Questions

What if you knew that every lie, every word of gossip, every thing you ever did and have kept secret was exposed for all to see...would you walk a different path?

..."For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open." Luke 8:17

What would happen if we could see the spiritual forces at work among us? Would it change the way you treated your enemies? (Or those who are our ideological opposites)

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you," Luke 6:27

Have you not heard it said that "there is nothing new under the sun? Do you really believe that your thoughts and ideas are your own? Why do you take credit?

"For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" 1 Corinthians 4:7

"Our most basic emotional need is not to fall in love but to be genuinely loved by another, to know a love that grows out of reason and choice, not instinct. I need to be loved by someone who chooses to love me, who sees in me something worth loving." (Gary Chapman- The 5 Love Languages)   Is it that we are unable to believe in God because we do not believe in ourselves?

I think that for some people they cannot believe in a God because they don't even believe in themselves. That there is a massive unanswered question that has them stuck on the question of faith and the nature of existence.

"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?" Psalm 8:3-4

Ever have that experience where a word reoccurs again and again and you wonder whether there is a message in it for you?

So...what is the existential threat of the day in your world? Seems that often we run from from day to day driven by the tyranny of the urgent. Someday we may look down upon this sapphire orb and realize it (our "urgent" matters) really made no difference but distracted us from more important things.

"He loves me...he loves me not...he loves me..." Ever played that game? If you lived in full awareness and confidence of God's John 3:16 love for you, what kind of game-changer would that be? 

Don't miss this because of it's familiarity!

"For God loved YOU so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that IF YOU believe in him YOU will not perish but have eternal life. (Jeff Peters paraphrase)

Do you believe you can or will receive what you pray for?  Some one prayed for foot pain I was experiencing, then asked, if the pain was gone, I replied, "Yes, for now."  I realized that I was assuming that the relief wouldn't last.  What kind or answer was that?  I explained this to the woman and asked her to pray again and include my need for a new attitude.

Do you ever think about why we lie? It is usually to impress someone, avoid pain/conflict or manipulate someone else. Seems everyone does it to some degree. Yes, we are all hypocrites- we hate being lied to but will lie for our own justified reasons,  We give off the impression that telling the whole truth would have social consequences so we invite people to lie to us because of the potential conflict.

After he lost his wife to cancer, a friend use to say, "This world's got nothing for me."  I have sometimes wondered what circumstances keep me hanging on to this world and I ask myself, Did God promise me that this was going to be my best life?  If so, why look forward to eternity?  Do I fit in too well?  Am I comfortable and lazy?

If you think I am strange, good! I should seem like an alien:  "Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives." (1 Peter 2:11-12 The Message)

Is it Nature or Nurture that makes us who we are?

Is it Nature or Nurture that determines....

...our practice of lying and deceit?
...our sexual preference?
...our greed?
...our over-eating?
...our level of sexual drives?
...addictions?
...our ability to love or our emotional accessibility?
...our ability to believe in God?
...sexual (gender) identity?
...our level of defiance?
...a habit of stealing?
...our personality?
...our ability to manage finances?
...our innate abilities? (giftedness or effortless talent)
...our propensity for violence?
...our teachability?
...our level of patience or anger?
...our selfishness?
...our generosity?

These are not rhetorical questions but deserve thought- the answers frame the basis for who is responsible for our behavior.

To many the nature versus nurture answer is gray- a combination of both factors. But let's dispense with hedging- What is the greater factor? If you can't do that you are being intellectually dishonest.

Where science intersects with faith on this question is this: Nature becomes God's Design and Nurture becomes the behavior of fallen man. There also is added a third component and that is free will. Where God's Design is a created order and fallen man is the result of the damage done through generations of sin compounding- free will takes personal responsibility for our own choices (Nature and Nurture alone has no personal responsibility other than the possibility of behavior modification).

For me the whole nature vs nurture discussion began with the issue of homosexuality, which frankly, I am SICK of debating, because, face it, nobody is listening. For me the love factor trumps every pointless debate. What if we just love everyone and let God sort it out? Let God be our defense, justifier and if need be, our protector. I will obey God and not men. Like Daniel, rulers can ban my faith and make laws contrary to God, but I am answerable to God first. I am ready for the fiery furnace and the lion's den. My God is not surprised at any of these developments in society. 

What lesson ae you trying to avoid?  Sometimes when you are praying for your finances you might feel God speak to you about something completely different, like unforgiveness.  Don't ignore that!  Go deal with that and then come back and pray some more.  That may be something causing a spiritual blockage to exactly what you are asking for!  

"Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way." (James 1:2-4)

Think about this, why is honesty so hard?

"He who loses his honesty has nothing left to lose."

God cares about honesty in the workplace; your business is his business. Good leaders abhor wrongdoing of all kinds; sound leadership has a moral foundation. Good leaders cultivate honest speech; they love advisors who tell them the truth. An intemperate leader wreaks havoc in lives; you're smart to stay clear of someone like that. Good-tempered leaders invigorate lives; they're like spring rain and sunshine. (Proverbs 16:11-15)

The high road is always respected. Honesty and integrity are always rewarded.  If we believe this why are we so tempted to take short-cuts?

"Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." (Matthew 16:6) The Pharisees and the Sadducees were the wealthy and politically connected (Sadducees) and legal/spiritual leaders (Pharisees) of Israel. If you think of them as a two party system you might understand the Sanhedrin (their version of a senate) better. At the time of Jesus' emergence on the scene, the Sadducees were in power. Both groups had compromised to stay in power and appease Rome. The "yeast" is the spirit of compromise with the rulers of the day, the secular world. It is a political correctness instead of a boldness that Jesus warns the disciples of becoming.

Some people go out of their way to make things difficult, it is in their power to act, but they are lazy and seem as if they are attempting to test just how little they can get away with doing.. It takes such little effort to not pass people off like they were a hot potato- if it is in your power to help- don't withhold your help.

"Almost any difficulty will move in the face of honesty. When I am honest I never feel stupid. And when I am honest I am automatically humble." ~Hugh Prather  Is there a difficulty you face where you might apply honesty? 

Come to Me with your plans held in abeyance. Worship Me in spirit and in truth, allowing My Glory to permeate your entire being. Trust Me enough to let Me guide you through this day, accomplishing My purposes in My timing. Subordinate your myriad plans to My Master Plan. I am sovereign over every aspect of your life!

The challenge continually before you is to trust Me and search for My way through each day. Do not blindly follow your habitual route, or you will miss what I have prepared for you. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”
—John 4:24

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
—Isaiah 55:8–9

Thinking about the times we argue and justify ourselves before God over areas we just aren't teachable. Watching a friend go through stuff I went through when I was young (many moons ago) Wishing I could be help but understanding we just have to learn some things the hard way.

How do you progress in your connection to God? What could you do to give Him full custody?

Do you want to be all that God made you to be? Full potential realized? Think about it carefully, it means being fully surrendered...are you really willing?

I am a mighty God. Nothing is too difficult for Me. I have chosen to use weak ones like you to accomplish My purposes. Your weakness is designed to open you up to My Power. Therefore, do not fear your limitations or measure the day’s demands against your strength. What I require of you is to stay connected to Me, living in trusting dependence on My limitless resources.When you face unexpected demands, there is no need to panic. Remember that I am with you. Talk with Me, and listen while I talk you through each challenging situation.

I am not a careless God. When I allow difficulties to come into your life, I equip you fully to handle them. Relax in My Presence, trusting in My Strength.
“For nothing is impossible with God.”
—Luke 1:37
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
—2 Corinthians 12:9

You ever have a moment when you feel prompted to do something by the Spirit and you obey and then don't really get what the point was? That happened to me today. Who knows but God?

You are avoiding life if you embrace the identity of a victim. You are more than a victim. The little voice that whispers that to you is NOT your friend. It is a demon. You have great potential. Nothing is impossible with God

Is getting to the next moment more important than this moment?

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? "I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds." Jeremiah 17:9-10

Praying about the opposition that the world has to what is Good News because it involves the idea that people are NOT god's and they don't like to be told what to do or that they need a Savior.

"You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." James 4:4