My Journey Through The Bible

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He could win … it’s up to you!!

Through personal trials one thing I am sure of that God is
with me all the way. Read Isaiah 43:2 for an understanding:

When you pass through the waters, I
will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.

We tend to think God is not with us when the going gets
rough or down right unbearable. Honestly, the chronic sufferers and those who
live in constant pain, it’s difficult to have them understand this concept.
Again we go back to the question is God is so loving why does he allow
believers to suffer? And the answer returns to two basic things free will and
building character.

One is the ole “shit happens” where life just seems to
overwhelm a person and situations seem to suck. My case in point is my friend
whose son was paralyzed. That was just an accident turned bad, but at the same
time it built up the family and brought the community of believers around them
to help. While this may have seemed negative, it ended up positive. Sure it
still sucks to be confined to a wheelchair, but to show God’s peace through
something that sucks makes my little issues seem minor in comparison.

As for building character, that is something that is harder
to understand. How can one understand a future plan for them when they are
suffering so? How can someone endure so much with a “hope” of it being used for
the glory of the kingdom when it seems never ending?

This has been a reoccurring theme with my exploring
suffering. I find hope in the Bible and then turn this to my two chronic
sufferers and it doesn’t help them or give them peace. Instead it’s like
rubbing salt in a wound.

So I continue the quest for an answer that’s not a cliché for
the chronic sufferer.

I do no having suffered through many pits and valleys that
through it all God is with you even if you think He has abandoned you. I know
for my two friends and the millions more like them there is little solace in
these words, but peace in the face of adversity is the key.

I can’t help but think why does God keep allowing his
followers to suffer? We go to Revelations 21:4 and the promise is in the
future, but why not now?

He will wipe every tear from their
eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for
the old order of things has passed away.”

We have seen many amazing things with God including the dead
being raised. Heck I even look at my recovery and it’s nothing more than miraculous,
but why am I the anomaly and not the norm? The question still is posed, if God
is so loving and powerful why does He allow “His children” to suffer?

After reading and talking with others I have still not
really answered the root question. I know we can dig up many verses that imply
that’s life and it “build character”, but some of the suffering seems
senseless. My two friends, the one whose son was paralyzed and the other who
was tortured from birth, yet after being freed they cannot keep healthy.

I still don’t get it, but will continue to explore until I
do. This idea of paradise being “no death or mourning or crying or pain” does
not add up either. Does this mean I will be able to rail on the motorcycle
without fear of the consequences of crashing? Or will we just be playing harps
and worshiping God? Honestly, I wonder how most people would “dig” that
afterlife since I know I would get bored.

I honestly think it will be the best of earth, but better.

But why not a little relief now? God can do all this I know
it just seems contradictory why it is not done in most cases. Does He pick and
choose or are people like me just part of the lottery winners in life whose
life changed. I am beginning to wonder how to answer this question not to
fellow Christians, since the Biblical answers make sense, but rather to someone
with no belief in place.

While the Biblical answer can make sense to someone who
knows God, it doesn’t make sense to those who are clueless to God’s glory. It’s
also difficult to explain to those who believe and know, but are in the middle
of a huge mess. Clichés from the Bible only make them bitter.

What do you think? Please give me help in understanding.

Don’t know how long this will last but the question has
arisen why does God allow so much suffering, when is enough, enough? James 1:2 –
4 starts the litany of Biblical clichés:

² Consider
it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because
you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let
perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not
lacking anything.

When delivered to a person suffering from an illness or a tragedy,
these words can be biting. The first thought is “easy for you to say, you’re
not …” So when comforting someone in need we first need to look at other verses
in James about controlling one’s tongue and just being there. Often that is
difficult for those trying to comfort since often they feel the need to say
something. Again, helping may be better than throwing in your “two cents.”

On the other side from personal experience I know that
through my trials and pains life can be great at the other end. Sure some of
the ailments may never be cured, but the lessons learned are wonderful and most
often bring me closer to God. James really hits the nail on the head, we need
to have joy when we are being tested since often it is training for what is
ahead.

Think of Joseph, Jacob’s youngest of 12 sons (the heads of
the tribes of Israel), who in Genesis 37 was sold off to slavery. He suffered, grew
in that suffering, was thrown back into prison only to come back and save the
nation of Israel during a horrible famine. Sitting in jail or working as a
slave may have hammered Joseph’s psyche, but instead he grew into a leader who
was able to save the same brothers that cast him into slavery.

Often we have no clue about what is on the other “end” of
the suffering. God often uses it to strengthen us for his tasks. To prove my
point think back to every one of the Bibles great men, not one jumped into the
role God intended for them. Many complained of the trials but ended up living
to God’s intended role. So when we do suffer, understand there may be a higher
purpose.

James also gives us a better outlook also, there are two
ways to look at a trial. One is destructive to one’s health and mental state
while the other frees the person to live in peace while suffering. A crappy
attitude does more than just make you difficult to live with, it actually has
been proven to cause addition damage to one’s body though stress related
illnesses.

So we need to be as Paul and sing hymns after being beaten
and chained.

I think of Matthew 18:20 as we begin this new chapter:

For where two or three are gathered
in my name, there am I among them.”

The reason this comes to mind is the radical change of
churches we have taken. We moved from 12 Stone which has been one of the
largest growing churches in the nation and it is something that we experienced.
The church is Bible based, solid teaching and although large fosters a great
community, as long as you plug in.

We moved and the first local church near our rental was in a
school, like the Sugarloaf campus started at 12 Stone and was growing. Our new
neighborhood church is very small and nice. Again all have been Bible based but
although with us we have upped the number of motorcyclists to over 20% that’s
not saying much since there was one other bike in the lot.

I will take some adjusting since a small community is often
tight and not open to strangers, and not many stranger than us!! At the same
time I felt welcomed instantly and enjoyed the feel. Just different from a 9
campus “mega-church”. Time will tell how we grow within this community or we
may commute back to the other church. It’s fun to see how things are changing
in our lives.

One thing I do know is this verse is solid, we don’t need a flashy
band to know God, but just another person to fellowship with. The key is to
keep in tune with God via the best ways we know how, reading the Bible and
praying about what we read. It’s really that simple, the best way I have found
is find a partner and pick a “read the Bible in a year” outline and do it. Talk
about it and learn.

The greatest thing you find out in this process is how small
books in the Old Testament point to Jesus. You learn that from the start the
Bible points to Jesus and that is the key!!

So as we start the next chapter, we are excited about
what is happening.

I could say this journey started some 30 years ago when I
moved to California. I had found “the perfect spot” in Half Moon Bay on the
coast. There was no way I could afford it at the time and that was when trying
to hit it big happened. From that point forward, God had an idea on what was
right and it didn’t mesh with what I thought I wanted. Matthew 11:28 comes to
mind as I write this today:

Come to me, all who labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

I got addicted on the “big win” and hunted for it always, be
it in business, investing or outright gambling. Yes gambling, but it was not a
problem since the only “pot” big enough was the Lottery and I would only spend
a dollar per game. It was not a problem, until I found myself sneaking out to
get tickets and telling fibs on what I was doing. Heck I even moved a car once
to run only to run to the QT to get my fix with the reasoning I did not want to
start and stop an engine.

Anyway, as life went on I found the perfect wife, made a
great family and had fun. But through it all I kept trying to win big, I moved
jobs, started business, bought property and made risky investments. All this
caused stress and a bunch of work, but 20 years later it paid off and in God’s
way not ours.

Again as you read about the timeline God was adjusting our
ideas to His. At first we had an idea on where we wanted to be and as time
moved we had an opportunity to review that choice and see the flaws. Don’t get
me wrong if everything had worked quickly and we bought Jack Palance’s home in
Tehachapi that we would have been unhappy, but how things moved during the
process it would have stressed our relationship further that it had and quite possibly
caused a financial crisis.

As we looked and found “the perfect spot” the delays caused
us to find flaws in the process. Each one had problems that although were not
insurmountable, would cause discontent. Our “specifications” on the perfect
home were isolated yet reasonably close to civilization. We wanted privacy and
land to have fun on.

We finally found what worked and had to stress before
securing it. Sure it has flaws and requires a bunch of work to maintain it, but
it is really a slice of heaven. The fear I had for moving into “The Promised
Land” for us was I was going to drop dead before taking possession, like
Moses!! But we are settling in, working hard and loving every minute.

Thank God for this and I hope to see you read soon to
enjoy some peace!!

Before I get to the closing, I wanted to mention moving to Oregon. God looked out for us along the way! The girls had to be in LA on a certain date and could not slip as we were getting a horse shipped in the process. They heard a chunk and a grinding as they pulled into the hotel, the brakes failed. Not on the road, down a big decent, but where they were convenient to repair. My drive was just as exciting, since I had a flat on the trailer, which at the last minute we decided to get a spare. I also lost the fan belt in Arizona, close to a dealer that had one in stock. That failure also kept me from pushing myself into LA to “save” on a hotel stay. All times they were failures that could have happened in “no-man’s land” in the middle of nowhere, but happened in a place where it was easy to handle. Thank you God for that!

Now we are getting close to closing, I have booked flights, got rental trucks lined up for the final batch of stuff in Georgia. I needed to just fly in, pack, sign and drive. Suddenly I had to rest on Luke 18:27 since closing was going to slip again if the developer had their way:

But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”

This would have had significant ramifications on our “dream” home. I was trying to get them to push the schedule forward so I could have a comfortable drive. Instead they were slipping it by a month. I had a contract behind me, but they had the money, so poker faces on. I talked with them and wanted to make it clear that if they could not close, I would need to explore other options.

This gave them the signal I wanted and they said they would close, but funding may be tight since other closings needed to happen before. So I flew out not knowing if they could perform and if I could get back in time for closing on the “dream” home. With that I arrived in GA and started packing. It was tight, but a 15 foot U-Haul towing our Subaru were ready to fly. Closing was still a question since funding was not in place and I wanted to roll so I could make closing on the new home, so I signed and hit the road before we closed.

I had to get the money, transfer it to all parties, sign and take possession on the road, since it looked like there was no way I would make it in. Now I have done a ton of real estate deals in my life, and each one had all parties at the table for closing. Both of these deals had no parties present and I was signing one through an online service. It was very different from previous deals, but I went with it.

As with everything in the process, things did not go smooth. The money did not come into the bank until late Thursday, so although not a big deal I just had to transfer on the road and since we had just opened an account with a large national bank this seemed to be an easy deal. I started rolling out of North Carolina early in the morning on Friday which was also a holiday for some, fortunately not the banks, but Wall Street. Then panic started to set in, since there were no branches, just investment and mortgage offices which were closed. And the closest ones were in Kansas, a long way away. I had arrival time close to their closing so everything had to go smooth or I was hosed. I got there with minutes to spare and started the process only to be informed that since it was late the transfers would not happen until Monday, when funds needed to be in place for closing of the new home, and would take up to 48 hours.

So stress set in and I continued on my way. Before closing in the west I got calls for all parties saying funds were in place, I then had to find a “hot-spot” to sign which wasn’t as easy as it sounded and I continued on my journey. The trip was not without an adventure since GPS took me into “no-man’s” land that stressed the range of the rental truck and twice I pulled into gas stations on vapors, one time the trip computer since I had 7 miles to empty. Again God was looking out for me, but gave me some excitement. It wasn’t that I could not get gas and just tried to push it, it was that there was NO GAS!!

What I was taught though this whole process is it didn’t matter what I did or how impossible the problem seemed to be, God rolled with the mountains like they were nothing. I just needed to have more faith and not stress so much. You’d think after what I have been through over my life it would be a no brainer. It wasn’t and I stressed! The key for anyone hearing my story is learn to rest in God and don’t assume that because your way is not the way God is taking you that it will not be better on the other side.

It is done!! Well for the most part … we finally got everything out of the rental home and will be sorting it all out in our new home … WHEW!!

Now for a rest and will be back posting again with some regularity again!!

Today we will continue on the theme of getting what you want
and look at Haggai 1:6 where the people have gotten lazy:

You have planted much, but
harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never
have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only
to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

This is like the USA today, we can seem to get enough. I
believe the uber rich are the pinnacle of going overboard, but this has
extended into our society. When is the car or house or dress all you need? Like
I said before sometimes God will give us what we pray for but without the life
and other times we just forget to thank Him.

In this case God has blessed Israel and they are just not
quite getting it. They want more and more yet cannot get satisfied when they
get what they need and ask for. Ever been in this position? Think hard because
you can easily find it in the back of your closet if you need a reminder. Or
that last car you had. Once the novelty wears off of the new toy, we are left
with a desire for something new.

This is why God must come first and not second, we put
something before God and we will never get fulfillment from that trinket. Just
temporary pleasure and that will be short lived. I think the biggest
disappointment was the Ferrari California, my dream car. Now I did not buy it
but went to the dealer and ogled over it. When the question was asked if you
want to drive the car, I said yes. And that was when I realized my fantasy
would die quickly, since the feel was nice but not solid. The car seemed under
powered and it didn’t have what I would expect out of a $200,000 car. Not that
I could afford it, but that dream was very short lived.

This is like the world today where we think we want
something and then want more once we get it. Consumerism is the key and what
drives this economy, when people get a moral compass this may pass.

Now don’t get me wrong I like nice things, but
realistic at the same time. Instead of a $200,000 Ferrari, why not a used
$20,000 Porsche? Actually more fun for a tenth the price. We need to learn to
compromise and be logical. That is the key to life … and once you master your
desires the world can be a fun place

I was given a verse today, Psalm 106:15, that scared me a bit:

Although He granted their request,
    He also sent a disease that caused
them to waste away.

We see this from time to time where God finally relents to
the groaning’s and prayers of his people. Where they get what they have been
asking for and either realize it was not “all that” or God dries up the
connection. Or even worse the “blessing” becomes an idol and the people end up
getting punished.

Mine is a long story, but I have been blessed beyond my
dreams and I had very big dreams. In a nutshell it started 30 years ago with a
dream and is coming to an end soon. It revolves around a “paradise” that I
wanted here on earth and am not appearing to get there. From start to now God
has been working on me on many avenues. First my initial ideal of what I wanted
were not really right for what I wanted, if that makes sense.

My second problem was I would not have been a wise steward
early on and would have been in bad shape. Now we get to today. I found a home
on Zillow months ago that was “it” but as not the configuration we needed for
the money. Well as time went on, it came down in price and Katy saw it. She
decided it was perfect and wanted it also, so we started the journey. Through
ups and downs we are moving in soon and could not be happier.

My concern is did God relent or is He truly blessing us for diligent
work for the kingdom? Time will tell, and this blog will be a testament if I
get lost in the world or if I live for God.

All I can say right now is my gratitude cannot be expressed
in words!!

Those of us who have been around “the church” for a whilemay have observed a troubling phenomenon of people pointing to this church orthat and complaining on how things are done. I think the most common of thesecomplaints is drinking. Some churches make you believe that “thou shall not
drink” is the 11^th commandment while at the same time Jesus turned
water to wine as his first miracle.

If we look at Galatians 2:14 we can see this was not
uncommon even in the early church:

 But when I
saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel,
I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a
Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

We all tend to point at others who do not believe the same
as we do and think they have it wrong. In this instance Paul was trying to
ensure the legalism of the church did not creep into the teachings. And
honestly I think we all tend to get into the does and don’ts of how to be a Christian
when it’s more about a relationship and not how you live.

With that said, this is not your E-Ticket to fun and frivolity,
because doing what is right before Jesus is the key and following the Holy
Spirit. NOTE the word “following” and not “listening” since we all can listen
and choose to ignore.

As we tend to bicker between denominations within the
Christian Church I want to highlight 1 Corinthians 8:13 that clearly states:

 Therefore, if
food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother
stumble.

If drinking is a soft spot, then I will not drink before
him, So while having a beer not be a sin to me, I have many friends I would
never drink in front of because they are alcoholics and therefore it’s a sin to
them. Same thing with following the law vs following the Holy Spirit. If one
feels it’s a sin to eat pork, I am not bringing over a side of ham for dinner.

Now with Paul in Galatians, I may point out of a sin has no
scriptural basis and try to get clarification why they believe it’s a sin. But
if they do not eat pork, nor will I and if they do eat pork, yet I don’t, I
will not refuse their meal and thank God for the food. At the same time if I
was an alcoholic, I would not drink with my friend;-)

This really was a problem with me when I took a Sunday
School class called “Witnessing to the Witnesses” and was bothered on how the “Cult”
label was tossed about. The Witnesses were considered a cult that was going to
hell unless they saw the Way. Well it really bothered me since some of my most
enlightened talks about the Bible was with the Jehovah Witnesses. Sure they may
not practice the same way I do, but they have the Gospel figured out. I really
disturbed me when the “C” word was used with Catholics and Mormons, which I have
had many enlightened discussions with believers there.

My take on the denominations debate is “different
strokes for different folks” and what works for me may not work for my father.
He enjoys traditional music and would not like the noise produced by the praise
bands I like. One church embraces the drunkard to the point where they preach “thou
shall not drink” and that’s ok. Honestly we should not judge the other guy and
do more prayer and reflection inward!!

Just rambling as I hit the road without network connectionor a Bible. I am going to start reading Yancy’s book Prayer and see what I
learn. The importance of prayer in monumental in interfacing with God and
cannot be second guessed. We have barely tapped into the promise from Jesus in
John 14:12 where we should be doing greater things:

 I tell you
the truth: whoever believes in Me will be able to do what I have done, but they
will do even greater things, because I will return to be with the Father.

I don’t think we have really tapped into prayer or the ultimate
power it has. Ann Bandini has a great book that gives us hope, but at the same
time I don’t see the world being healed by believers either. I see an idle
church waiting for Jesus to return. When He does I am afraid he will be
disappointed with our lack of faith.

Sure we may pray but do we believe what we pray will happen
or just hope? When we say “In Jesus’ name” is that a flowery ending or a
powerful stamp? I struggle with this often even when I see answered prayers, I
often feel there must be more.

In reality life and death, pain and joy, and all the other
joys of life will be with us till Jesus returns. We will always ask why when
our prayers seemed ignored. Why some get a “healing” and others die or suffer.
I struggle with this myself having been technically raised from the dead. I
thank God for my life every day as the story was I was blue and without oxygen
to my brain for over 5 minutes. I should not be here!!

At the same time I have seen people suffering and dying
often with the same problem I had and ask why me and not them. We need to
understand we are living in a world we cannot see fully. God can and does what
he does for a reason. Often we never understand, but must have faith over time.

So keep praying and trying to heal the sick, make the
lame walk and raise the dead. When it happens the GLORY need to all fall at the
feet of Jesus!!

i

John 8:31 & 32 has is something that again is used quite frequently and I don’t think is understood completely:

³¹ So Jesus
said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are
truly my disciples, ³² and you will know the truth,
and the truth will set you free.”

To those who live in a “free” nation we have a tough time
understanding this as did the Jews who were listening to Jesus at the time.
Verses 8:34 – 38 explain that we are not really free, but rather slaves to sin.
Once we get that all becomes clear and we can look at how we are slaves.

Mine was spending over what I had or made. Some say that is
not a sin, I argue it is because I was not following the 10/10/80 principle
spelled out in the Bible. Just as a review the 10/10/80 principle is simply 10%
goes to God first to show money does not have a hold on you, 10% is saved for “lean”
times and live on 80%. You do that and things will be good as you move through
life. Instead I spent well over what I made and justified it by saying “we are
paying less in interest than what we make selling the stuff.” I became a slave
to the credit card companies and became hopeless. I can only imagine how we’d
be if I’d spent what we made and had reserves.

Now I know many who are or have been slaves to porn. This
sin engulfed their lives and ruined their finances and marriages. They became a
slave to their lust and could not stop until they hit bottom. I know many who
are slaves to drinking and/or drugs who hit bottom before they become free in
the word of Jesus.

Through all these examples one may say heathens, yet all
were “Christians” before slipping into slavery of their sin. All had to hit
rock bottom before they finally pulled themselves to Jesus and with His grace
and mercy became free. Sure in all cases it wasn’t an overnight thing, but a
struggle to get free.

Look at Israel gaining freedom from Egypt to the Promised
Land, that was the epitome of life’s struggles to freedom. If it was “easy” we
would not understand the reasons why one does not do these things. Our sinking
and struggle to freedom becomes a witness to those slipping and hopefully will
save them from our pain.

When you hear this “cliché” understand what it really
means and help those who use it to know the truth in Jesus. I think of Jim
Carey, in “Liar, Liar” when he uttered “and the truth will set you free” in
court. It was cute, but again flippantly used for a laugh line. Sure it’s fun
to laugh and I got a chuckle at this scene, but we need to ensure that people
see what freedom from sin looks like!

A slight break from prayer … and look back to 2800 year old prophecies. 

The one thing that is interesting when looking at Isaiah 66 and the rest of the Protestant Bible is the correlation between the last bookof Isaiah and the last book of the Bible, Revelations. They mirror each other
quite closely. With this thought we look at verse 66:8 which talks about
something we have only recently seen:

⁸ Who has
heard such a thing?
    Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
    Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment?
For as soon as Zion was in labor
    she brought forth her children.

Now before the tech weenies get all hung up over how the
Catholic Bible has 73 books or the Orthodox has 81 or the Mormon’s have 65, the
last chapter of Isaiah and the last book of ALL those translations/versions
have Revelations ending them, therefore it works either way. I just think it’s
cool how the in the versions I have used the last chapter of Isaiah is 66 and
there are 66 books in the Bible. So dispensing with the technical formalities
lets dig into this verse, but before I must comment that Isaiah 66 maps
well into Revelations less this verse.

Also, we need to touch on the Babushka Doll Principle where
Isaiah’s prophecy may have had direct meaning to those he was prophesizing to and
meaning in the future. And this chapter is one of those cases and unfortunately
it is talking about something that may be happening now. Everyone likes to say “The
End Is Near” yet atheists claim this has been said since the beginning of
religion and is used to control the masses, but look carefully at this verse.

No other time in history have we had this and Ezekiel’s
prophecy in chapter 37 which showed the nation of Israel as scattered dry bones
coming back to life than a little over 50 years ago. Think about it Israel was
being exterminated, they were heaped in piles of decaying bodies and from this
like no other time in history a nation is born. From the death and “labor pains”
of the holocaust we have the nation of Israel as we know it today born in “one
day”.

Now look how this lands when you connect chapter 66
with Revelations and it becomes eerily similar to what we are seeing today.
Isaiah 66:7 ties into Revelations 12:2 and then Isaiah 66:12 ties into Revelations
21:24 and 22:1. So is this showing us that we are right smack dab in the middle
of the end times or just an odd coincidence that some are linking to scare us
into believing and accepting Jesus? Time will tell!!

 This is one of those clichés that gets bantered about quite
often in Christian circles, especially when things are not so good. It all
comes from Romans 8:28 which states:

We are confident that God is able
to orchestrate everything to work toward something good and beautiful when
we love Him and accept His invitation to live according to His plan.

These are not comforting words when you have lost a love one
or find out you are terminal. Sometimes it’s hard to see if anything will work
out for the good when you suddenly become confined to a wheel chair. No these
words when given at the right time are like salt in the wound and are bitter to
take. As people “dishing” out this advice we need to be careful on how and when
we use it so not to get people mad at God.

At the same time this is something we can cling to when
things are down and out. I look at my financial woes. Since 2000 we have had good
times and bad financially from a loss of a job to paying of intense debt. We
almost went bankrupt yet on the other side some 15 years later we are exactly
where we want to be and that is awesome! We have been on a wild ride, yet
everything has worked in His glory.

At the same time I watched a close friend have his son
confined to a wheel chair while snow skiing. What was wonderful family time has
turned his family upside down. Through this I still wonder how Romans 8:28
works. Or with another close friend who has lived a life of torture from their
father and his friends. Their body is constantly sick and broken due to all
that was done to them. It seems there is no way “good” will come of this, but
we still cling to it.

I think the whole thing needs to be looked at in context
from Romans 8:26-30 to really get a good idea. I will not print the whole text
yet if you look at it you see how prayer is the key to the underlying premise.
Paul says we may not know how to pray or even what to pray, yet God will change
our “groaning too profound for words.”

I really think the key to life is twofold; first we may not
always be able to see the path God wants us on. We just need to have faith that
the road we are traveling will continue even though we cannot see past where
our headlamps illuminate. Second is that shit just happens (excuse the “French”)
but we live in a world where free will and chance live along with God’s will.
If we end up in a ditch often it’s our bad decisions that cause it and often it’s
others who mess up taking us down with them. It’s not God, it’s life!! God is
not sitting on the ant-hill we call earth with His celestial magnifying glass
watching us pop with glee. No that is something we can do just fine without His
provocation, thank you.

The key is through the mess and mire He will try to
make the best of every mess up we make, if not just to teach us a lesion not to
touch the fire. We need to pray and stay connected so when the bad happens, we
will have faith that all will be good. Also, we will be connected with God and
hopefully make wise decisions so that God will not have to clean up after us!!
I think the great thing with the Bible and many stories we hear is they help us
not to repeat the mistakes of others. I use to say “I’d rather learn from “your”
mistakes than mine”!!

Ever wonder why we pray in Jesus’ name all the time. John14:13 – 14 answers this question:

¹³ Whatever
you ask for in My name, I will do it so that the Father will get glory from the
Son.¹⁴ Let Me say it again: if you ask for
anything in My name, I will do it.

This is one of the main verses prosperity preachers hang
their hats on since it says things like “whatever” and “anything” so therefore it
makes Jesus look like a genie and not a savior of the world. That’s the biggest
problem with the prosperity gospel! It has people believing that God will give
them “anything” they ask for including the lottery jackpot. What happens when
they don’t get what they want, their faith fails.

Now subsequent to this Jesus was saying we can do great things
and that HE is the way, the truth and the life. So to believe that God is a
genie as long as we ask in Jesus’ name is false theology. I believe God opens
up his store in blessing, but that’s after trials and teachings.

I think of when I first bought into the “prosperity gospel”,
we were bleeding financially and needed a saving windfall. I prayed and prayed
for that lottery win since it was the only way I could see this ending. For
months and years we got deeper into debt and the lottery was never won, except
for maybe one $5 windfall. Then as it was getting real ugly, we got an offer on
the house. It wasn’t a lottery win, but it would clean the slate and allow us
to purchase the building we wanted.

That deal fell through and we were in a mess and continued
to let it slide until December of 2008 when I was given the Dave Ramsey’s Money
Makeover and decided it was time to fix things. We looked at bankruptcy but
that was not an option since we had equity in multiple real estate holding.
With this we had to pay off $176k of credit card debt while keeping a half a
million in home loans afloat. It was not easy but after a controlled liquidation
of our assets we paid off all the credit cards and are looking at paying off
all home loans. We don’t have the empire of rental homes anymore, but we don’t
have the stress either!!

My point is not that God did not do what I prayed for, but
rather he did not do it my way but rather His way. If he had paid things off
before learning to be wise with our money, we would never taught us to not
continue the spending cycle without the pain of dealing with the problem.

I know this story has a mixed message where God in a way
gave us what we prayed for yet it was through trials and difficulties that it
happened. Not like how a “genie” would have done it!! So while I am saying we
prayed in Jesus’ name for freedom of debt, which looked totally different from
how we determined it should. So while we did not get a lottery win, I got work
when we needed it and assets sold at the perfect time to allow us freedom from
debt.

The point is not to fall for the prosperity gospel of
praying for what you want, rather focus on what you need and go further to pray
for others. Remove the inward focus on prayer and rather focus external. Sure
you can pray for your needs and desires, but focus on others FIRST and do that
in Jesus’ name!! Also, don’t get bummed when things don’t go exactly how you
desire. Which again makes me wonder if we can do greater
things and are just not trying?

 Jesus said in John 14:12 that we would be able to do great
things:

 I tell you
the truth: whoever believes in Me will be able to do what I have done, but they
will do even greater things, because I will return to be with the Father.

What does this really mean? Jesus healed the lame and raised
the dead, yet the only ones that appear to be doing this today are big ministries
that are often proven fraudulent. At the same time I have seen “miracles”
happen from people mysteriously being cured of cancer and at least in my case
being raised from the dead. So I wonder how much of what we have seen are “miracles”
of nature or of God.

With all the questions you have a Wanderlust Productions who
go search out healing ministries who appear authentic. Since they are not on TV
asking for your money to keep up the lavish life healing it seems authentic.
What they have videoed is miraculous and does not appear to be refuted in any
way.

I have talked with “gifted” people who have spiritual gifts
like seeing into the “second heaven” and it seems genuine. I have actually been
accused of not being a believer since I did not have any gifts especially
speaking in tongues. “Igottagetahundai” or “Shouldaboughtahonda” is the most
common mocking of those gifts. It’s difficult to tell which are genuine and
which are there for people to observe your gift since no one can verify what
you are saying. Which opens up a long discussion I will not follow since the
scripture is also clear that there should be someone who can interpret.

It’s a mixed up world right now when it comes to gifts of
the spirit and often the ones people focus on are the ones that people tend not
to understand, like tongues. Honestly, I wonder if the problem isn’t that they
are not there, but rather people do not try to use them out of fear they will
not work. I know I have wanted to “lay hands” on people that I felt led to, but
did not out of fear of failure. The last thing I want to do is make a mockery
of our faith and having God lessened because of me.

So I sit and wonder if I should or should not answer the “call”
to take action? What do you think? Should we be healing and raising the dead or
was this just a message to his disciples to solidify the word of God before
spreading it throughout the nations?

I want to revisit Matthew 6:5 and Jesus’ warning not become
a “hypocrite”:

 Likewise,
when you pray, do not be as hypocrites who love to pray loudly at synagogue or
on street corners—their concern is to be seen by men. They have already earned
their reward.

As I start to “learn” how to pray better this is on my brain
constantly. I wonder if at least blogging about it is wrong and making me
pretentious. I don’t know, but typing gets me thinking and if it helps me maybe
it can help others. So I will continue the march.

I really think it is a heart issue and Luke 18:10-14
clarifies this a bit:

Jesus: ¹⁰ Imagine
two men walking up a road, going to the temple to pray. One of them
is a Pharisee and the other is a despised tax collector. ¹¹ Once
inside the temple, the Pharisee stands up and prays this prayer in honor of
himself: “God, how I thank You that I am not on the same level as other
people—crooks, cheaters, the sexually immoral—like this tax collector over
here. ¹² Just look at me!I fast not
once buttwice a week, and I faithfully pay my tithes on every penny of
income.” ¹³ Over in the corner, the tax collector
begins to pray, but he won’t even lift his eyes to heaven. He pounds on his
chest in sorrowand says, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
 
¹⁴ Now
imagine these two men walking back down the road to their homes. Listen,
it’s the tax collector who walks home clean before God, and not the Pharisee,
because whoever lifts himself up will be put down and whoever takes a humble
place will be lifted up.

The key is where your heart is even if the prayers may seem
sincere the heart may be thinking “look at me”. No matter what I tend to
believe prayer should be personal and in a quiet place. Sure corporate prayer
may be good in certain circumstances but most often asking others to pray for
you is really the best. Matthew 6:6 solidifies this concept:

When you pray, go into a private
room, close the door, and pray unseen to your Father who is unseen. Then your
Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

So learn to pray from the Lord’s Prayer using it as a model
to ensure you have the components. I tend to believe public prayer should be
reserved for petitions to God for miracles, like a healing. Now that opens up another
subject altogether.

 Matthew 6:10 goes into the next part of prayer:

Bring about Your kingdom.
    Manifest Your will here on earth,
        as it is manifest in heaven.

We are asking God to bring forth His kingdom and that His
will is done everywhere. Why? Initially I was not sure but let’s look at all
the parts. First Jesus is saying bring about Your kingdom, or to finish the
current world system. What they interpreted at the time was Jesus was going to conquer
the Romans and free Israel to a new kingdom which will have power and
protection over its hostile neighbors.

What Jesus was meaning and we have learned is the kingdom of
righteousness. Instead of a Jewish rule over the earth, God is ruling with
Jesus as the gateway. So years after these words were spoken and when Jesus
died on the cross, it started to become clear on what He was really meaning.

God’s will be done, on earth and in heaven. That not only
shows that God is above all. He is above all the earth and above heaven. He is
the ONE and ONLY controller. The difference between what we feel this to mean
that we are part of a puppet show and reality is freewill. Sure God’s will is
over all, but He does not control us outside our freewill.

We get to the Ten Commandments and look at number 1, at
least what the Jews consider the first commandment, Exodus 20:2 which states:

 I am the
Eternal your God. I led you out of Egypt and liberated you from lives of
slavery and oppression.

God’s first desire for mankind is freedom and that is what
He is truly about. Because of this we are free to worship Him or turn our
backs. We must understand that freedom is why His will is not always done
immediately. Sometimes we need to wait for people to yield to His will or if
the current generation will not yield, we may sit in the desert for 40 years before
His will may be complete. Freedom is the key to His will coming to fruition here
on earth through man.

I wonder if the same problems are in heaven. Are there a
constant string of angels being kicked out, or after satan fell heaven fell in
line? That leads me to wonder if Revelations has already happened and we are in
the post apoptotic land that mankind’s freewill has messed up once again as
Adam and Eve did in the beginning.

Hmmmmm?

As we start to study prayer we look at the Lord’s Prayer and
how it starts at Matthew 6:9 with:

Your prayers, rather, should
be simple, like this:
 
    Our Father
in heaven,
        let Your name remain holy.

Jesus opened this “model” prayer with honor and glory to
God. What is being said is focus first on God and make sure the focus is not
inward. So acknowledge God first in your prayers to Him, let Him know you
understand His position in the world.

Genesis 1:1 is considered the most important verse in the
Bible:

In the beginning, God created everything:
the heavens above and the earth below. Here’s
what happened: 

Think about it, God created the heavens and earth. This one
act shows God is above nature, since he created it. In today’s world this is
being chipped away and dismissed by scientists who can show models of creation
being a random event. If verse 1 of the Bible is shown to be untrue the
conclusion made by science is the rest is a “fairy tale”. So is God number 1
and above all or is He just a figure for stability in life?

Jesus wanted us to focus on God first in all our prayers. We
need to remember that God is above all and worthy of our worship and praise,
since we often forget. At least I often forget as life’s problems happen all
the time. The mistake I tend to make is I start focusing on the problem and
sometimes blame God. In reality life just happens and we tend to try to figure
out how God is in it.

Now this will get many to turn me “off” but follow this
logic. God is above all, but is not causing everything around us. No life has
been given and the whole system has been set up, but free will and random
events are not always in God’s control. I know that is not proper “theology” in
which we are taught God is in control of everything. I tend to believe He is
aware but is not the puppet master of life, no life just happens.

This world was created and the ball was started. I look at life
more as a “Pachinko Machine” than a play God wrote. With the “Pachinko Machine”
the ball is started by the player and then what happens after the ball is
released is all in the ball. Hence free will, now if we start a path that needs
correcting God may pop a pin in the way which will help guide us back to the
right path, but it’s our decision on which way to go in the end. Now don’t get
me wrong, God does intervene often as when I died.

My point is if we look at the path we are on we can see
times when we follow our own direction and times when we follow God’s. We can
see the times when pins are placed in our path that change everything. While
life is a “Pachinko Machine” and random to a point, The Eternal, God, is above
it all and can “help” our way through life’s landmines. Sure some things seem
unfair and difficult, but it’s not God pushing his thumb down on us, but rather
life just going the wrong way. The key is recognizing when God places those
pins and to give Him the GLORY!!

These are two subjects which weigh heavily on my mind todayfor two completely different reasons. Prayer is something that I wish todevelop in my own growth as a Christian. This does not stem from not knowinghow to do it, but rather focusing on me during my prayer time and less on the
real focus, which is NOT me. As for weed, I am all over the board on what
should be done about it, legalize or not.

First we should focus on God and prayer and the primary
focus for the next few days is the Lord’s Prayer. Matthew 6:9-13 is what Jesus
gave as a model for prayer:

⁹ Your
prayers, rather, should be simple, like this:

    Our Father in
heaven,
        let Your name remain holy.
¹⁰     Bring about Your kingdom.
    Manifest Your will here on earth,
        as it is manifest in heaven.
¹¹     Give us each day that day’s
bread—no more, no less—
¹²     And forgive us our debts
        as we forgive those who owe us
something.
¹³     Lead us not into temptation,
        but deliver us from evil.
    [But let Your kingdom be,
        and let it be powerful
        and glorious forever. Amen.]

In the following days I will break down each verse and work
towards the pieces we should all include in our prayers to God, but the key I
want to look at today is the simplicity of how God wants us to come to him. Not
in some grand and formal way but rather with humble adoration. God wants our
prayers to be FOR Him and not an audience.

I tend to get hung up here since one of the reasons I want
to develop a better prayer life is so when we are in our Small Groups I don’t
sound like a fool giving short concise prayers. I love it when people like my
friend Patty can on the spot pray eloquently for someone in need, quoting
scripture and all. My prayers are “God heal so and so for they really hurt”. (notice
I used “for” and not “because” because that sounded more “churchy”)

So while this study is about understanding the simplicity of
pray, it’s also to help develop an ability to pray on something more than a 1^st
grade level.

Now to weed, this one I am all over the board. One thing I
have been consistent on for 30 years now is it should be legal and you should
not smoke it. Recently I have seen people benefit from use of this drug and
have looked at the positive aspects of smoking. At the same time the heavy
users I know who can quote all the data on why pot is good are stereotypical “pot
heads”. So while I agree it’s not as harmful as many say, it still has some
serious potential problems that no supporter is addressing.

First fallacy I want to address is “IT’S NOT ADDICTIVE”.
Actually it is addictive, not like tobacco or caffeine that have withdrawal
symptoms when trying to stop, but I know more people who cannot stop smoking
and will justify it by saying it’s not addictive. Heck, beer is not addictive
per se but liking to be drunk is. It’s not normal to be high all day long!!
Just because it’s not addictive and you are not an addict in your mind does not
justify smoking in the morning, afternoon AND evening, with an occasional toke
in between. I drink 1 alcoholic beverage an evening, because it is “heart
healthy” I don’t get buzzed or drunk I just drink. Can those who smoke say the
same thing?

Second problem, unlike alcohol, some of the marijuana stays
with you for a long time. With beer, the liver is designed to process it so
within a short time there is no trace in your system. You smoke pot, there is
between 20 to 90 days before it’s out of your system. That has always bothered
me. Sure it’s natural, but so is LDS and I would not say do that daily …
although I agree there are cases where it helps reset one’s brain, so “clinical”
usage should be allowed.

Finally, (for this rant) is every talks about “big pharma”
who supports the legalization of pot. I am on the leading edge of the Pharmaceutical
industry being out of control and trying to produce a pill for everything. They
even “make up” problems just to provide a solution. That is wrong and when the
pill can have side effects far worse than the problem it’s solving, then
something is wrong. Now at the same time why is no one talking about “big weed”
and the lobbying arm there?

There is HUGE money being spent to legalize it! My
question is who? Notice when they do legalize it, the individual is limited or
not allowed to produce their own supply. Notice the cost of the “product” does
not go down much. I do admit the cost of illegal production is probably close
to the cost of legal production since the government is involved in both cases.
Also, it’s no different to booze in school … the only difference between pot
before and pot now is the “pusher” can get product legally and at a much lower
cost to sell it illegally to kids in school. Everyone is being manipulated in
this debate. Again mine is simple, legalize it and if you do it only smoke on occasion.

If you have been reading along we just finished the Voice.
Assuming you have been following this blog and my emails since day one you will
have been through the NLT, NIV, ESV and now the Voice. The one thing that
shines through in all is the love of God is with us and He wants us to know Him
more. You don’t need to do as I have done and read a ton of versions, but
choose one and live in it, highlight what stands out, pray for enlightening
insight and do it daily.

I like the study of the context and verbiage used and this
started because a preacher told me I was going to hell because I did not read
the KJV. Ironically through the years of study I learned that the KJV had many “biases”
that were conceived from the Catholic doctrine and although the Anglican Church
of England commissioned it, these biases existed. The irony is he was a
Baptist, preaching from a book biases by the same church that persecuted the
founding of his church.

Don’t get me wrong the KJV is a great translation and the
wording is beautiful in many cases. To me most of the time it’s difficult to
read or understand since many words used then have changed meanings, like
gay;-) Also, the style of writing is difficult for me to follow so I tended to
get lost reading that version, while the others were a breeze.

Specifically what I like about the voice is when they
address God by name it’s not Lord, but rather The Eternal. It’s a more precise translation
of Yahweh in the English. Also, notice they never used Christ as a name for
Jesus. The only place that word appeared was when talking about the
anti-Christ, otherwise the translations used “The Anointed One”. Christ is
actually a transliteration of the word “Christos” which translated into English
would mean The Anointed One. So while many get up in arms about the
translation, I believe it is true and gives us a cleared understanding of God
and how we relate to Him.

The final warning in Revelations about not adding or subtracting
from the text is of concern with most translations. I touched on this
concerning hell and if the lake of fire was eternal or not. This version like
many others added the words “an eternity in” to verse 21:8 to imply the
lake of fire was a long suffering. This is supported later in the text, but is
not a precise translation and was added. This has me concerned since most
translations need to do this so we can understand the subtle differences with
the Greek and Hebrew texts. I feel the most “liberal” of these are the Message,
while all seem to add words to enhance our understanding, The Message tends to
take more liberties and some in my opinion are very dangerous (you need to read
back to figure out which ones since I cannot recall off the top of my head.

Anyway, the key here is pray, read, pray, read more
and repeat, forever. There is no stopping the pursuit of God on this earth. Now
as for this blog and my continuing, not sure what I am planning next although I
am thinking of exploring prayers and how to dig into the scripture to form more
powerful prayers. So I am not going away with the thought at this time, it’s just
“morphing” into a prayer and scripture study. Keep on watching!!

Revelations
21
– 22

Verses 21:7 & 8 lay it out on who wins and loses:

⁷ To the
victors will go this inheritance: I will be their God, and they will be My
children. ⁸ It will not be so for the
cowards, the faithless, the sacrilegious, the murderers, the sexually immoral,
the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all those who deal in deception. They will
inherit an eternity in the lake that burns with fire and
sulfur, which is the second death.

Follow God and spend eternity there or die the second death.
This gets into whole theology of hell and if it is or not. This is very clear
that an “eternity” will be in the lake that burns, yet notice one thing in this
verse, “eternity” is in italics which means these words were added. I go to the
CJB which says “their destiny is the lake” and the ESV which says “their portion
will be in the lake”. Both mention the second death so in a pure interpretation
of the scripture the souls that do not accept Jesus in the end will vanish and
be no more. So hell is only for an instant and then no more, no eternal
torment.

Verses 21:12 & 14 describe the “New Jerusalem”:

¹² It was surrounded
with a wall, great and high. There were twelve gates. Assigned to each gate was
a messenger, twelve in all. And on the gates were inscribed the names of the
twelve tribes of Israel’s sons. 
 
¹⁴ And the
city wall sat perfectly on twelve foundation stones, and on
them were inscribed the names of the twelve emissaries of
the Lamb.

The number 12 has been key to the Bible since the formation
of the nation of Israel. We see the 12 tribes are the gates into the city while
the foundation stones are the 12 disciples of Jesus. Both are key to the
salvation of man, so both are honored. Now we get into the city and it is 1444
miles square which shows that gravity will not be a huge issue and there will
be space!!

I can’t imagine how boring an eternal choir singing worship
to God shall be like many depict heaven but rather all the good and beauty of
earth without the bad. It will be more of what is great and wonderful so that
we are praising God. That is something I can imagine as wonderful. At the same
time no one really knows and is the thing people hope for.

We have many brought to Jesus on the promise of heaven or
the fear of hell. I tend to say live for the here and now, the joy and excitement
living for Jesus now should be the driving factor and not something we cannot
imagine!!

Verses 22:14 & 15 show entrance into the New Jerusalem
is exclusive:

¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their garments. In
the end, they have rightful access to the tree of life and will enter
the city through its gates. ¹⁵ The dogs, the
sorcerers, those who commit immoral acts, the murderers, the idolaters, and all
who love and practice deception must remain outside the gates for all
eternity.

Again we can start
the debate on heaven and hell, is the lake of fire outside the gates? Is there
a second death or is there an existence outside the glory of God? These and
more questions come from these scriptures and I do not have any answers other
that it will be clear when the time comes. So for now, live for the now and
spread the good news of Jesus. Live on the hope that we win in the end, not matter
how bad it appears to get.

Deuteronomy
31
– 34

For whatever reason this study guide drops off the last few
chapters of Deuteronomy, so this is out of the study guide sequence. After reading
it I see why it’s ignored since Moses is standing at the edge of the Promised
Land only to die. Also, in verse 31:16 God tells him some unsettling news:

¹⁶ You’re
about to leave this world to lie down with your ancestors in
death. After you’re gone, these people are going to be
unfaithful to Me. They’re going to worship foreign gods, the gods of the land
they’re going into. They’re going to abandon Me and break the covenant I made
with them.

Imagine having a life Moses led, from living lavishly in an
Egyptian palace to being in exile to leading Israel to the Promised Land with
so many miraculous events and God says the people he led will turn away from
God. From this Moses wrote a song which starts in verse 32:2 with a great
image:

Let my teaching fall on you like
raindrops;
        let what I say collect like the
dew,
    Like rain sprinkling the grass,
        like showers on the green
plants.

God’s word falls on us and we just need to accept it’s
nourishment to grow. Just listen and follow God and life would be simple, well
it easier to handle knowing God was in the mix. Imagine knowing what will
happen if you follow false idols and it meant destruction. Would you still
follow them?

In today’s system we no longer worship idols of Baal and
Osiris but rather materialistic things. Science was unable to break the worship
of God so now Satan has turned to our desires for more and better. He works on
ensuring we are unsatisfied with this or that and we become focused on things.
We start to worship them and the stars that represent the life we desire. Even
when we “make it” that desire grows. It doesn’t matter if we had a new brick
hut with a tin roof or a 24 room mansion, the desire for more will creep in and
corrupt our hearts. God knows this and we need to be aware of it happening to
us.

Verse 34:4 are the last words to Moses before he dies:

⁴ This is
the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I told them, “I’ll give
it to your descendants.” I’ve let you see it, even though you won’t be going
into it.

There it is, this is what you have worked for but because of
your actions you will not be allowed. This could be considered crewel by God
and shows a lack of grace, but it also shows the importance of honoring God.
Remember although we may be forgiven there are still consequences to our
actions. It’s simple Newtonian Laws of Motion where for every action there is
an equal and opposite reaction. We do an injustice, justice eventually will
prevail.

Verse 34:9 has a recount of Moses with Joshua:

Now Joshua (Nun’s son) was filled
with a spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on this successor. The
children of Israel obeyed Joshua, and they did what the Eternal had commanded
Moses.

One thing we need to be aware of with Laying of Hands,
Moses did it at God’s direction and therefore it was of God. Like Pharaoh’s magicians
who were able to duplicate this first few plagues, Satan can fake God’s power
and if someone evil were to “lay hands” this could have huge ramifications. So
be careful on who and when you allow hands to be laid on you or others.

>�

Jude, 2 Peter
1 – 3

Jude verse 10 is a warning against false teachers:

 The
deceivers among you despise what they do not understand; they live without
reason like animals, reacting only with primal instincts; and their ways are
corrupting them.

Jude is warning the church against people that are
corrupting the word of God and the message of Jesus. This is huge today with
the “Mega Churches” and often biases people from them. This is why it is
important to READ YOUR BIBLE and not just assume the preacher is feeding you
the truth. Jude is making sure we are diligent in watching for these teachers.

I’ll continue pick on Joel Osteen who preaches what people
want to hear. He was on Larry King in 2008 where Larry asked if Jesus was the
only way. His response was “I don’t know”. This is “un-Orthodox” and is totally
against the message Jesus spoke. Either you believe Jesus is the Messiah or
not, there is no “maybe” in the eternal world. Jude is protecting us from that.

2 Peter verses 1:5 – 8 lays down what we need to do as “believers”
in Jesus:

⁵ To achieve this, you
will need to add virtue to your faith, and then knowledge to your virtue; ⁶ to
knowledge, add discipline; to discipline, add endurance; to endurance, add
godliness; ⁷ to godliness, add affection for others
as sisters and brothers; and to affection, at last, add love. ⁸ For
if you possess these traits and multiply them, then you will never be
ineffective or unproductive in your relationship with our Lord Jesus the Anointed;

Our path is not just to say a prayer and then attend church
each Sunday; we need to grow our faith and relationship with God. Peter is
making sure we understand we need to grow and mature and this is the simple
path that starts with faith. Knowledge will give you an understanding of the links
from the Old Testament to Jesus being the “One”. Discipline will allow you to
remain focused. Endurance will allow you to handle life’s problems with an
eternal perspective. Godliness comes later once you have established a solid
footing in the Lord. Affection and love are by products of knowing and implementing
the truth.

Verse 1:9 is the other side of this coin:

but if you don’t have these
qualities, then you will be nearsighted and blind, forgetting that your past
sins have been washed away.

We must not dwell in the past and live in the now. Sure we
may have messed up royally and could even be on death row for our sins, the key
is not to keep dredging up old wrongs and punishing yourself or others for
them. Sure the death row inmate will still pay the price for their actions, but
they should remain at peace with their salvation through Jesus.

Verse 2:21 is a warning to us who are “in the know”:

They would have been better off
never knowing the way of righteousness than to have known it and then abandoned
the sacred commandment they had previously received and dived back into
the muck! 

If you know something is wrong and still do it has
larger ramifications than unintentionally doing the same thing. If you notice
in the Hebraic Law there is a difference between not knowing and premeditated
sins. It’s the same today, if you accidently kill a person the penalty is much
less than if you plan their murder. So know and don’t do!!

Acts
27 – 28

As we end Acts, verse 27:2 has them on a journey towards
Rome:

I, Luke, was
permitted to join Paul for his journey to Rome, along with Aristarchus, a
Macedonian brother from Thessalonica. We boarded a ship from Adramyttium that
was stopping in ports along the coast of Asia.

This is the first place where Luke actually identifies
himself and it’s the final trip of Paul. It’s interesting as we read that
things don’t go well and Paul became the center of strength for the crew.

Verse 27:36 shows the men believing after following Paul’s
advice:

A fresh surge of courage seems to
fill their hearts as they also begin to eat.

Through the storm Paul is saying be calm we will be ok at
the end. This is something we really need to follow and do in our lives. How
many times does the proverbial “storm” happen in our lives? What is our action?
Do we pray? Or do we continue to pray?

See the difference here? In one instance crisis hits and we
hit the floor, in the other we do not change anything. God never said believe
in me and you’ll live on easy street. Never once do we see stories of Him
working through people who have everything handed to them on a silver platter.
Often the last things they do in turmoil is die. They key is not praying for
ease, but have peace through the good and the bad because both will happen.
Often they are happening together in our lives, the key is how we handle it.

Do we freak out like the men on the ship or do we have peace
and work through the problem like Paul?

Verse 28:31 ends Acts:

With great confidence and with no
hindrance, he proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the
ultimate authority—the Lord Jesus, God’s Anointed, the Liberating
King.

Acts ends abruptly in the
story. We do not see Paul’s eventual end by Nero’s hand but rather see the end
of how the church was built. They key point is how to build the church and not
how Paul’s story happens. This was never a book about Paul, but rather the
church. So while the story leaves us hanging we now know what is needed to grow
the “body” of Jesus or the Church.

Revelations
18
– 20

Verse 18:2 mentions Babylon:

Heavenly Messenger (with
a powerful voice): Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great city!
        It has become a habitat for
demons,
    A haunt for every kind of foul spirit,
        a prison for every sort of
unclean and hateful bird.

I have heard many predict where “Babylon” is and what city
it may be today since it’s been long gone. As you follow in verse 3 it implies
the world revolved around this country and city. The first thing that we must
understand is this city is where mystery religions from Babylon are held. Many
have said Jerusalem but the world would not notice the loss of this nation but
if you think we are at the end today the USA has to be this nation, because if
it ceased all other nations would be greatly impacted. So I tend to believe it’s
New York City or Washington DC. Both have alleged links to the mystery
religions of Babylon.

DC is laid out with much of this in mind. If either one were
to disappear our economy would go into a freefall and therefore all the world’s
nations who trade with us would go away. So I tend to think this nation founded
on Godly principles has lost its way and will be the center of the major
collapse.

Now many claim the Middle East is where this must be and one
could argue since the world relies on the oil that flows from this region, if a
collapse happened this would be catastrophic for all nations. Either way I
believe this is clearly an economic collapse and will be one of the great
economic players. Right now that is the USA and the Middle East. At this time
there is enough oil production outside that region, I am not sure how much of
an impact it would have unless they crush production by pricing. Our nation’s
consumption is what drives the world as I see it now. So … stand by.

Verse 19:10 has some important components to it:

At that, I fell down at his feet to
worship him, but he refused my praise.
 
Guide: Stop it. Don’t
you see? I am a servant like you and your brothers and sisters, all who hold
fast to the testimony of Jesus. Address your worship to God, not to me!
For the testimony about Jesus is essentially the prophetic
spirit.

First notice that the Guide does not accept the praise as
only one does. Also, this chapter heralds in the coming of Jesus, or at least who
everyone assumes to be Jesus since it’s really not implicitly said. But this
time the white horse rider has many crowns, unlike the white horse of the 4
horseman who is interpreted to be the Anti-Christ.

This is something we have seen from time to time in the
Bible where worship is misdirected and the receiver stops them to ensure they
worship the one true God only. This has been from messengers to men like Paul.

Chapter 20 is an interesting look since it’s the final battle where Satan is
release from the depths to battle. Now they describe 1000 years and the
question is are we in those 1000 years or has it yet to be started? It’s
difficult to say for sure, but based on the prophecies leading into this we are
not there yet. There are two ways of looking at Revelations, try to read into
the vision a bunch or take it more literal. I tend to fall on the Keep It
Simple … Stupid mindset and the imagery will be clear as it unfolds. We may not
understand the 10 headed beast, but if we were to see a large consolidation of
nations into 10 districts around the world this will be clear. So be aware and
don’t read too much into the scriptures and try to point to everyone we dislike
as the anti-Christ.

Song of Songs
7 – 8

The last two chapters seem to repeat themes from the other
two chapters. Like verse 7:3 where we are back to boobs:

Your breasts are like two fawns,
        twins of a gazelle.

Using the same imagery from 4:5 we see this again. I have a
tough time reading this an keeping a close connection with God. My mind tends
to wander into lustful thoughts and also wondering why Solomon has such an infatuation
on this woman and why she desires a man who has loved so many before. Isn’t she
wondering if these are just “pickup lines”?

Verse 8:1 seemed strange:

Her (to him): If
only you were like my brother, my love,

        nursed at my mother’s breast!
    Then we could show our affection in public.
        I would kiss you, and
no one would think anything of it.
        Nobody would look down on me.

I love my sister but can’t say I ever kissed her with more
than a peck on the cheek. Again this tends to make me wonder more than hear God
while reading this. Brothers and sisters are mentioned in the same breath as passionate
love. Again gets a raised eyebrow.

I guess I am either becoming an old fuddy duddy or
just look past the love letter and see the inconsistencies. The good news is we
are done with this book of the Bible!