The Word - as I see it

 Its interesting the discussion of if people seek medical help or alternative medicine help that they are not relying on spirit and on God to heal them. I think that is the belief of Amish people.  And I have thought about that before and while i do believe if the spirit is healed the body is healed, I also believe that if faith is there, that this allows the spirit and the mind to choose the right things to be healed.  So for example, a person might have an illness and rely on pharmaceuticals and they may not get better, but with faith, God can lead to finding better alternatives that may heal more slowly but in a truer way. For example, someone who is obese and who has diabetes, they may be on medication.  But if they deepen their walk with God, they may be led to exercise more and to be in nature, to go on hikes or something like this.  Faith allows the openness in our spirit and mind to see the best option for us, because we are in Gods love and less in worl...

Some people in the town that I work in are talking about a business owner who has been prejudice towards Jewish people.  He is a Christian and he has been saying things in a prejudice way towards Jewish people and also saying things like that Hitler wasn't such a bad guy.  I read this today and I think it makes it clear that because we are saved by faith with and in God's kindness, we should not be haughty.  As Christians we are the wild olive, the branches, and it seems to be saying that people of Jewish faith are the roots.    Romans 11:13 - Now I speak to you who are people of the nations. Seeing that I am an apostle to the nations, I glorify my ministry to see if I may in some way incite my own people to jealousy  and save some from among them.  For if their being cast away means reconciliation for the world, what will the acceptance of them mean but life from the dead? Further, if the part of the dough taken as firstfruits is holy, the entire...

 Romans 11:2 - God did not reject his people, whom he first recognized.  Do you not know what the scripture says in connection with Elijah, as he pleads with God against Isreal?  "Jehovah, they have killed your prophets, they have dug up your altars, and I alone am left, and now they are trying to take my life." My first reaction reading this is I'm thinking, why would people do that? Why would anyone kill prophets and dig up altars? And I have this aversion to it. And then I remember, sometimes, not always, but sometimes when I am saturated with the world and worldly worries when I first step into church and I see Jesus hanging on the cross my initial feeling is what is this? Why are we worshipping Jesus on the cross and is this praising a man being crucified?  But as I continue to worship, and pray I am reminded of the deeper things of the spirit and the reasons why we all are actually there, why I am there.  Because on the outside it looks a certain way but t...

I was just thinking about how its such a blessing to grow old. The perspective is so beautiful with someone who has endured suffering, and lived and learned and has grown older because its as if that person has seen the ups and the downs in the world, the suffering, the stressful times and the non stressful times, and there is less fluctuating within with the fluctuations.   I think thats why faith works, because faith separates us from the situation and relies on trust and faith in God to bring us through the situation. While on the conference call with my dad and stef i was bringing things up and my dads response to what i was saying and what stef was saying was sometimes - yes but its always been that way.   The perspective of seeing things, the ups and the downs,, the stressful and the non stressful allows for that wisdom, and faith furthers that wisdom because we can then see that we don’t have to fluctuate with the fluctuations. How could Jesus face his death on the cros...

One of the beautiful parts of walking with God is that it forces me to ask myself hard questions.  Questions that might be more easily ignored than answering and actually following the answer that is aligned with Gods word. This is one of the hard ones... Matthew 13:23, "As for the one sown among the thorns, this is the one hearing the word, but the anxiety of this system of things and the deceptive power of riches choke the word,and it becomes unfruitful." Matthew 6:24, "No one can slave for two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stick to the one and despise the other. You cannot slave for God and for Riches."  What are you slaving for?