you. Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities. The most gentle and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities. If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name—the Lord your God— the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky will be left but few in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”—because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again. There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

 

Reading this scripture in Deuteronomy, which I do not remember reading before,  I could hear the wrath of the Father for a people that would not repent.  They would not stop following false gods and false idols.  I prayed asking for more clarity and the following is what I wrote.

 

The Church has failed.  It is time for rebuke. The definition of rebuke is to express sharp disapproval or criticism of someone because of their behavior or actions. The people have covered the carpets of the churches with the blood of Jesus. They continue in sin all the while knowing they continue in sin. These sins keep the blood he shed on the cross continually flowing but without the power of repentance and the saving grace and mercy of forgiveness. They take this unrepentant attitude with them as they leave the churches and go into the outside world leaving His power of forgiveness looking like nothing more than mud and goo.  They are stuck in this because of their unwillingness to repent of their sin.

 

Lord, I want to be an encourager not one who speaks hard truth to the church. These are my brothers and sisters not my enemy.

 

The Lord says, “They need to hear hard truth.”

 

“The people think nothing of spending thousands of dollars on themselves and think so little of the needs of others. They look at themselves first. Others in need barely matter and are the responsibility of someone else, so they believe, but they are wrong.”

 

“The church is to serves me if they follow me. They speak love but fail, as they are selfish and value themselves above all others. They sin in their selfish ways and therefore I hang on the cross bleeding freely without my blood covering them but flowing to the floor with no power. Repentance is not in their hearts. Many come again and again, over and over. Many say they want to be free of sin but in their hearts they desire and choose their sin over me. They are selfish. They lie to themselves. Even their shepherds live like this.”

 

Isaiah 29:13

“The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.”

‭

Proverbs 27:5

“Better is open rebuke than hidden love.”

 

Matthew 5:13

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”

 

John 12:35-36‭‭

“Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.”

 

Everyone wants to be the light. No one wants to be the salt. Encouragement is good for all who are seeking the Lord by serving him. But those who are called to serve him and are only serving themselves need to hear the real hard truth of their ways and hear rebuke. The church has failed. The church leaders have failed.  We have failed.  I have failed.

 

Lord Jesus, I ask that you give me strength and wisdom to be able to be salt and be light.  To be able to rebuke and to be able to encourage.  To be able to speak your hard truth to others as well as speak your love into others.  Help me Lord to be your servant with a willing spirit for what you need not what I think I should be doing but that I actually do your will.  ‭Help me with my words and your wisdom.  Amen.

I Am Free

Here in the United States of America we value our freedom.  This nation was formed by people who were under the rule of the king of England who would not let the people choose in many areas of their lives.  They were under a huge burden of taxation and were not allowed to worship freely.  The king decided how the common people would live their lives and if they did not follow his commands they were imprisoned or killed.  There was not a choice for the people.  They were slaves to the king.

 

Slavery in one form or another has been the plight of mankind from early on.  Early on even Adam and Eve and their children were slaves to the earth.  After their fall in the garden nothing was easy and they had to produce the food they would eat to live.  In the times of Noah there was great wickedness on earth so we should only assume that the strong used the weak as their slaves.  After the flood the same happened again.  Noah's son, Ham, sinned against his father Noah and his linage was cursed. A grandson of Ham, Nimrod declared himself king and decided to take his cousins (children of Shem and Japheth) as slaves for the city and tower (Babel) he was building in honor of his gods. He had forsaken the One True God. The stories of slavery continue until this day.

 

In our day owning a slave is detestable yet many workers in many industries will tell you they are a slave to their job.  Today people are slaves to their possessions.  They are slaves to their family.  They are slaves to their friends.  They are slaves to their sins.  Slavery is bondage to something or someone.  All who are held in some kind of bondage (slavery) know it yet somehow are unable or unwilling to break the chains.  They live in it for their entire lives and many die in it.

 

But there is hope for all of mankind held in any kind of slavery.  That hope is Jesus Christ who saves us from the trials, tribulations, and sins of this life.  He promises us an eternal life free from sin and slavery. He offers this free gift of forgiveness and salvation for eternity in a new world without sin and slavery.  He came to earth specifically to pay the price for us to be free from this worldly life filled with fear, wickedness, and bondage.  He promised to never leave us and to always be with us if we come to him and accept his saving gift of  forgiveness and to honor his commands to love one another and be gentle in spirit, words and deeds. 

 

We will still have to live in this fallen world even when we have come to the saving grace of Jesus.  We will still feel many time that we are not free from the wickedness of this world and the bondages it places on us as humans.  We still have to find a way to bring food to the table for our family.  We still have to live in a world where people choose other gods and idols.  As long as we are in this human body on this fallen earth we will have to deal with it's sinful ways.  The evil ruler of this earth is still going to try to place the people in bondage and slavery. He is still going to try to place chains of conviction on all of God's chosen people.  He is still going to try to place God's people in some kind of prison to keep them from the freedom that God gives to those who call upon His name.  He is still going to place doubts of our freedom from sin.  He will never give up trying to convince us we are not worthy enough to be free.

 

There are promises on promises throughout the Bible telling us that the Lord God Almighty will set us free from this world and all of the chains that bind us.  All we have to do is believe His word and His promises.

 

Galatians 5:1 (NKJV) - Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.

 

John 8:31-32 (NIV) - To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

 

John 8:36 (NIV) - So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Following Jesus

People who follow Jesus follow a man who was God in human form. It’s not a religious connection but a spiritual connection. Unless one finds this spiritual connection even a religious connection won’t fill a person with the peace, hope and love that comes. It only happens by spirit not religion. 

Those who followed Jesus when he walked on earth in human form heard him say things like,

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” ~  ‭‭John‬ ‭14:6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” ~ ‭‭John‬ ‭14:7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ~ ‭‭John‬ ‭9:5‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.” ~ ‭‭John‬ ‭10:14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” ~ ‭‭John‬ ‭5:46-47‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Over and over Jesus spoke to the religious leaders of his time and tried to get them to see and understand he was God. He was the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior that all of the old prophets spoke of hundreds and thousands of years earlier, but they were stuck in their religion without a spiritual connection. The were blind and did not want to see. They were stubborn and prideful. They were selfish and greedy with power. They killed him instead of kneeling before God. 

But the disciples and the people who walked with him, talked with him, listened to him and made a spiritual connection with him did see who he was. They saw the miracles he performed and were not jealous of his power. They saw the kindness and love he had for others and did not call him their enemy but their friend. They saw his gentle way of dealing with others and felt love for him not resentment. Many of them died for him and many still are over 2,000 years later. 

Living for Jesus has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with the Spirit of God living and working inside the hearts and minds of those who hear and see past this world and into a spiritual world. When one believes in who Jesus was and what he said, they also believe in this promise;

“There are many rooms in my Father's house, and I am going to prepare a place for you. I would not tell you this if it were not so. And after I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to myself, so that you will be where I am.” ~ ‭‭John‬ ‭14:2-3‬ ‭GNTD‬‬

And this promise;

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” ~ ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11:28-29‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

None of this is rocket science. It is faith. Simple, pure, spiritual faith to believe. 

The Seven Churches (Revelation Chapters 2 & 3)

As Born-Again Spirit-Filled Christians we strive daily to be in the Church of Smyrna.  The last thing we ever want is to be affiliated, in any way, with the Church of Laodicea.  Those who fit into the Church of Laodecia will not be saved and will be cast into the Lake of Death. The other five churches have many issues to overcome but we can also have hope that the Lord will continue to guide us and forgive us as we choose to repent from our sins and walk with Him.   

The Consequences of Sin

Friday, July 09, 2021
7:34 AM

This morning my scripture readings are in Samuel 11 and 12 speaking about King David and his adultery with Bathsheba, murder of Uriah and death of his innocent child.  It's the sad story of what happens to us and others when we sin. I shed a tear for this tiny infant who did nothing wrong yet never was allow to have a life.  David chose to sin and the path of that sin led to the child's destruction.   

Our sins have consequences.  Those consequences can surface quickly or they can surface some time later in life.  Sin that is committed and exposed quickly can lead to repentance and forgiveness.  Sin that is committed and hidden for periods of time can surface at unexpected times and cause havoc in the lives of the sinner and the lives of the people closest to the sinner.  A sin committed, admitted, repented from, forgiven of, is the easiest way for us to learn.  The Father cannot forgive us until we come before Him and ask for that forgiveness.  How can we learn to "Go, and sin no more" if we do not admit our sin?  We cannot.  Hidden sin sits inside us to fester and boil like gangrene. Eventually, left uncared for and untreated, it will lead to death.

David knew he had sinned.  He knew he lustfully took another man's wife. He knew he was responsible for the death of Bathsheba's husband, Uriah.  He knew the mess he had made for himself and for Bathsheba.  He cried out to the Lord for forgiveness and mercy during the days while the baby was suffering from an illness after his birth.  David knew that when the baby died the Lord had said, "No, I will not and cannot spare this child."  The decision and consequences of David's sin had been decided and an innocent child paid the price.

Fast forward thousands of years, and innocent babies are still paying the price for the sins of their father's and mother's.  Today as I write this, I am reminded of the cost.  Over 62 million unborn children have died from abortion in the United States alone, since 1973 when abortion was deemed "legal" in the United States.  Each one of the lives of these millions of babies laid in the hands of their father's and mother's. The choice was made and those lives were terminated.  Just as in David's life, murder was the sin.  Just as in David's life, repentance can lead to forgiveness.  Just as in David's life, the consequences are carried throughout the rest of life.  Not one single woman can forget the aborted child regardless if she is a believer or a non-believer, she remembers.  She may not have walked with the Lord at the time of the choice but once she found a relationship with Him, the death of the child tore and tears into her heart.   She is only able to live with the choice, knowing that the forgiveness and mercy of God is there though the heartache will never go away.  The innocent child paid the ultimate price for her sin.

I can say all of this because I too had to make a choice in 1973 to have the child out of wedlock or end the life of that child to make my life easier.  I was 18 years old.  I have no idea how different my life would have been had I chosen to abort my child.  It would have been a completely different life.  Many, many people in my life would not be here today.  My heart breaks for each woman of God who made the choice to abort her child.  She lives with that choice and it never goes away.  Forgiveness is one thing but forgetting is totally different.  The face of that child will haunt every single Godly woman and I am sure that many of the father's are also haunted by the choice to end their child's life.  We learn to live with the consequences of our choices but we always remember. Those who forget are doomed to repeat the sin in one way or the other.

King David was selfish and took what he wanted without thinking of the lasting consequences.  He was a man of God and the Lord had blessed him in so many ways before this horrific sin of the murder of Uriah was committed.  After the sin and forgiveness he was still blessed by the Lord.  He made other mistakes, committed other sins but continually returned to the Lord for forgiveness, guidance, and wisdom until his death as an old man. 

Psalm 139:7-8 (NKJV)
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

Job 34:21-22 (NKJV)
For His eyes are on the ways of man,
And He sees all his steps.
There is no darkness nor shadow of death
Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.

Lamentations 3:22-23 (ESV)
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; Because of the steadfast love of the Lord, we are not cut off; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Like David, we can ask the Lord for mercy from the consequences of our sin.  We can ask that He spare others from the consequences but need to be prepared for whatever His answer may be.  We can repent, pick up the pieces of life and "Go, and sin no more".  We can more forward toward what is ahead, the prize of eternal life with Him, without spot or blemish, but only by the covering of the blood Jesus at the Cross.  We must always remember that in this life we will suffer the consequences of our actions and our choices and others in our life will also bear those burdens.

Galatians 6:1-2 (CEB)
Brothers and sisters, if a person is caught doing something wrong, you who are spiritual should restore someone like this with a spirit of gentleness. Watch out for yourselves so you won’t be tempted too. Carry each other’s burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ. 

For close to 50 years now I have walked with my sisters in their choice. My heart for the unbeliever who is tormented is greater than for those who believe in repentance and the forgiveness of sin.  One is lost but the other is found.  One is saved and the other is not.  I truly want the lost to seek and find the gift of salvation and forgiveness of sin offered by Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:10 (NIV)
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.

My road was very hard because of the choice I made in 1973.  I continued to make many more mistakes as I matured and grew into adulthood but the Lord was faithful to carry me through and now at an old age can see His plans for my life and the life of my child.  She and I are walking testimonies of the power of God and the power of choice.  We are able to witness to others that even in the darkest moments, the Lord is with us and choices always have consequences.

The Temple of the Holy Spirit

This morning I was on Worthy Christian Forums and there was a discussion about being the temple of the Holy Spirit.  While I was preparing my thoughts regarding this topic they closed the thread for some reason.  I wanted to retain my thoughts so I am posting them here.  The following is what I would have posted:

I have tried to read through this thread this morning as best I can (there was a ton of scripture!).  I know the topic is about the Holy Spirit living in us, the temple of God, but there is no way to not talk about sin when we talk about us, human beings, who are sinners from the get-go.

My take on being a temple for the Holy Spirit to reside in is this; he knows I am a sinner, that I have accepted Jesus as my savior, and that I am cleansed by the blood of the cross.  He has watched me from the time I began on the milk of the word and continued to watch as I was weaned off the milk and turned to the meat portion.  He knows my heart.  He hears my prayers asking for forgiveness for any sin I commit in a day.  He lives in me and with me on a daily basis.  He has been with me for a long time and still loves and comforts me.  Has he ever been displeased with me?  Of course he has.  I'm an imperfect human being and he knows all about my past, my present and my future.  But again, I repeat, he knows my heart, he knows my soul, he knows my spirit, he knows ALL things about me.  I praise God for the patience, mercy and grace that is afforded to me, this pile of dirt, that I am.

Each one of us that give our hearts and lives to the Lord, give our bodies also.  We should see an improvement in the way we do things spiritually and bodily as we continue our walk with him and our learning of his ways.  We should be boldly confessing Jesus whenever and wherever we can without judgement and condemnation from the worldly eye that is continually watching our every action.  Didn't the Lord say he would use a rock if he needed too, if we did not declare him to the world? 

Luke 19:37-40 - When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,”he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

If a person professes Christ as their savior, they should be different than they were prior to salvation.  Those difference should be noticeable to ourselves and to the outside world.  As a temple that holds the power and light of the Holy Spirit, we should be a "shining light to a dark world" and if we are not then we need to go back to the milk and find out what the issue is.  In my walk, I have had to go back to the milk several times due to sin.  But I am a far better and cleaner temple than I was at the beginning of my journey! Praise God!! 

Thank you for letting me share my heart.