PEACE

In the turmoil following the sad and heinous violence at The Pulse Night Club in Orlando, Florida, strong emotions are driving virulent tirades and there are all sorts of political and religious battle lines being drawn. Hopefully we can stop the oppositional activity, the accusations, the labeling and the name calling. 

Hopefully we can focus on what we have in common and the ideals that engender love, peace, honor and respect. 

Is that really so difficult? If so, why is it?

We are a nation with a diverse population. We have people from nearly every culture in the world. If any group of people can tap those who understand and can explain how folks of different backgrounds and belief systems think about life, we should have a better chance than those of many other cultures.

There is no reason the demonize any person or culture. There is no reason to use violence and the threat of violence to control and oppress. We can make that all unacceptable without resorting to the use of force.

The main focus could be, "Would I want this to happen to me or to a member of my family?" 

We could join together to find peaceful ways to prevent the violence, oppression and subjugation. 

We say we stand for liberty, freedom and opportunities for everyone, but there are always forces that rise up against that and we must always be vigilant and work against those who seek out or succumb to those negative forces.

Peace is not just the absence of violence or battle or way.  True peace means nothing missing, no sickness, no hunger, no homelessness, no one imprisoned or oppressed.

True peace is described in Isaiah 61 in the description of the Jubilee that Jesus came to read in Nazareth, the town in which He grew up.  He came there and attended the synagogue deliberately on the day that passage was to be read according to the annual series set out according to the holy days and pertinent readings.

This was not a coincidence. After reading the passage from Torah, Jesus proclaimed to the people who had known him and his mother and father since they returned from exile to Egypt. They had traveled there and dwelt there in obedience to the angel who warned Jesus' earthly father, Joseph, that people in power sought Jesus' death.

So when He read the most important Messianic scripture to the people who knew him beat and had known Him the longest, He may have expected to be believed and celebrated. 

Instead, there was outrage, and they rebuked Him for speaking the truth that the centuries-old prophecy about the righteous deliverer of God's justice, reconciliation and recompense was fulfilled by Him and through Him in their presence.

Those people who had known Him since He was a child were so upset and angry that they wanted to kill Jesus by throwing Him off a cliff.

In contrast to the way Jesus was able to heal and deliver people from illness and evil in many other cities, towns and villages, in Nazareth only a few people benefitted from His ministry. Because of the prevailing anger and outrage against Him, only several people had enough faith to receive His blessing.

The narration of this incident follows a very similar pattern that has been passed down over the centuries and sadly is still extant in the world and in our culture today. 

But we can do better and we can stop the violence, hatred, intolerance and oppression.  We have to have the heart to try. Reaching out to help those who suffer is the beginning. Sharing the unique characteristics of our cultures can also help.

We have so much to celebrate and so many ways help improve how people in need live. Instead of hoarding what we have, we can share what is in excess. We were not given more we need to keep it, but to pass it on to those in need.

Peace is not passive. We have to work at it because it is too important and to lose it puts everyone at risk.

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours, Beloved, now and always.

Peace.

❤️ ❤️ ❤️

FEAR NOT -- SPIRITUAL DIRECTION FOR SOMEONE IN RECOVERY AND IN TROUBLE

Angels are watching over you. And He has placed a hedge of protection around you. You have been delivered and dwell in the shelter of his wings. Keep trusting that the Lord is with you and is in he business of miracles. Please don't get down on your self.

He has promised that He will never leave you or forsake you. He has promised to defend you with His strong right arm and He has promised that no weapon formed against you will prosper.

Just rest in Him and trust Him. Let Him unfold for you how He uses it. That's not something you need to think about now. All He wants you to do is breathe in His love and know that He is ordering your steps and going before you. The way the gift of God’s grace, mercy, love and blessings work is that you can't pay Him back and you can't make up for anything because he already understands it all and He knows your heart. Before He even allowed your spirit to become incarnate He knew about every moment of your life. Your spirit was part of His Spirit still and you also knew and understood what your life would be. It says that in Psalm 139.

When you see your self through His loving eyes, you know completely that everything He has is yours, just as the father said to the elder son in the parable of the lost son. It's the crowning story of three dimensions of what being lost and how fervently the Lord seeks and saves. It's the crowning story of three dimensions of what being lost and how fervently the Lord seeks and saves.

He never loses . . . you are more important to Him than the lost coin was to the impoverished woman. You are more important to Him than the lost sheep . . . He yearns for you to really know that He delights in you and that you belong to Him. He has so many wonders and blessings and gifts for you. He wants you to know that you can walk into His house and be welcomed any time because it is YOUR home.

What you have done, are doing, or will do are all completely known and understood to Him. He only wants to take your burdens on Himself. He wants you to allow Him to tend you and provide for you and bless you. No matter how out of control or chaotic any of it seems, the truth is that the Lord has it all in hand. You will soar like an eagle.

You are already delivered and triumphant because the Lord never loses. The battle has already been fought and won. You are just walking out of it as it is all being made manifest in and for you here on Earth. You have to let go of the idea that you have any control over it.

It is not a case of you having a weak will. When you are able to give up trying and give it over to the Lord all that already exists for you will come into being.
You have already been delivered and the fullness and wholeness and peace of the Lord is already yours.

What you are talking about is your old self that is falling away. The authentic you does not exist in the oppression you have suffered.

Instead of thinking you have no choice but to indulge, please think of it as if Someone is there giving you something much better. He is making you a new creation and that new creation is your true self.

What you CAN change is your mindset. The more you speak out and think out defeat, the more you are existing in the lie instead of abiding in the TRUTH.
Precious Abba, I lift up your beloved son to you right now and ask that you would cause the scales to come off his physical eyes and his spiritual eyes.

Help him see himself as you see him. Help him know who he truly is as your beloved son. Help him hear the joyful song of love that you sing over him.

Help him to continue to reject lies that have formed how he thinks about himself. Help him to be able to rest in you and trust you in new ways. I praise you and thank you as I ask all these things in Jesus' Holy Name. Alleluia! Amen and amen.

Did you ever think about what Jesus means when He tells people that their faith has made them well? Modern medical science has shown that there are biochemical complexes that have to do with our personalities. 

All of that affects our health and well-being -- what we think, what we say, what muscles we move. . . whether or not any of our systems or pathways are blocked or not working properly.

When we smile and laugh there are biochemical a released that have to do with feeling happy. Our attitude has everything to do with how we live and how we look at ourselves.

Even neurological dysfunctions -- any type of biochemical and nutritional imbalance or malfunction affects everything about us, body/mind/soul and spirit.  Our biochemical, hormonal, lymphatic and energy systems all have series of filters and interactive pathways.

The organic needs we have are no less important than the psychological, spiritual and emotional needs we have. They are all part of a complex that has to do with how healthy we are and with who we are.

Jesus ministered to people and healed and delivered in many ways. Sometimes he only spoke deliverance and healing. Sometimes it was remote like for the Centurion's servant and for the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman.

Sometimes he made a substance  with mud and spit. Sometimes the healing or deliverance seemed to disappear as the person ceased to believe because someone he trusted doubted Jesus as when the crippled man was lowered into Jesus' house in Capernaum.

When you believe something about your self, the biochemical templates change and your personality changes and you become the healthy, whole person you were created to be.

At the deepest atomic level we are a bundle of emery that is completely connected and integrated spiritually, physically, psychologically and emotionally. 

Think about what it takes for someone to go out on a space walk or to survive as a deep sea diver.

There are filters and supplements of oxygen and whatever is needed. Human beings have the ability to figure out how to adapt and survive in every environment on Earth and in space . . . and under the sea. And our physical systems are like that, too. If there are blockages to our hearts and lungs, we can't breathe or survive.

Too much at once?

It goes back to, "As a man thinks, so he is." When you seem overwhelmed and in a rut you can't escape from, that is just an illusion. You are free and whole. You have an eternal identity and everything about who you are spiritually and emotionally is in line with who you are physically and biochemically.

Thoughts and attitudes can block the flow of nurturing and health-fulfilling energy and biochemical nutrients the same way that some kind of physical obstruction can block arteries or entrances to kidneys, bladders, GI tracts, our brains, or eyes or whatever.

The Holy Spirit dwells in you to the extent that you allow Him to do that. He will never force Himself on you, but He will do whatever is necessary to woo you and convince you that all the desires of your heart are available to you -- indeed, they are already yours. But if you do not open the channels to receive all the Lord has for you, they remain blocked like a log jam in a river.

Your heart has been blocked and constricted. Your body and mind have become used to certain biochemicals, prostaglandins, enzymes, hormones, and all the compounds and energy system components that allow us to live and thrive.

Exercise and diet, attitude and what we talk about and think about all combine together, but over all, really, the most important component is how we look at our selves and the world -- and what we believe totally affects who we are and how we look at the world and live in our reality.

You have nothing to be ashamed of. Your body, mind, soul and spirit are still readjusting to the new you that the Lord is constantly creating -- the new you that is the true you that has always been, just being manifested. Please keep believing in how completely loved you are and that the Lord has you covered in every way.

 * * * *

The next day . . . the one in fear said,  “I am very stressed and afraid.”

I will be praying for sure.  It’s difficult not to ne afraid.  What counts is how you react when you realize you are afraid.

The first thing an angel usually says is, “Fear not!’  The Lord says that, too.

Jesus says, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

The grammar of the passage shows that it is a command.  And I believe it shows that we have control over our emotions.  We can’t help how we feel, but we can take command over what we do and we can say to our hearts -- “Jesus says not to worry.  Jesus says not to be afraid.”

That’s because He is in charge and through the Holy Spirit, He has the power to calm us down.  I like that saying that He either calms the storm or calms the heart of the one He loves.

You have been through so much.  You have been tossed and turned and oppressed. You have been imprisoned in many ways, but none of that is God’s will for you.  None of it characterizes who you are.
You are completely, absolutely, eternally loved.  He created you to love you and there are many ways to look at things in a way that shows how much the Lord loves you,  He has good plans for you.

Maybe that sounds like a bunch of platitudes.  But there is so much that the Lord leads us to know and illuminates for us so that deep in our hearts we know the truth.

When I am going through rough times -- including when I was in the mental hospital and had no idea if or when I would ever get out, the Lord led me to many strengthening passages.

When I was in a lot of pain and needed surgery when I was on active duty in the Air Force, and the surgeon was being a pain and wouldn’t help me, the Lord led me to the palms in the 40s

My hospital room had a view of the Chugach Mts and they were so gorgeous.

It was summer.  For the first time that I remembered, I felt like the Lord was saying, “Look to the hills.” I didn’t know Him very well and I didn’t know the Bible very well.  I think a chaplain led me to -- I look to the hills from whence cometh my strength . . .”

But in the most difficult time,. especially when I was overwhelmed with all the ways I had been disobedient and really hurt my kids and my family, and afraid I would never be able to be with them again . . .this was the most comforting . . .            
Psalm 40

I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.

He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.

He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.

Happy are those who make the Lord their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods.

You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.

Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.

Then I said, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.

I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”

I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord.

I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.

Do not, O Lord, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever.

For evils have encompassed me without number; my iniquities have overtaken me, until I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.

Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me.

Let all those be put to shame and confusion who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my hurt.

Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”

But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!”

As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.

Psalm 121 is the one about looking to the hills - -

Assurance of God’s Protection

A Song of Ascents.

 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From whence does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved,
    he who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade
    on your right hand.

The sun shall not smite you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and for evermore.

Bible Gateway is a great site for Bible study.

Blue Letter Bible is good, too.

The psalms in the 40s I found on Oremus.org.

There is a book about a Russian pilgrim who was suffering from addictions and lost everything.  One of the disciplines that helped was that he would read the Bible until the urges passed.

But the most important thing is to know that the Lord has absolutely individual responses and help that have to do with how He knows each one of us.
Here are the other psalms I love in times of trouble -- 

Psalm 42

Longing for God and His Help in Distress

To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites.

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
   so my soul longs for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
   for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
   the face of God?
My tears have been my food
   day and night,
while people say to me continually,
   ‘Where is your God?’

These things I remember,
   as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng,
   and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
   a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
   and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
   my help and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
   therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
   from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
   at the thunder of your cataracts;
all your waves and your billows
   have gone over me.
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
   and at night his song is with me,
   a prayer to the God of my life.

I say to God, my rock,
   ‘Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
   because the enemy oppresses me?’
As with a deadly wound in my body,
   my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
   ‘Where is your God?’

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
   and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
   my help and my God.

When I was first preparing sermons in seminary and early in ministry, I loved using the Blue Letter Bible website.  You could put in a word or phrase and find all the verses in the Bible about it and resources.  This is the link for “fear not” -- if you get into it, your mind will be taken off what you fear and are worried about.

The Lord can do ANYTHING . . . He has already saved you and will continue to deliver you.

Here is the link about -- "fear not"

Hope this hasn’t been a deluge.

Each time you turn away from the fear and open your heart to the possibility that the Lord is with you and helping you, the channel to receive all He has to give you is opened.

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours.

In His Love, Peace, Mercy, Joy and Grace.

RESPECT AND HONOR

Don't you think there has been enough name calling and anger and hatred and disrespect from most sides. Why have people decided to resort to treating fellow human beings with such dishonor and disrespect? 

Where does the reaction that includes violence come from anyway?

Everyone has a right to his or her own opinion. 

Polarization is one thing, but why can't we focus on what we have in common? The ideals that under gird our nation and make us who we are have been twisted and misinterpreted. Unless our freedoms and the guarantees we expect for ourselves are also available to every citizen and to every person who comes to us, we are living a lie.

Let's stop labeling people and start looking at how we can work together to fulfill rather than abrogate what we say we believe.

Before we get angry and cut people off, let's consider what it would be like if we were the ones who were suffering from injustice, homelessness, lack of opportunity, prejudice and oppression. we ourselves have created and perpetuated the conditions that have led to suffering and poverty.

We have everything we need to help make life better for each person in our nation. Whenever we make a commitment to help people, it benefits everyone.

The more we make it easier for each person and each family to provide for his or her self or for themselves, the more independent people become. The elements of security, fruitfulness and peace begin with guaranteeing that each person has the same rights and freedom that those in power take for granted for themselves.

The worst thing a person, a family, a village, an organization, a city, a state or a nation is to deny in action what he, she or they profess to believe. We can all work together to live up to our ideals.

My prayer is always that we will continue to work harder to ensure that every person and family here with us and with whom we interact in the wider world will receive the mutual respect, honor and righteousness we expect for ourselves.